South Dakota: Elder Abuse

Welcome

A South Dakota measure seeking to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia as those terms are traditionally defined, has died.

KEY POINTS

* The measure, if passed, would have applied to people with years or decades to live.

* The measure, if passed, would have applied to older people.

* Assisting persons would have had their own agendas, for example, an adult child wanting an inheritance or a doctor wanting to hide malpractice.

* Elder abuse and financial exploitation are already significant problems in South Dakota. Passage of the measure would have made a bad situation worse.

* The measure had no supervision over administration of the lethal dose. "Even if a patient struggled, “who would know?”

* The death certificate would have listed a terminal disease as the cause of death, which would have prevented prosecution for murder as a matter of law.