Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Most US states that have legalized assisted suicide (a self-administered death by a lethal drug cocktail) also require that the death certificate list the medical condition that the person had when requesting death by a lethal drug cocktail.
When someone dies by capital punishment in the US, which is often done by lethal injection, the death certificate will state homicide.
Why do death certificates list euthanasia and assisted suicide as a natural death and capital punishment is listed as homicide?
One reason might be that the person who dies by capital punishment does not request that death be inflicted upon them while with an assisted death, people request their death.
Nonetheless, this distinction is not always true.
When analyzing the acts, they are all done by the same or similar lethal drug cocktails. Death occurs in the same manner with the only real difference being the intention of the act.
Whether or not you support euthanasia, assisted suicide or capital punishment, I conclude that homicide is homicide and suicide is suicide. Euthanasia and capital punishment are homicide and assisting a suicide is a suicide. Any other distinction is based on symantics and not reality.
ignorantia legis neminem excusat
ReplyDeleteIgnorance of the FHA leaders should not be tolerated. They are accountable to the public.
Why would Fraser Health ignore federal legislation on the safeguards of MAiD? Are they above the federal law.
As a health economist, I make extensive use of the official US mortality data and am something of an expert on the subject. On my hard drive, I have a record of every death that occurred in the US from 1999 through 2019, based on official death certificates. The most likely reason for omitting this information from the causes of death listed on the death certificate is to make it impossible for researchers like me to do research on the prevalence of MAiD in the US. In other words, they are engaged in a coverup.
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