Oklahoma Death Certificate Accuracy Act passes.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Great news: I have remained silent about Oklahoma Bill SB 108, The Death Certificate Accuracy Act, to not create unnecessary attention for this important bill. We can celebrate now that SB 108 passed in the Senate on February 25 by a vote of 35 to 10 and passed in the House on April 17 by a vote of 59 to 36.

SB 108, that was sponsored by Senator Gary Stanislawski and Representative Sean Roberts, is clear legislation that requires the cause of death to be accurately reported on the death certificate. Among other things SB 108 states:

A certifier completing cause of death on a certificate of death who knows that a lethal drug, overdose or other means of assisting suicide within the meaning of Sections 3141.2 through 3141.4 of this title caused or contributed to the death, shall list that means among the chain of events under cause of death or list it in the box that describes how the injury occurred. If such means is in the chain of events under or in the box that describes how the injury occurred, the certifier shall indicate "suicide" as the manner of death.

Oklahoma Death Certificate

The bill later states:

A certifier who knowingly omits to list a lethal agent or improperly states manner of death in violation of subsection E of Section 1-317 of this title shall be deemed to have engaged in unprofessional conduct as described in paragraph 8 of Section 509 of Title 59 of the Oklahoma Statutes.

The bill then declares that a violation of any provisions of this section constitutes a felony.

Assisted suicide is not legal in Oklahoma, but in states where assisted suicide is legal, the assisted suicide law requires the doctor to falsify the death certificate. When a person dies by assisted suicide, the doctor is required to declare the cause of death as the medical condition that the person was living with, rather than declare death by assisted suicide.

This is just one of the many lies and cover-ups that the assisted suicide lobby uses to hide the truth about assisted suicide.

Thank you to everyone who made this happen.