Maine inmate requests assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Larry Smith

Even though Maine abolished capital punishment in 1887, Larry Smith (52) an inmate in Maine, is being treated for throat cancer and has requested and will likely die by a lethal assisted suicide drug cocktail.

Smith is housed at the Hancock County Jail on charges of attempted murder and robbery. Smith allegedly shot two men at a Trenton residence on Dec. 20, 2020, according to Hancock County Sheriff’s Office investigators.

Jennifer Osborn reported for the Ellsworth American that Steven Juskewitch, the attorney representing Smith stated:

“Larry will be entering a plea later this week and will be sentenced,”

“I guess we’re going to test the Death with Dignity Act and the Department of Corrections’ policy with it.”

Osborn reported that Val Lovelace, the executive director of the assisted suicide lobby group, Death with Dignity, said that the law requires patients to be terminally ill with a six-month prognosis. Lovelace stated:

“There’s no reason he should not have access to this law, if and when that time comes for him,” ... “He can have this conversation with a physician at any time. In order to start it, he would need a six-month prognosis.”

Osborn reported that there may be an issue with funding the assisted suicide death. According to Lisa Haberzetti, deputy communications director for the Maine Senate Democratic Office:

The federal Social Security Act prohibits Medicaid coverage for inmates, so medical costs are the responsibility of the jails and prisons.

Prescribing a lethal assisted suicide drug cocktail to an inmate is counter to the prohibition of capital punishment and it is counter to the goal of preventing suicide deaths of inmates. Nonetheless, this is one of the many inconsistencies that occur when assisted suicide is legalized.