tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82963476260773354572024-03-13T04:00:55.331-05:00South DakotaA non-profit corporation opposed to assisted suicide, euthanasia and other forms of imposed death, worldwideUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296347626077335457.post-29924740867657926132017-11-06T18:15:00.000-06:002017-11-07T17:56:09.331-06:00Measure Seeking to Legalize Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia Is Dead!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqoth0CnIsRHP5Fz8O18DpCAXwHWSD2nAxOLEahCvnRjyTOer6_AC5zQtirKC-Rvo3UzhrwGUQaclkuEJcmErvhRZWCk6xO_RJM9Lmu7kja9P9cFZg9SNLswnPWDxiQGtYjz3VBUxm1oc/s1600/Photo+dead+end+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqoth0CnIsRHP5Fz8O18DpCAXwHWSD2nAxOLEahCvnRjyTOer6_AC5zQtirKC-Rvo3UzhrwGUQaclkuEJcmErvhRZWCk6xO_RJM9Lmu7kja9P9cFZg9SNLswnPWDxiQGtYjz3VBUxm1oc/s200/Photo+dead+end+.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
From the Associated Press:<br />
<br />
"Supporters said Monday that they didn't collect enough signatures for the proposed ballot questions."<br />
<br />
Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to get this result. The measure is dead!<br />
<br />
Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA, President<br />
<a href="http://www.choiceillusion.org/" target="_blank">Choice Is an Illusion</a>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296347626077335457.post-74055557035765270822017-09-09T21:16:00.001-05:002018-08-23T09:07:57.384-05:00Updated Analysis of the Initiated Measure<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjODlVeaSQ_qK1VSAZPjTKt86DYxNKzsNFDg6cgoUx453j0pcmnCK6T41LFTYBUHnG0NV5tmM8e9DFxq3jAdaVIaoaJdgm_qS5VO45zQyH0veBy0cEfCM6mwBteo95Ezlc2Cu71Y4ghmY4/s1600/photo+MD+brighter+headshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="148" data-original-width="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjODlVeaSQ_qK1VSAZPjTKt86DYxNKzsNFDg6cgoUx453j0pcmnCK6T41LFTYBUHnG0NV5tmM8e9DFxq3jAdaVIaoaJdgm_qS5VO45zQyH0veBy0cEfCM6mwBteo95Ezlc2Cu71Y4ghmY4/s1600/photo+MD+brighter+headshot.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Margaret Dore, Esq.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
To view this analysis as a pdf, click the following links containing: an <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-index-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">index</a>; a <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">memo</a>; and an appendix, parts <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-1-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">one</a> and <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">two</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>I. INTRODUCTION</b><br />
<br />
I am an attorney in Washington State where assisted suicide is legal. Our law is based on a similar law in Oregon. Both laws are similar to the initiated measure.<br />
<br />
The measure seeks to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia as those terms are traditionally defined. If enacted, it will apply to people with decades to live; it will encourage elder abuse and financial exploitation, which are already problems in South Dakota. It will allow legal murder.<br />
<br />
Don’t make Washington and Oregon’s mistake. I urge you to reject the initiated measure.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<b>II. DEFINITIONS (TRADITIONAL)</b><br />
<br />
Assisted suicide occurs when a person provides the means or information for another person to commit suicide, for example, by providing a gun or lethal drug. If the assisting person is a physician, a more precise term is “physician-assisted suicide.”[1]<br />
<br />
“Euthanasia” is the direct administration of a lethal agent to cause another person’s death.[2] Euthanasia is also known as “mercy killing.”[3]<br />
<br />
<b>III. ASSISTING PERSONS CAN HAVE AN AGENDA</b><br />
<br />
Persons assisting a suicide can have an agenda. Consider Tammy Sawyer, trustee for Thomas Middleton, in Oregon. Two days after his death by assisted suicide, she sold his home and deposited the proceeds into bank accounts for her own benefit.[4]<br />
<br />
In other states, reported motives for assisting suicide include: the “thrill” of getting other people to kill themselves; and a desire for sympathy and attention.[5]<br />
<br />
<b>IV. PUSHBACK AGAINST ASSISTED SUICIDE</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>A. This Year, South Dakota Passed a Resolution Opposing Assisted Suicide</b></blockquote>
This year, the South Dakota Legislature passed Concurrent Resolution 11, opposing physician-assisted suicide.[6] The vote to pass was nearly unanimous.[7]<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>B. This Year, Alabama Passed an Act Banning Assisted Suicide</b></blockquote>
This year, Alabama passed the “Assisted Suicide Ban Act,” which renders any person who deliberately assists a suicide, guilty of a felony.[8] The Act went into effect on August 1, 2017.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>C. Last Year, the New Mexico Supreme Court Overturned Assisted Suicide in New Mexico</b></blockquote>
Last year, the New Mexico Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision recognizing a right to physician aid in dying, meaning physician assisted suicide.[9] Physician-assisted suicide is no longer legal in New Mexico.<br />
<br />
<b>V. FEW STATES ALLOW ASSISTED SUICIDE</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Oregon and Washington State legalized assisted suicide via ballot measures in 1997 and 2008, respectively. Since then, just three states and the District of Columbia have passed similar laws.[10] In the fine print, these laws also allow euthanasia.<br />
<br />
<b>VI. HOW THE MEASURE WORKS</b><br />
<br />
The measure has an application process to obtain the lethal dose. Once the lethal dose is issued by the pharmacy, there is no oversight. No witness, not even a doctor, is required to present at the death.[11]<br />
<br />
<b>VII. THE MEASURE APPLIES TO PEOPLE WITH DECADES TO LIVE</b><br />
<br />
The measure applies to people with a “terminal disease,” meaning those predicted to have less than six months to live. Such persons may, in fact, have decades to live. This is true for three reasons:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>A. If South Dakota Follows Oregon’s Interpretation of “Terminal Disease,” the Measure Will Apply to Young Adults With Insulin Dependent Diabetes</b></blockquote>
The measure states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Terminal disease,” [means] an incurable and irreversible disease that has been medically confirmed and will, within reasonable medical judgment, produce death within six months.[12]</blockquote>
Oregon’s law has a nearly identical definition:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Terminal disease” means an incurable and irreversible disease that has been medically confirmed and will, within reasonable medical judgment, produce death within six months.[13]</blockquote>
In Oregon, this nearly identical definition is interpreted to include chronic conditions such as “diabetes mellitus,” better known as diabetes.[14] This is because the six months to live is determined without treatment. Oregon doctor, William Toffler, explains:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
[P]eople with chronic conditions are “terminal” [for the purpose of Oregon’s law] if without their medications, they have less than six months to live. This is significant when you consider that a typical insulin-dependent 20 year-old will live less than a month without insulin.[15]</blockquote>
Dr. Toffler adds:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Such persons, with insulin, are likely to have decades to live. In fact, most diabetics have a normal life span given appropriate control of their blood sugar.[16]</blockquote>
If the proposed measure is enacted and South Dakota follows Oregon’s interpretation of “terminal disease,” assisted suicide and euthanasia will be legalized for people with chronic conditions such as insulin dependent diabetes. Such persons can have decades to live.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>B. Predictions of Life Expectancy Can Be Wrong</b></blockquote>
Eligible persons may also have decades to live because predictions of life expectancy can be wrong. This is true due to actual mistakes (the test results got switched) and because predicting life expectancy is not an exact science.[17]<br />
<br />
Consider John Norton, diagnosed with ALS at age 18.[18] He was told that he would get progressively worse (be paralyzed) and die in three to five years.[19] Instead, the disease progression stopped on its own.[20] In a 2012 affidavit, at age 74, he states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
If assisted suicide or euthanasia had been available to me in the 1950's, I would have missed the bulk of my life and my life yet to come.[21]<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>C. Treatment Can Lead to Recovery</b></blockquote>
Consider also Jeanette Hall, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2000 and made a settled decision to use Oregon’s law.[22] Her doctor convinced her to be treated instead, which eliminated the cancer.[23] In a recent declaration, she states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It has now been 17 years since my diagnosis. If [my doctor] had believed in assisted suicide, I would be dead.[24]<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></blockquote>
<b>VIII. THE MEASURE APPLIES TO OLDER PEOPLE</b><br />
<br />
According to government statistics from Oregon and Washington State, most people who die under their laws are elders, aged 65 or older.[25] This demographic is already an especially at risk group for abuse and financial exploitation. This is true both nationally and in South Dakota.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>A. Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation Are Already a Problem in South Dakota</b></blockquote>
In 2015, the South Dakota Legislature created the South Dakota Elder Abuse Task Force.[26] The Task Force subsequently issued a final report, citing the following national statistics:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
[A]pproximately one in ten elders living in their homes experience abuse, neglect, or exploitation each year. . . .</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
[A]pproximately 90% of abusers were known perpetrators, and 66% were adult children or spouses.[27]</blockquote>
The Task Force also cited input from concerned citizens whose family members had been impacted by elder abuse and financial exploitation. The report states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Concerned citizens often related that existing legal processes – including powers of attorney, court-appointed guardians/conservators, and joint accounts - had been manipulated to exploit elders. <i>Financial exploitation was the predominant form of elder abuse cited by these sources</i>. (Emphasis added).[28]</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>B. Elder Abuse and Exploitation Are Sometimes Fatal</b></blockquote>
In some cases, elder abuse and financial exploitation are fatal. More notorious cases include California’s “black widow” murders, in which two elderly women took out life insurance policies on homeless men.[29] Their first victim was 73 year old Paul Vados, whose death was staged to look like a hit and run accident.[30] The women collected $589,124.93.[31]<br />
<br />
Consider also, <i>People v. Stuart</i> in which an adult child killed her mother with a pillow, allowing the child to inherit. The Court observed:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Financial considerations [are] an all too common motivation for killing someone.[32]</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>C. Elder Abuse Is Rarely Reported</b></blockquote>
The vast majority of elder abuse cases are not reported to the authorities.[33] Reasons include:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Many [victims] are simply too embarrassed or frightened to ask for help. They may be reluctant to press charges against the abuser, especially if the abuser is a family member.[34]</blockquote>
<b>IX. THE MEASURE CREATES THE PERFECT CRIME</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>A. “Even If a Patient Struggled, Who Would Know?”</b></blockquote>
The measure has no oversight over administration of the lethal dose.[35] In addition, the drugs used are water and alcohol soluble, such that they can be injected into a sleeping or restrained person without consent.[36] Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director for the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, puts it this way:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
With assisted suicide laws in Washington and Oregon [and with the initiated measure], perpetrators can . . . take a “legal” route, by getting an elder to sign a lethal dose request. <i>Once the prescription is filled, there is no supervision over administration. Even if a patient struggled, “who would know?</i>” (Emphasis added).[37]</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>B. The Death Certificate Will List a Terminal Disease as the Cause of Death, Which Will Prevent Prosecution for Murder</b></blockquote>
The initiated measure states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The attending physician may sign the patient’s death certificate <i>which shall list the underlying terminal disease as the cause of death</i>. (Emphasis added).[38]<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></blockquote>
The significance of requiring a terminal disease to be listed as the cause of death is that it creates a legal inability to prosecute. The official legal cause of death is a terminal disease (not murder) as a matter of law.<br />
<br />
<b>X. THE MEASURE’S TRANSPARENCY IS NOT ASSURED</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>A. If South Dakota Follows Washington State, There Will Be an Official Legal Cover Up</b></blockquote>
The measure states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“... the patient’s death certificate ... <i>shall</i> list the underlying terminal disease as the cause of death.” [and] “<i>Any action taken in accordance with this Act does not, for any purpose, constitute suicide, assisted suicide, mercy killing, or homicide, under the law.</i>” (Emphasis added).[39]<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></blockquote>
In Washington State, nearly identical language is interpreted to require the death certificate to list a natural death without even a hint that the actual cause of death was assisted suicide or euthanasia. Washington State’s death certificate instructions for medical examiners, coroners and prosecuting attorneys, state:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“... the patient’s death certificate ... <i>shall</i> list the underlying terminal disease as the cause of death.” [and] “<i>Actions taken in accordance with this chapter do not, for any purpose, constitute suicide, assisted suicide, mercy killing, or homicide under the law</i>.” </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>If you know the decedent used [Washington’s] Death with Dignity Act, you must comply with the strict requirements of the law when completing the death record</i>:</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The underlying terminal disease <i>must </i>be listed as the cause of death.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The manner of death <i>must</i> be marked as “Natural.”</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. <i>The cause of death section may not contain any language that indicates that [the law] was used, such as</i>:</blockquote>
<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>a. <i>Suicide</i><br />
<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>b. <i>Assisted suicide</i><br />
<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>c. <i>Physician-assisted suicide</i><br />
<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>d. <i>Death with Dignity</i><br />
<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>e. <i>I-1000</i> [Washington’s law was passed by I-1000]<br />
<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>f. <i>Mercy killing</i><br />
<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>g. <i>Euthanasia</i><br />
<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>h. <i>Secobarbital or Seconal</i><br />
<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>i. <i>Pentobarbital or Nembutal</i>. (Emphasis added.)[40]<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
<span style="white-space: pre;"><br /></span>
If South Dakota enacts the proposed measure and follows Washington State, there will be an official legal cover up.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>B. If South Dakota Follows Oregon’s Interpretation of “Not a Public Record,” Information About Deaths Under the Initiated Measure Will Be Insulated from Review, Even by Law Enforcement</b><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></blockquote>
The measure charges the Department of Health with issuing an annual report based on information collected pursuant to the measure.[41] The measure also states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the information collected <i>is not a public record and may not be made available for inspection by the public</i>. (Emphasis added).[42]</blockquote>
Oregon’s law has a similar provision, as follows:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Except as otherwise required by law, <i>the information collected shall not be a public record and may not be made available for inspection by the public</i>. (Emphasis added).[43]</blockquote>
In Oregon, this similar provision is interpreted by the Oregon Health Authority to bar its release of identifying information about individual cases. Oregon’s website states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>[Oregon’s Death with Dignity] Act specifically states that information collected is not a public record</i> and is not available for inspection by the public (ORS 127.865 (2)). <i>The protection of confidentiality</i> conferred by the Death with Dignity Act <i>precludes the Oregon Health Authority from releasing information that identifies patients or participants, to the public, media, researchers, students, advocates, or other interested parties</i>. (Emphasis added).[44]</blockquote>
Consider also the experience of Oregon lawyer, Isaac Jackson, regarding a police investigation he requested. Jackson’s declaration states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The officer’s report describes how he determined that the death was under Oregon’s assisted suicide law act due to records other than from the State of Oregon. <i>The officer’s report also describes that he was unable to get this information from the Oregon Health Authority, which was not willing to confirm or deny whether the deceased had used the act</i>. (Emphasis added).[45]</blockquote>
Jackson summarizes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Even law enforcement is denied access to information collected by the State of Oregon</i>. (Emphasis added).[46] </blockquote>
If South Dakota enacts the initiated measure and follows Oregon’s interpretation of “not a public record,” there will be a similar lack of transparency in which even law enforcement will be denied access to identifying information from the state.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>C. If South Dakota Follows Oregon’s Data Collection Protocol, Patient Identities Will Not Be Recorded in Any Manner; Source Documentation Will Be Destroyed</b></blockquote>
Oregon’s website describes the data collection protocol for its annual reports, as follows:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The identity of participating physicians is coded, but <i>the identity of individual patients is not recorded in any manner</i>. Approximately one year from the publication of the Annual Report, <i>all source documentation is destroyed</i>. (Emphasis added).[47]<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></blockquote>
The significance is that Oregon’s annual reports are unverifiable. If South Dakota, based on its similar statutory language, follows Oregon, South Dakota’s annual reports will also be unverifiable.<br />
<br />
<b>XI. THE MEASURE IS STACKED AGAINST THE INDIVIDUAL</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>A. Patient Protections Are Illusory</b></blockquote>
The measure has enumerated patient protections, including that the attending physician “shall” refer the patient to a consulting physician, and that the attending physician “shall” offer the patient an opportunity to rescind the lethal dose request at the end of a fifteen-day waiting period.[48]<br />
<br />
The measure, however, also says that the attending physician is merely to ensure that all “appropriate” steps are carried out.[49] In addition, the attending physician is held to an “accordance” standard. The measure states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The attending physician shall</i>: . . .</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
(11) <i>Ensure that all appropriate steps are carried out in accordance with this Act</i> . . . . (Emphasis added).[50]</blockquote>
The measure does not define “accordance.”[51] Dictionary definitions include “in the spirit of,” meaning “in thought or intention.”[52] With these definitions, the attending physician’s mere thought or intention to comply is good enough. The purported patient protections are not enforceable.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>B. Someone Else Is Allowed to Communicate on the Patient’s Behalf</b></blockquote>
The measure uses the word, “competency,” which is specially defined to allow other people to communicate on the patient’s behalf. The measure states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“<i>Competency</i>,” [means] in the opinion of a court or in the opinion of the patient’s attending physician or consulting physician, psychiatrist, or psychologist, <i>a patient’s ability to make and communicate an informed decision</i> to health care providers, <i>including communication through persons familiar with the patient's manner of communicating</i> if those persons are available .... (Emphasis added).[53]</blockquote>
Note that the communicating persons are not required to be the patient’s designated agent, such as a power of attorney or guardian. They are merely required to be “familiar with the patient's manner of communicating.”[54]<br />
<br />
Being familiar with a patient’s manner of communicating is a very minimal standard. Consider, for example, a doctor’s assistant who is familiar with a patient’s “manner of communicating” in Spanish, but she herself does not understand Spanish. That, however, would be good enough for her to communicate on the patient’s behalf during the lethal dose request process. The patient would not necessarily be in control of his fate.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>C. Someone Else Is Allowed to Administer the Lethal Dose to the Patient</b></blockquote>
The measure says that a patient may self-administer the lethal dose.[55] There is no language, however, that administration “must” be by self-administration.[56]<br />
<br />
The term, “self-administer,” is also specially defined to allow someone else to administer the lethal dose to the patient. The measure states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“<i>Self-administer,” [means] a qualified patient’s act of ingesting</i> medication to end the patient’s life . . . (Emphasis added).[57]</blockquote>
The measure does not define “ingest.” Dictionary definitions include:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
[T]o take (food, drugs, etc.) into the body, <i>as by swallowing, inhaling, or absorbing</i>. (Emphasis added).[58]</blockquote>
With these definitions, someone else putting the lethal dose in the patient’s mouth qualifies as self-administration because the patient will be “swallowing” the lethal dose, i.e., “ingesting” it. Someone else placing a medication patch on the patient’s arm will qualify because the patient will be “absorbing” the lethal dose, i.e., “ingesting” it. Gas administration, similarly, will qualify because the patient will be “inhaling” the lethal dose, i.e., “ingesting” it. <br />
<br />
With self-administer defined as mere ingesting, someone else is allowed to administer the lethal dose to the patient. The patient is not necessarily in control of his or her fate.<br />
<br />
<b>XII.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> EUTHANASIA IS ALLOWED</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>A. Allowing Someone Else to Administer the Lethal Dose Is Euthanasia as Traditionally Defined</b></blockquote>
Allowing someone else to administer the lethal dose to a patient is "euthanasia" under generally accepted medical terminology. See, for example, the American Medical Association, Ethics Opinion 5.8, which states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Euthanasia is the administration of a lethal agent by another person to a patient</i> . . . (Emphasis added).[59]</blockquote>
The measure allows euthanasia as traditionally defined.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>B. Euthanasia is Not Prohibited</b></blockquote>
The measure states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Nothing in this Act authorizes a physician or any other person to end a patient’s life by lethal injection, mercy killing, or active euthanasia.[60]</blockquote>
This prohibition is defined away in the next sentence:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Any action taken in accordance with this Act does not, for any purpose, constitute</i> suicide, assisted suicide, <i>mercy killing [euthanasia], or homicide, under the law</i>. (Emphasis added).[61]</blockquote>
<b>XIII. OTHER CONSIDERATIONS</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>A. The Swiss Study: Physician-Assisted Suicide Can Be Traumatic for Family Members</b></blockquote>
A European research study addressed trauma suffered by persons who witnessed legal physician-assisted suicide in Switzerland.[62] The study found that one out of five family members or friends present at an assisted suicide was traumatized. These people,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
experienced full or sub-threshold PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) related to the loss of a close person through assisted suicide.[63]</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>B. My Clients Suffered Trauma in Oregon and Washington State</b></blockquote>
I have had two cases where my clients suffered trauma due to legal assisted suicide. In the first case, one side of my client’s family wanted her father to take the lethal dose, while the other side did not. The father spent the last months of his life caught in the middle and torn over whether or not he should kill himself. My client was severely traumatized. The father did not take the lethal dose and died a natural death. <br />
<br />
In the other case, my client’s father died via the lethal dose at a suicide party. It’s not clear, however, that administration of the lethal dose was voluntary. A man who was present told my client that his father had refused to take the lethal dose when it was delivered, stating: "You're not killing me. I'm going to bed." The man also said that my client’s father took the lethal dose the next night when he (the father) was already intoxicated on alcohol. The man who told this to my client subsequently changed his story.<br />
<br />
My client, although he was not present, was traumatized over the incident, and also by the sudden loss of his father.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>C. In Oregon, Other Suicides Have Increased with Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide</b></blockquote>
Government reports from Oregon show a positive correlation between the legalization of physician-assisted suicide and an increase in other (conventional) suicides. This correlation is consistent with a suicide contagion in which legalizing physician-assisted suicide encouraged other suicides. Consider the following:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Oregon's assisted suicide act went into effect “in late 1997.”[64]</li>
<li>By 2000, Oregon's conventional suicide rate<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>was "increasing significantly."[65]</li>
<li>By 2007, Oregon's conventional suicide rate was 35% above the national average.[66]</li>
<li>By 2010, Oregon's conventional suicide rate was 41% above the national average.[67]</li>
<li>By 2012, Oregon's conventional suicide rate was 42% above the national average.[68]</li>
</ul>
<br />
For a more detailed discussion of suicide contagion in Oregon, see Margaret Dore, “<i><a href="http://www.choiceillusionsouthdakota.org/2017/06/in-oregon-other-suicides-have-increased_18.html" target="_blank">In Oregon, Other Suicides Have Increased with Legalization of Assisted Suicide</a></i>.”[69]<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>D. Patients Will No Longer Have a Clear Right to Be Told of Alternatives for Cure </b></blockquote>
Under current South Dakota law, patients have a right to “informed consent,” which includes the right to be apprised of “any reasonable alternative treatment,” for example, to cure cancer.[70]<br />
<br />
With the initiated measure, patients instead make an “informed decision,” defined as follows:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<i>Informed decision," [means] a decision</i> . . . that is based on an appreciation of the relevant facts and <i>after being fully informed</i> . . . <i>of</i> . . . </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
(e) <i>The feasible alternatives, such as, comfort care, hospice care, and pain control</i>. (Emphasis added).[71]</blockquote>
With this definition, patients no longer have a clear right to be told of alternatives for cure. This is due to the rule of statutory construction, <i>ejusdem generis</i>, described below:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
[W]here general words . . . precede the enumeration of particular classes of things, [the rule of] . . . <i>ejusdem generis . . . requires that the general words . . . be construed as applying only to things of the same general kind as those enumerated</i>. (Emphasis added).[72]</blockquote>
With the initiated measure, the general words, “feasible alternatives,” precede enumerated words all having to do with death and dying (“comfort care, hospice care, and pain control”). Per the rule, this enumeration limits the general words, “feasible alternatives,” to those having to do with death and dying. Patients no longer have a clear right to be told about alternatives for cure.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>E. The Felony for Undue Influence Is Illusory</b></blockquote>
The measure has a felony for “undue influence,” which is not defined. The measure merely states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>A person who</i> coerces or <i>exerts undue influence on a patient to request medication to end the patient’s life</i>, or to destroy a rescission of a request, <i>is guilty of a class A felony</i>. (Emphasis added).[73]</blockquote>
The measure also allows conduct normally used to prove undue influence. For example, the measure allows an infirm person with a terminal disease to request the lethal dose.[74] Physical weakness is a factor generally used to prove undue influence.[75]<br />
<br />
How do you prove that undue influence occurred when the measure does not define it, and the measure also allows conduct generally used to prove it? You can’t. The felony for undue influence is illusory and unenforceable.<br />
<br />
<b>IV. CONCLUSION</b><br />
<br />
Elder abuse and financial exploitation are already significant problems in South Dakota. Moreover, they are occurring in the context of existing legal processes, including court-appointed guardians/conservators, which have actual safeguards and transparency.<br />
<br />
This is opposed to the initiated measure in which administration of the lethal dose is allowed to occur in private without a doctor or witness present. Even if a patient struggled, who would know? The death certificate will, regardless, list a terminal disease as the cause of death. This will prevent prosecution for murder. The measure, if enacted, will create the perfect crime.<br />
<br />
Passage of the initiated measure will only make a bad situation worse. Enacting the measure will encourage people with decades to live to throw away their lives. I urge you to reject the initiated measure seeking to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in South Dakota.<br />
<br />
Respectfully Submitted,<br />
<br />
Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Law Offices of Margaret K. Dore, P.S.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation<br />
<a href="http://www.margaretdore.com/">www.margaretdore.com</a><br />
<a href="http://www.choiceillusion.org/">www.choiceillusion.org</a><br />
<a href="http://www.choiceillusionsouthdakota.org/">www.choiceillusionsouthdakota.org</a><br />
1001 4th Avenue, Suite 4400<br />
Seattle, WA 98154<br />
206 697 1217<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
<br />
<b>Endnotes:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
[1] See e.g., The American Medical Association Code of Medical Ethics, <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/ama-pas-euthanasia.pdf" target="_blank">Opinion 5.7</a> (defining physician-assisted suicide). Attached to <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-1-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">the appendix</a> at A-5.<br />
[2] Id., <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/ama-pas-euthanasia.pdf" target="_blank">Opinion 5.8</a>, “Euthanasia,” (lower half of the page).<br />
[3] “<a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/mercy-killing-a-59.pdf" target="_blank">Mercy killing</a>” - The Free Dictionary, attached to the appendix at A-6.<br />
[4] <a href="http://ktvz.com/">KTVZ.com</a>, “Sawyer Arraigned on State Fraud Charges,” 07/14/11, at <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/sawyer-arraigned-a-63.pdf">https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/sawyer-arraigned-a-63.pdf</a><br />
[5] See: Associated Press for Minnesota, “Former nurse helped instruct man on how to commit suicide, court rules,” <i>The Guardian</i>, 12/28/15 (“he told police he did it ‘for the thrill of the chase’”) attached to <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-1-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">the appendix</a>, at A-9 & A-10, the quote is at A-10; and “Woman in texting suicide wanted sympathy, attention, prosecutor says,” CBS News, June 6, 2017, attached to <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-1-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">the appendix</a> at A-11.<br />
[6] South Dakota Legislature, <a href="http://sdlegislature.gov/legislative_session/bills/Bill.aspx?Bill=SCR11&Session=2017" target="_blank">Bill History</a>, Senate Concurrent Resolution 11, “Opposing physician-assisted suicide,” attached to <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-1-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">the appendix</a> at A-12.<br />
[7] Id.<br />
[8] Margaret Dore, Alabama: Assisted Suicide Ban Act to Go Into Effect,” <a href="http://www.choiceillusion.org/2017/07/alabama-assisted-suicide-ban-act-to-go.html">http://www.choiceillusion.org/2017/07/alabama-assisted-suicide-ban-act-to-go.html</a> <span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
[9] <i>Morris v. Brandenburg</i>, 376 P.3d 836 (2016), available at <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/morris-conclusion_001.pdf">https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/morris-conclusion_001.pdf</a><br />
[10] Vermont, California and Colorado.<br />
[11] See the measure in its entirety, in <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">the appendix, part 2 of 2</a>, attached at A-101 to A-112<br />
[12] The initiated measure, § 1(12), attached in <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">the appendix, part 2 of 2</a>, at A-102.<br />
[13] Or. Rev. Stat. 127.800 s.1.01(12), copy available in <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-1-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">the appendix</a>, part 1, at A-16.<br />
[14] “Diabetes mellitus” is listed as a qualifying terminal disease in Oregon government reports. See <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/toffler-sd-declaration.pdf" target="_blank">Declaration of William Toffler, MD</a>, attached hereto at A-14 to A-15, ¶¶ 2-4, and attached report excerpts at A-17 & A-18. <br />
[15] <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/toffler-sd-declaration.pdf" target="_blank">Toffler Declaration</a>, A-15, ¶ 5.<br />
[16] Id., ¶ 6.<br />
[17] <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Cf. Jessica Firger, “</span><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/12-million-americans-misdiagnosed-each-year-study-says/" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">12 million Americans misdiagnosed each year</a><span style="background-color: white;">,” CBS NEWS, 4/17/14, attached hereto at A-19, and Nina Shapiro, “</span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/terminal-uncertainty-w-o-ad.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Terminal Uncertainty — Washington's new 'Death with Dignity' law allows doctors to help people commit suicide — once they've determined that the patient has only six months to live. But what if they're wrong?</a><span style="background-color: white;">,” </span><i style="background-color: white;">The Seattle Weekly</i><span style="background-color: white;">, 01/14/09. (Excerpts </span>in the appendix, <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-1-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">part 1</a>, at A-20 to A-22<span style="background-color: white;">).</span></span><br />
[18] Affidavit of John Norton, in the appendix, <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-1-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">part 1</a>, at A-23 to A-25.<br />
[19] Id., ¶ 1.<br />
[20] Id., ¶ 5.<br />
[21] Id.<br />
[22] <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/signed-stevens-aff-9-18-12-as-filed.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Affidavit of Kenneth Stevens, MD</a><span style="background-color: white;">, also attached </span>in the <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-1-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">appendix, part one</a>, <span style="background-color: white;">at A-26 to A-33; Jeanette Hall discussed at A-26 to A-27; </span>Hall declaration<span style="background-color: white;">, </span></span><span style="background-color: white;">attached </span>in the <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-1-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">appendix, part one</a>,<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> at A-33.</span><br />
[23] Id.<br />
[24] Declaration of Jeanette Hall, ¶4, in the <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-1-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">appendix, part one</a>, at A-33. <br />
[25] See: excerpt from Oregon’s most recent annual report, in the <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-1-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">appendix, part one</a>, at A-34; and excerpt from Washington State’s most recent annual report, in the <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-1-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">appendix, part one</a>, at A-35.<br />
[26] Excerpts from the Task Force’s report, dated December 2015, are attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-36 to A-42. The entire report can be viewed here: <a href="https://dhs.sd.gov/LTSS/docs/Attachment%20J%20South%20Dakota%20Elder%20Abuse%20Task%20Force%20Report(Final).pdf">https://dhs.sd.gov/LTSS/docs/Attachment%20J%20South%20Dakota%20Elder%20Abuse%20Task%20Force%20Report(Final).pdf</a><br />
[27] Task Force Report excerpt, attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-39.<br />
[28] Id, attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at 41.<br />
[29] See <i>People v. Rutterschmidt</i>, 55 Cal.4th 650 (2012) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Widow_Murders">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Widow_Murders</a><br />
[30] <i>Rutterschmidt</i>, at 652-3.<br />
[31] Id. at 652.<br />
[32] 67 Cal.Rptr.3d 129, 143 (2007).<br />
[33] See South Dakota Elder Abuse Task Force Final Report and Recommendations, December 2015, Summary of Findings, p. 1, attached i<a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">n the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-39 (describing studies).<br />
[34] Adult Protective Service Materials, <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-43<br />
[35] See the measure in its entirety, attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-101 to A-112.<br />
[36] The drugs used include Secobarbital, Pentobarbital and Phenobarbital, which are water and/or alcohol soluble. See excerpt from Oregon’s and Washington’s most recent annual reports, attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-44 & A-45 (listing these drugs). See also <a href="http://www.drugs.com/pr/seconal-sodium.html">http://www.drugs.com/pr/seconal-sodium.html</a>, <a href="http://www.drugs.com/pro/nembutal.html">http://www.drugs.com/pro/nembutal.html</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2977013">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2977013</a><br />
[37] Alex Schadenberg, Letter to the Editor, “Elder abuse a growing problem,” The Advocate, Official Publication of the Idaho State Bar, October 2010, page 14, available at <a href="http://www.margaretdore.com/info/October_Letters.pdf">http://www.margaretdore.com/info/October_Letters.pdf</a><br />
[38] The initiated measure, § 4, last sentence, attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-105.<br />
[39] Id. and § 18, first ¶, attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-109.<br />
[40] <a href="http://www.doh.wa.gov/portals/1/Documents/5400/DWDAMedCoroner.pdf" target="_blank">Washington State Department of Health death certificate instructions</a>, attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-46.<br />
[41] The measure states: "The Department of Health shall generate and make available to the public an annual statistical report of information collected under this section," The Measure, § 15, attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-108, third ¶.<br />
[42] The measure, § 15, second ¶, <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-108.<br />
[43] ORS 127.865 s.3.11(2), attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-47.<br />
[44] Oregon Data Release Policy, copy attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-53.<br />
[45] Declaration of Testimony, ¶ 8, September 18, 2012, attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-49.<br />
[46] Id., ¶ 2, attached at A-48.<br />
[47] Oregon Health Authority, Frequently Asked Questions, attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-56. See also email from Alicia Parkman, Oregon Health Authority, <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-54.<br />
[48] The measure states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The attending physician shall</i>: . . . </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
(4) <i>Refer the patient to a consulting physician</i> for medical confirmation of the diagnosis, and for a determination that the patient is competent and acting voluntarily; . . .<br />
<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>(8) Inform the patient that the patient may rescind the request at any time and in any manner, and <i>offer the patient an opportunity to rescind at the end of the fifteen-day waiting period</i> . . . . (Emphasis added).</blockquote>
Initiated Measure, § 4, attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-104 to A-105.<br />
[49] The measure states: "<i>The attending physician shall</i>: . . . (11) <i>Ensure that all appropriate steps</i> <i>are carried out</i> in accordance with this Act . . . . " (Emphasis added). Id.<br />
[50] Id.<br />
[51] See the measure in its entirety, attached i<a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">n the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-101 to A-112.<br />
[52] See definitions attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-57 & A-58, respectively.<br />
[53] The measure, § 1(2), attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-101.<br />
[54] Id.<br />
[55] Id., §§ 1(6) & (10), & 2, attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-101 & A-102.<br />
[56] See the measure in its entirety, attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-101 to A-112.<br />
[57] Id., § 1(11), attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-102.<br />
[58] <a href="http://www.yourdictionary.com/">www.yourdictionary.com</a>, attached hereto at A-59.<br />
[59] <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/ama-pas-euthanasia.pdf" target="_blank">Opinion 5.8</a>, to <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-1-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">the appendix</a> at A-5 (lower half of the page).<br />
[60] The measure, § 18, attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-109.<br />
[61] Id.<br />
[62] “Death by request in Switzerland: Posttraumatic stress disorder and complicated grief after witnessing assisted suicide,” B. Wagner, J. Muller, A. Maercker; <i>European Psychiatry</i> 27 (2012) 542-546, available at <a href="http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/family-members-traumatized-eur-psych-2012.pdf">http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/family-members-traumatized-eur-psych-2012.pdf</a> (Cover page attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-60)<br />
[63] Id.<br />
[64] Oregon’s assisted suicide report for 2014, first line, at <a href="http://public.health.oregon.gov/ProviderPartnerResources/EvaluationResearch/DeathwithDignityAct/Documents/year17.pdf">http://public.health.oregon.gov/ProviderPartnerResources/EvaluationResearch/DeathwithDignityAct/Documents/year17.pdf</a><br />
[65] See Oregon Health Authority News Release, 09/09/10. ("After decreasing in the 1990s, suicide rates have been increasing significantly since 2000"). (Attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-61)<br />
[66] Report excerpts <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-62 & A-63 (page with quote).<br />
[67] Oregon Health Authority Report excerpt, <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-64 & A-65 (page with quote).<br />
[68] Oregon State Report attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-66.<br />
[69] <a href="http://www.choiceillusionsouthdakota.org/2017/06/in-oregon-other-suicides-have-increased_18.html">http://www.choiceillusionsouthdakota.org/2017/06/in-oregon-other-suicides-have-increased_18.html</a><br />
[70] <i>Wheeldon v Madison</i>, 374 N.W.2d 367, 375 (1985), excerpt <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-67.<br />
[71] See Measure, §§ 7 and 1(6), attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>,at A-106 and A-101, respectively.<br />
[72] <i>Crawford v Schulte</i>, 829 N.W.2d 155, 158 (2013), quote attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-68.<br />
[73] Initiated measure, § 24, second ¶, attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-111.<br />
[74] See Initiated measure, § 2 (specifying that a person “suffering from a terminal disease” may request the lethal dose). Attached <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/im-memo-appendix-part-2-of-2-09-08-17.pdf" target="_blank">in the appendix, part 2</a>, at A-102.<br />
[75] Cf. <i>Neugebauer v. Neugebauer</i>, 804 N.W.2d 450, ¶17 (2011)(“physical . . . weakness is always material upon the question of undue influence”). Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296347626077335457.post-60418115101802310402017-07-04T21:53:00.000-05:002017-07-05T02:33:24.342-05:00Someone Else Is Allowed to Speak (and Write) for the Patient<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFSDnGu6uP4i-NoffRM_37KMnrugMUJCW9Vf0LQTE7t423RPXAXaUsim8MBq17orRAHDOZ2BVWGBH9vBIV0XD3FHib_FMyF6GgOK8OA0N3euFrINumR2cBvQ0nci9uiN2uC2F0eGJGy1U/s1600/Dakota+Free+Press+Logo+.80+and+light.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="138" data-original-width="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFSDnGu6uP4i-NoffRM_37KMnrugMUJCW9Vf0LQTE7t423RPXAXaUsim8MBq17orRAHDOZ2BVWGBH9vBIV0XD3FHib_FMyF6GgOK8OA0N3euFrINumR2cBvQ0nci9uiN2uC2F0eGJGy1U/s1600/Dakota+Free+Press+Logo+.80+and+light.jpg" /></a>Yesterday, the Dakota Free Press ran an interesting article about the proposed initiated measure, which seeks to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in South Dakota.<br />
<br />
The article, however, contains two errors. This is understandable given the measure's deceptive language.<br />
<br />
The <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/dakota-free-press-article-07-03-17.pdf" target="_blank">article</a> says that nothing in the measure authorizes anyone to "speak" for the patient during the lethal dose request process and that "the patient herself must make every request."<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>These statements are erroneous due to the measure's definition of "competency," which allows someone else to communicate for the patient, as long as the communicating person is "familiar with the patient's manner of communicating." The measure states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“<i>Competency</i>,” [means] in the opinion of a court or in the opinion of the patient’s attending physician or consulting physician, psychiatrist, or psychologist, <i>a patient’s ability to make and communicate an informed decision to health care providers, including communication through persons familiar with the patient's manner of communicating</i> if those persons are available .... (Emphasis added).</blockquote>
<a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/assisted-suicide-euthanasia-act.pdf" target="_blank">Initiated measure</a>, sec 1(2).<br />
<br />
"Communicate" is also a broad term that includes <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/communicate-def_001.pdf" target="_blank">speaking and writing</a>. Someone else is allowed to communicate (speak and write) for the patient.<br />
<br />
* * *<br />
<br />
Note also that being "familiar with the patient’s manner of communicating” is a very minimal standard. Consider, for example, a doctor’s assistant who is familiar with a patient's “manner of communicating” in Spanish, but she, herself, does not understand Spanish. That, however, would be good enough for her to communicate for the patient during the lethal dose request process.<br />
<br />
The bottom line: Someone else is allowed to speak and write for the patient, even a stranger.Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296347626077335457.post-16480333140319627542017-07-04T19:44:00.000-05:002017-09-09T22:50:26.921-05:00The Measure Applies to People With Years or Decades to Live<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY9OpdyHePaYr65nFVBnHHWQO0QC0C_B9-rC7hdEA-dAIT-qNQi0h2pIXM5rYi0fQ1GPQZo4vUmvGhseAFODoZZ84C2RsDMH7LESgVMJAT2RB-GecRay_W8fXVzdtU_Do-dqfWHF4D8ZQ/s1600/William-Toffler+smiling+sq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="173" data-original-width="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY9OpdyHePaYr65nFVBnHHWQO0QC0C_B9-rC7hdEA-dAIT-qNQi0h2pIXM5rYi0fQ1GPQZo4vUmvGhseAFODoZZ84C2RsDMH7LESgVMJAT2RB-GecRay_W8fXVzdtU_Do-dqfWHF4D8ZQ/s1600/William-Toffler+smiling+sq.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">William Toffler MD</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">By Margaret Dore, Esq.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The measure applies to people with a “terminal disease,” meaning those predicted to have less than six months to live. Such persons may, in fact, have decades to live. This is true for the following reasons:</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">A.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If South Dakota Follows Oregon's Interpretation of "Terminal Disease," the Measure Will Apply to Young Adults with Insulin Dependent Diabetes</b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
<span style="white-space: pre;"><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The measure states:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
“Terminal disease,” [means] an incurable and irreversible disease that has been medically confirmed and will, within reasonable medical judgment, produce death within six months.[1]<br />
<a name='more'></a></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Oregon’s law has a nearly identical definition:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
“Terminal disease” means an incurable and irreversible disease that has been medically confirmed and will, within reasonable medical judgment, produce death within six months.[2]</blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In Oregon, this nearly identical definition is interpreted to include chronic conditions such as “diabetes mellitus,” better known as diabetes.[3] Oregon doctor, William Toffler, explains:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
[P]eople with chronic conditions are “terminal” [for the purpose of Oregon’s law] if without their medications, they have less than six months to live. This is significant when you consider that a typical insulin-dependent 20 year-old will live less than a month without insulin.[4]</blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Dr. Toffler adds:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
Such persons, with insulin, are likely to have decades to live. In fact, most diabetics have a normal life span given appropriate control of their blood sugar.[5]</blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">If the proposed measure is enacted and South Dakota follows Oregon's interpretation of "terminal disease," assisted suicide and euthanasia will be legalized for people with chronic conditions such as insulin dependent diabetes. Such persons can have decades to live.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">B.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Predictions of Life Expectancy Can Be Wrong</b><br />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Eligible persons may also have decades to live because predictions of life expectancy can be wrong. This is true due to actual mistakes (the test results got switched) and because predicting life expectancy is not an exact science.[6] </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Consider John Norton, who was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) at age 18.[7] He was told that he would get progressively worse (be paralyzed) and die in three to five years.[8] Instead, the disease progression stopped on its own. In a 2012 affidavit, at age 74, he states:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
If assisted suicide or euthanasia had been available to me in the 1950's, I would have missed the bulk of my life and my life yet to come.[9]</blockquote>
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">C.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Treatment Can Lead to Recovery</b><br />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Consider also Jeanette Hall, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2000 and made a settled decision </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">to use Oregon’s law.[10] Her doctor convinced her to be treated instead.[11] In a 2016 declaration, she states:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
This July, it will be 16 years since my diagnosis. If [my doctor] had believed in assisted suicide, I would be dead.[12] </blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>Footnotes:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.2px;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[1] </span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/assisted-suicide-euthanasia-act.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The initiated measur</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">e, § 1(12).</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[2] <a href="http://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/PROVIDERPARTNERRESOURCES/EVALUATIONRESEARCH/DEATHWITHDIGNITYACT/Pages/ors.aspx" target="_blank">Or. Rev. Stat. 127.800 s.1.01. Definitions</a>, Section 12</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[3] </span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/toffler-sd-declaration.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Declaration of William Toffler, MD</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">, ¶¶ 2-4. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[4] Id., ¶ 5</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[5] Id., ¶ 6</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[6] Cf. Jessica Firger, “</span><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/12-million-americans-misdiagnosed-each-year-study-says/" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">12 million Americans misdiagnosed each year</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">,” CBS NEWS, 4/17/14, and Nina Shapiro, “</span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/terminal-uncertainty-w-o-ad.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Terminal Uncertainty — Washington's new 'Death with Dignity' law allows doctors to help people commit suicide — once they've determined that the patient has only six months to live. But what if they're wrong?</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">,” </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Seattle Weekly</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">, 01/14/09. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[7] </span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/signed-john-norton-affidavit_001.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Affidavit of John Norton</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">¶ 1.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[8] Id.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[9] Id., ¶ 5.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[10] </span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/signed-stevens-aff-9-18-12-as-filed.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Affidavit of Kenneth Stevens, MD</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">¶¶ 3-7</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">; </span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/md-jeanette-2016.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Jeanette Hall declaration</a><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[11] Id.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[12] </span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/md-jeanette-2016.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Declaration of Jeanette Hall</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">, ¶4</span>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296347626077335457.post-50096802269785210762017-06-18T17:11:00.000-05:002017-08-13T15:13:08.095-05:00In Oregon, Other Suicides Have Increased with Legalization of Assisted Suicide<div style="margin: 0px;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG35dH5-Z8XzoFnN4BsqvdJekyCAGDO4NJgt_UOVqdBb10dyx-LUmX3hN6F7WY0QoBnJR-W4UwMeigxj2ellAjGtP__4G5OdXm-Yk5AYQYhYuseBkPQGRhdUF4kN1k1Kt3SEqy4PZBR-o/s1600/Oregon+pretty+and+dark+coastal+cliffs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="147" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG35dH5-Z8XzoFnN4BsqvdJekyCAGDO4NJgt_UOVqdBb10dyx-LUmX3hN6F7WY0QoBnJR-W4UwMeigxj2ellAjGtP__4G5OdXm-Yk5AYQYhYuseBkPQGRhdUF4kN1k1Kt3SEqy4PZBR-o/s1600/Oregon+pretty+and+dark+coastal+cliffs.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oregon Coast</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>I. INTRODUCTION</b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The initiated measure seeks to legalize physician-assisted suicide in South Dakota. The measure is based on a similar law in Oregon, which was enacted in 1997.[1] Since then, there has been a significant increase in other (conventional) suicides in Oregon. This is consistent with a suicide contagion in which the legalization and promotion of assisted suicide has led to an increase in other suicides. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">A government report from Oregon states:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The cost of [conventional] suicide is enormous. In 201[2] alone, self-inflicted injury hospitalization charges... exceeded $54 million; and the estimate of total lifetime cost of suicide in Oregon was over $677 million.[2]</span><br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">II. </span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">DEFINITIONS</span></b><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration-line: none;"></a></span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">“Suicide” means the intentional taking of one’s own life.[3] “Physician-assisted suicide” means that a physician facilitates a </span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">person’s suicide by providing the necessary means and information.[4] For example, </span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14.52px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">provid[ing] sleeping pills and information about the lethal dose, while aware that the patient may commit suicide.[5] </span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>III. THE INITIATED MEASURE MUST BE REJECTED</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A. Suicide is Contagious <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><br /></span></b></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is well known that suicide is contagious. A famous example is Marilyn Monroe.[6] Her widely reported suicide was followed by “a spate of suicides.”[7]</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>B. Reporting Guidelines</b></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">With the understanding that suicide is contagious, groups such as the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and and the World Health Organization, have developed guidelines for the responsible reporting of suicide to prevent contagion.[8] Key points include that the risk of additional suicides increases:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">[W]hen the story explicitly describes the suicide method, uses dramatic/graphic headlines or images, and repeated/extensive coverage sensationalizes or glamorizes a death.[9]</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">C.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> Lovelle Svart and Brittany Maynard</span></span></b><br /><br />In Oregon, prominent cases of legal assisted suicide include Lovelle Svart and Brittany Maynard.<br /><br />Svart died in 2007.[10] At that time, Oregon’s largest paper violated the recommended guidelines for the responsible reporting of suicide by explicitly describing her suicide method and by employing “dramatic/graphic images.” Indeed, visitors to the paper’s website were invited “to hear and see when Lovelle swallowed the fatal dose.”[11] Today, ten years later, there are still photos of her online, laying in bed, dying.[12]<br /><br />Brittany Maynard reportedly died from assisted suicide in Oregon, on November 1, 2014. Contrary to the recommended guidelines, there was “repeated/extensive coverage” in multiple media, worldwide.[13] Much of this coverage is still online.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>D.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Young Man Wanted to Die Like Brittany Maynard</b><br /><br />A month after Ms. Maynard’s death, Will Johnston MD was presented with a twenty year old patient during an emergency appointment.[14] The young man, who had been brought in by his mother, was physically healthy, but had been acting oddly and talking about death.[15]<br /><br />Dr. Johnston asked the young man if he had a plan.[16] The young man said "yes," that he had watched a video about Ms. Maynard.[17] He said that he was very impressed with her and that he identified with her and that he thought it was a good idea for him to die like her.[18] He also told Dr. Johnston that after watching the video he had been surfing the internet looking for suicide drugs.[19] Dr. Johnston’s declaration states:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He was actively suicidal and agreed to go to the hospital, where he stayed for five weeks until it was determined that he was sufficiently safe from self-harm to go home.[20]</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The young man had wanted to die like Brittany Maynard.</span><br /><b><br /></b><b>E.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Other Suicides Have Increased</b><br /><br />Oregon government reports show the following positive correlation between the legalization of physician-assisted suicide and an increase in other suicides. Per the reports:</span></div>
<ul style="line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oregon legalized physician-assisted suicide “in late 1997.”[22]</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By 2000, Oregon’s conventional suicide rate was "increasing significantly."[23]</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By 2007, Oregon's conventional suicide rate was 35% above the national average.[24]</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By 2010, Oregon's conventional suicide rate was 41% above the national average.[25]</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By 2012, Oregon's conventional suicide rate was 42% above the national average.[26]</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>F.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Financial and Emotional Cost of Suicide</b><br /><br />In the case of attempted suicides (that fail), govenrmental entities, as well as insurers and private parties, can incur costs for hospitalizations, physical and psychological rehabilitation, and nursing home care. There can also be expenditures for burial/cremation services and police investications. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Consider also, "suicide by cop," which is a recognized form of suicide.[27] A suicidal person threatens police or civilians in order to be killed by the police, which can result in costly litigation over the use of force, and in some cases damages paid by government bodies to the suicidal person's family.[28] See, for example, </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Runnels v. City of Miami</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> where the family received a $1.25 million settlement.[29] </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As another example, consider Andy Williams, a suicidal 15 year old who killed two schoolmates and injured 13 others in 2001.[30] His "grand plan" had been suicide by cop.[31] He instead survived the incident and was incarcerated in a California state prison with his first parole hearing to be held at age 65.[32] Obviously, this incident has caused great financial and emotional expense.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></b></span></span>
<b>IV. CONCLUSION</b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>South Dakota already has a high suicide rate.[33] If the initiated measure </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">is not rejected and South Dakota repeats the Oregon experience, South Dakota will have even more suicide. As in Oregon, the increased financial and emotional cost could be enormous. I urge you to reject the initiated measure.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">Respectfully submitted</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;"><a href="http://www.margaretdore.com/" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Law Offices of Margaret K. Dore</a>, PS</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;"><a href="http://www.choiceillusion.org/" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Choice is an Illusion</a>, a nonprofit corporation</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">1001 4th Avenue, Suite 4400</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">Seattle, WA 98154</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Footnotes</span></b></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">[1] Cf. <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/aaaa-oregon-hhsc-report-filed-100616.pdf" target="_blank">Oregon Committee on Health and Human Service Committee Report excerpt</a>, filed 10/06/16, p. 2 (regarding “physician-assisted suicide”). Attached to <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">contagion memo attachments pdf</a>, as page A-1.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">[2] Shen X, Millet L, “Suicides in Oregon: Trends and Associated Factors 2003-2012,” Oregon Health Authority, page 6, 1st ¶, available at this link: <a href="http://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph/DiseasesConditions/InjuryFatalityData/Documents/NVDRS/Suicide%20in%20Oregon%202015%20report.pdf">http://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph/DiseasesConditions/InjuryFatalityData/Documents/NVDRS/Suicide%20in%20Oregon%202015%20report.pdf</a> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">[3] <span style="font-size: 14.52px;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">Definition of “suicide” by Medical Dictionary, <a href="http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Suicide" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration-line: none;">http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Suicide</a>.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">[4] The AMA Code of Medical Ethics, Opinion 5.7, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">[5] Id.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">[6] Margot Sanger-Katz, “The Science Behind Suicide Contagion,” </span><i style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">The New York Times</i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">, August 13, 2014, available at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/upshot/the-science-behind-suicide-contagion.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/upshot/the-science-behind-suicide-contagion.html</a></span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[7] Id.<br />[8] See “Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide,” American Foundation for Suicide Prevention et. all, available at <a href="http://reportingonsuicide.org/recommendations">http://reportingonsuicide.org/recommendations</a>, and </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">“<a href="http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/resource_media.pdf" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals</a>,” </span><i style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">World Health Organization.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">[9] Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide download, second "important point" at this link: <a href="http://reportingonsuicide.org/wp-content/themes/ros2015/assets/images/Recommendations-eng.pdf">http://reportingonsuicide.org/wp-content/themes/ros2015/assets/images/Recommendations-eng.pdf</a></span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[10] Ed Madrid, “Lovelle Svart, 1945 - 2007, <i>The Oregonian</i>, September 28, 2007. The article can be viewed at page A-7, at this link: </span></span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf">https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf</a></span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[11] Id.<br />[12] Id at A-8 </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">& A-9. As of June 18, 2017, these photos can still be found on line (they are not directly linked here in an attempt to avoid contagion)</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[13] The worldwide coverage of Ms. Maynard in multiple media started with an exclusive cover story in <i>People Magazine</i>. The cover can be viewed </span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">at</span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;"> page</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;"> A-10 at this link: </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> at this link: </span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf">https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf</a>.<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">Other media included TV, radio, print, web and social media.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[14] Declaration of Williard Johnston, MD, May 24, 2015, which can be </span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">viewed </span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">at </span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">pages</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;"> A-11 to A-12, at this link: </span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf">https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf</a>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[15] Id., paragraph 2.<br />[16] Id.<br />[17] Id.<br />[18] Id.<br />[19] Id.<br />[20] Id., paragraph 4.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[21] Footnote removed<br />[22] Oregon Death with Dignity Act: 2015 Data Summary," Oregon Public Health Division, February 4, 2016, p.2, attached to </span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">page</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;"> A-13, </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">at this link: </span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf">https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf</a>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[23] Oregon Health Authority News Release, September 9, 2010, attached at page 14 at this link: </span></span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf">https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf</a>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">[24] Suicides in Oregon: Trend and Risk Factors, issued September 2010 (data through 2007). </span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">A</span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">ttached </span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">at pages</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;"> A-15 & A-16, at this link: </span></span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf">https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf</a>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">[25] “Suicides in Oregon: Trends and Associated Factors, 2003-2012 (data through 2010), a</span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">ttached </span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">pages</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;"> A-17 & A-18 at this link: </span></span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf">https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf</a>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">[26]</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">“Suicides in Oregon: Trends and Associated Factors, 2003-2012, a</span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">ttached </span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">at page </span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">A-19, at this link: </span></span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf">https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf</a>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[27] Bernard J. Farber, Suicide by Cop, 2007(8) <i>AELE Monthly Law Journal</i>, Civil Liability Section, August 2007. Can be viewed at <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dore-contagion-attachments-01-12-17.pdf." target="_blank">this link</a> </span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">at pages</span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;"> A-20 & A-21; Farber bio attched at A-22.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">[28] Id. at A-20 & A-21.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">[29] </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">Farber, supra, writes:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">That such shootings may result in substantial liability is clearly illustrated by.... <i>Runnels v. City of Miami</i>, U.S. Dist. Ct. No. 00-2930 (S.D. Fla. 2002), the family... received a $1.25 million settlement in a lawsuit against the city...</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">[30] Rebecca Jacobson, "School Shooter: 'My Grand Plan Was Suicide by Cop,'" February 18, 2013, available at <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/science-jan-june13-andywilliams_02-18">http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/science-jan-june13-andywilliams_02-18</a> </span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">. </span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">[31] Id.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">[32] Id.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px;">[33] See <a href="http://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/2015-annual-report/measure/Suicide/state/SD">http://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/2015-annual-report/measure/Suicide/state/SD</a></span></span></div>
</div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296347626077335457.post-7805056465507457492017-06-07T17:51:00.000-05:002017-09-09T23:15:14.951-05:00Legal Analysis of Initiated Measure<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
This post has been replaced by the "Updated Analysis of Initiated Measure," posted September 9, 2017, which can be viewed by <a href="http://www.choiceillusionsouthdakota.org/2017/09/updated-analysis-of-initiated-measure.html" target="_blank">clicking here</a>.<br />
<br />
By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBAAdminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296347626077335457.post-61241004723925256642017-05-20T18:45:00.000-05:002017-07-04T22:12:20.662-05:00Don't Sign the Petition<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-1642684361742194426" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 470px;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV-9WKmxPJW1OdsAnsZoTn_E1dHwKTuwG5chpk2KkalsZI4XZ-yjgUV5igIcyQtgsgv5xt-4ngr0syD7EnerK2B46-QxIThCwfmU6nDlRJlwwxOsjV1SdvRq3NTr43hAWJbId_giT-8wI/s1600/SD+flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; color: #3d85c6; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV-9WKmxPJW1OdsAnsZoTn_E1dHwKTuwG5chpk2KkalsZI4XZ-yjgUV5igIcyQtgsgv5xt-4ngr0syD7EnerK2B46-QxIThCwfmU6nDlRJlwwxOsjV1SdvRq3NTr43hAWJbId_giT-8wI/s1600/SD+flag.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(111, 168, 220); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">For a pdf version to use as a handout, </span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/bullet-point-handout.pdf" style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: 13.2px;" target="_blank">click here</a><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">. </span>For back up documentation, </span><a href="http://www.choiceillusionsouthdakota.org/2017/05/legal-analysis-of-initiated-measure.html" style="font-size: 13.2px;" target="_blank">click here</a>.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13.2px;">• The measure seeks to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia for </span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">people with years or decades to live.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a>
• The measure is sold as completely voluntary, but someone else is allowed to speak for the patient during the lethal dose request process, even a stranger.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13.2px;">• Assisting persons can have their own agendas: an adult child wanting an inheritance; a financial predator seeking financial gain; or a doctor wanting to hide malpractice.</span><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.2px;">• Administration of the lethal dose is allowed to occur in private without a doctor or witness present. If the patient objected or even struggled, who would know?</span><br />
<br />
• The death certificate will list a terminal disease as the cause of death. This will prevent prosecution for murder, no matter what the facts.<br />
<br />
• The measure, if passed, will create the perfect crime.<br />
<div>
</div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin: 0px;">
• Physician-assisted suicide, even where voluntary, can be traumatic for patients and families.<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-size: 13.2px;">• Passage will encourage people with years or decades to live to throw away their lives.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296347626077335457.post-82715050082009734782017-05-07T08:07:00.000-05:002017-05-20T18:42:58.077-05:00Physician-Assisted Suicide Traumatic for Family Members<div style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh37fG00jZ30exYmNmv36m0fGFSd87B7wYkBLM5FY2uJnvIGVkHw24m4XK6O4sefcP54RhQ2HHvNXgHjWWEDSYghimv880BzazagMpYdtgkBq1ApygcdxUAbz4KUcUhDzpDnwA81Q9tIf8/s1600/Photo+Swiss+Flag+Mountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh37fG00jZ30exYmNmv36m0fGFSd87B7wYkBLM5FY2uJnvIGVkHw24m4XK6O4sefcP54RhQ2HHvNXgHjWWEDSYghimv880BzazagMpYdtgkBq1ApygcdxUAbz4KUcUhDzpDnwA81Q9tIf8/s1600/Photo+Swiss+Flag+Mountain.jpg" /></a>By Margaret Dore, Esq.</div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px;">
In 2012, a <a href="http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/family-members-traumatized-eur-psych-2012.pdf" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">European research study</a>addressed trauma suffered by persons who witnessed legal assisted suicide in Switzerland.[1] The study found that one out of five family members or friends present at an assisted suicide was traumatized. These people,</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
experienced full or sub-threshold PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) related to the loss of a close person through assisted suicide.[2]<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a></div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration-line: none;"></a></blockquote>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px;">
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">* * * </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px;">
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px;">
[1] “Death by request in Switzerland: Posttraumatic stress disorder and complicated grief after witnessing assisted suicide,” B. Wagner, J. Muller, A. Maercker; European Psychiatry 27 (2012) 542-546, available at <a href="http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/family-members-traumatized-eur-psych-2012.pdf" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration-line: none;">http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/family-members-traumatized-eur-psych-2012.pdf</a></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px;">
[2] Id.</div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296347626077335457.post-89707915901237615962017-05-03T08:09:00.000-05:002017-05-03T08:09:41.065-05:00WelcomeThis site is under construction.<br />
<br />
Choice is an IllusionAdminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296347626077335457.post-67530811162673603952017-04-06T11:30:00.000-05:002019-04-06T13:39:35.686-05:00" If Dr. Stevens had believed in assisted suicide, I would be dead"<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUV4or5ujhRuDKpG8MJOfsisV4TDIuvZRgU1310tww5uOAvz6tVYiNvEbNz09Q0C1_R1Yuih1IS-Rd19SFz052y9YpSrMNODRIumrjp86mtAkppwo7-n1zSgBNHr19gru1aMFSdBuXj2M/s1600/Photo+Jeanette+and+Scott.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUV4or5ujhRuDKpG8MJOfsisV4TDIuvZRgU1310tww5uOAvz6tVYiNvEbNz09Q0C1_R1Yuih1IS-Rd19SFz052y9YpSrMNODRIumrjp86mtAkppwo7-n1zSgBNHr19gru1aMFSdBuXj2M/s320/Photo+Jeanette+and+Scott.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeanette & her son Scott in 2000</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">By Jeanette Hall</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">I live in Oregon where assisted suicide is legal. Our law passed in 1997 by a ballot measure that I voted for.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In 2000, I was diagnosed with cancer and told that I had 6 months to a year to live. I knew that our law had passed, but I didn’t know exactly how to go about doing it. I tried to ask my doctor, Kenneth Stevens MD, but he didn’t really answer me. In hindsight, he was stalling me.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></a><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">I did not want to suffer. I wanted to do our law and I wanted Dr. Stevens to help me. Instead, he encouraged me to not give up and ultimately I decided to fight the cancer. I had both chemotherapy and radiation. I am so happy to be alive!</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This last July, it was 18 years since my diagnosis. If Dr. Stevens had believed in assisted suicide, I would be dead. Assisted suicide should not be legal.</span>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.com