The Delaware Senate would have been right to defeat assisted suicide Bill HB 140.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

On June 25 the Delaware Senate passed assisted suicide Bill HB 140 by a vote of 11 to 10. This was a reversal to their June 20 vote when the Delaware Senate defeated Bill HB 140 by a 9 to 9 vote.

As the Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, it is obvious that I oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide. Opposition to HB 140 may be based on the same reasoning that I have or it may be based on the effect of legalizing assisted suicide. 

During the Senate hearing the President of Compassion & Choices lied three times.

The first lie was that there have been no abuses of the law.

An article by Jennifer Brown that was published in the Colorado Sun on March 14, 2022 reported that Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani, an internal medicine doctor who specializes in eating disorders published a paper on how she prescribed assisted suicide for three people with anorexia nervosa in Colorado. Gaudiani approved assisted suicide for Anorexia Nervosa by redefining this chronic condition as terminal.

Kevin Dias, the Chief Legal Advocacy Officer for Compassion & Choices responded to the Colorado Sun article by stating:

Medical aid-in-dying laws apply only to mentally capable, terminally ill patients with six months or less to live who are able to self-ingest the medication. Any deviation from these requirements violates the law and places physicians, family members and others in regulatory, civil and criminal jeopardy. This law does not and was never intended to apply to a person whose only diagnosis is anorexia nervosa.

Kevin Dias admitted that the law was violated. To make matters worse, the Oregon 2021 assisted suicide report listed Anorexia Nervosa as a reason for at least one assisted suicide death.

The second lie is her statement there is no "slippery slope." To summarize:

Oregon: In 2019 Oregon expanded their assisted suicide law by giving doctors the ability to waive the 15 day waiting period when a person was deemed as near to death. In 2022 Compassion and Choices launched a lawsuit to force Oregon to allow non-residents to die by assisted suicide. In 2023 Oregon removed the residency requirement extending assisted suicide nationally to anyone.

California: In 2021 California expanded their assisted suicide law by reducing the waiting period from 15 days to 48 hours and forcing doctors who oppose assisted suicide to be complicit in the process (later struck down by the court).

New Mexico: In 2021 New Mexico passed assisted suicide Bill HB 47 further codifying the assisted suicide lobby's expansion plans. HB 47 did not require a 15 day waiting period but rather it required a 48 hour waiting period that can be waived if the health care provider believes that the person may be near to death, technically allowing a same day death. HB 47 also had an expanded definition of who could prescribe and participate in assisted suicide by allowing non-physicians defined as "health care providers" to approve and prescribe lethal drugs. "Health care providers" includes physicians, licensed physician assistants, osteopathic physicians, or nurses registered in advanced practice. The assisted suicide lobby is expanding who can prescribe and participate since very few physicians are willing to assist a suicide.

Vermont: In 2022 Vermont expanded their assisted suicide law by removing the 48 hour waiting period, (allowing a same day death), removing the requirement that an examination be done in person, (allowing approvals by telehealth), and extending legal immunity to anyone who participates in the act. Compassion & Choices launched a lawsuit demanding that Vermont change their law to permit non-resident to die by assisted suicide. In 2023 Vermont expanded their assisted suicide law by removing the residency requirement to allow anyone to die by assisted suicide.

Washington State: In 2023 Washington State expanded their assisted suicide law by allowing advanced practice registered nurses to approve and prescribe lethal poison, by reducing the waiting period to 7 days and requiring healthcare institutions and hospices to post their assisted suicide policies.

Hawaii: In 2023 Hawaii expanded their assisted suicide law by reducing the waiting period to 5 days, by allowing the waiting period to be waived if the person is near to death and by allowing advanced practice registered nurses to approve and prescribe lethal poison.

Colorado: On June 5, 2024 Colorado Governor Gary Polis signed Senate Bill 24-068 to expand their State assisted suicide law.

New Jersey. There is currently a lawsuit by Compassion and Choices challenging the New Jersey state residency requirement for assisted suicide.

Whatever language is contained within a state assisted suicide bill, Compassion & Choices will support it and then, within a few years, pressure states that legalize assisted suicide, to expand their law. Compassion & Choices will also launch court cases to force them to do so.

The third lie was stating that all of the laws are similar to the Oregon law.

I have no love for the Oregon law, but assisted suicide laws have similarities and differences to the Oregon law.

By reading the multiple expansions that have been approved in states that have legalized assisted suicide, it is clear that the laws differ in the states that have legalized assisted suicide.

A key question is: How do people die by assisted suicide?

How people die by assisted suicide is a fundamental question, but the question is often ignored based on people supporting the theory that assisted suicide is necessary to relieve suffering.

There are two key points concerning how people die by assisted suicide.

The assisted suicide lobby has been doing human experiments to find cheaper, effective ways to kill. When reading the Oregon Death with Dignity annual reports you will notice that the drug combinations used to poison people by assisted suicide are continuously changing.

These experiments have led to concerning results, such as painful deaths and long drawn out deaths. Assisted suicide activists have been experimenting with lethal drug cocktails on people approved for assisted suicide.

Some of the assisted suicide deaths are painful. The Seattle Times reported in September 2017 that:

The first Seconal alternative turned out to be too harsh, burning patients’ mouths and throats, causing some to scream in pain. The second drug mix, ... has led to deaths that stretched out hours in some patients — and up to 31 hours in one case.

An article by Lisa Krieger published by the Medical Xpress on September 8, 2020 uncovers information about the lethal drug experiments:

A little-known secret, not publicized by advocates of aid-in-dying, was that while most deaths were speedy, others were very slow. Some patients lingered for six or nine hours; a few, more than three days. No one knew why, or what needed to change.

"The public thinks that you take a pill and you're done," said Dr. Gary Pasternak, chief medical officer of Mission Hospice in San Mateo. "But it's more complicated than that."

In 2023, the longest time for an assisted suicide death in Oregon was 137 hours.

The second issue is how do people die by assisted suicide?

An article published in September 2021 by the Spectator reported on finding by Dr Joel Zivot who argues that assisted suicide is not a painless or peaceful death. Zivot states:

I am quite certain that assisted suicide is not painless or peaceful or dignified. In fact, in the majority of cases, it is a very painful death.

The death penalty is not the same as assisted dying, of course. Executions are meant to be punishment; euthanasia is about relief from suffering. Yet for both euthanasia and executions, paralytic drugs are used. These drugs, given in high enough doses, mean that a patient cannot move a muscle, cannot express any outward or visible sign of pain. But that doesn’t mean that he or she is free from suffering.

Assisted suicide is sold to the public as offering a quick and peaceful death. Assisted suicide is far more complicated than that.