Delaware: Another Defeated, Dangerous Assisted Suicide Bill Reaches Governor’s Desk

Contact Delaware Gov. Carney and Demand He Veto HB 140 Assisted Suicide

Jacqueline Abernathy

By Dr Jacqueline Abernathy

On Friday, September 13, Delaware assisted suicide bill HB 140 finally landed on Governor John Carney's desk. It has been nearly 3 months since HB 140 died in the state senate only to rise again immediately after and pass by a single vote, just shy of meeting a second, irreversible demise when the clock ran out and the 2024 Delaware legislative session adjourned sine die. The eleventh-hour passage and session end caused immense confusion on whether or not HB 140 would become law within 10 days of arrival in the governor's office, that is with or without the governor's signature. Governor Carney had expressed his misgivings indicating a reluctance to sign the bill, so we have held out hope. Without a veto, assisted suicide will become legal (by default) early next week.

This may sound familiar to my anti-euthanasia allies because this is not the first time a presumed dead assisted suicide bill was shockingly revived and sent to the governor's desk for a signature months after it initially failed. In 2015 California Assembly where a similar assisted suicide bill SB 128 was soundly defeated that summer only to reemerge two months later as ABX2-15. The session had ended, along with it the prospect of SB 128 passing, but when Governor Jerry Brown called a special session dedicated to transportation, the same assisted suicide proposal was inappropriately reintroduced under its new name and new rules where it could bypass the full legislative process (committee action and floor votes of both chambers), scrutiny that had destroyed the first attempt. ABX2-15 was a last-ditch effort in the suicide lobby's relentless crusade to impose assisted suicide on Californians who fought off their advances for 23 years. Even attempts to completely bypass voters failed when they lost not one, but two court cases within a few weeks after the first session ended. Unable to exploit the judiciary to legislate from the bench (a failed strategy in other court cases in California since 1992 as well), they resorted to circumventing the legitimate legislative process hoping that the ninth, not the third time would be the charm with the new bill. Sadly, it worked, and nine years ago today I was writing an open letter to then-Governor Jerry Brown and rallying allies to demand a veto, just as I am doing now.

That effort failed, but we still have hope that Delaware will escape this same fate. When we lost in California, we had just defeated HB 150, an assisted suicide bill sponsored by the same representative as HB 140, who needed nearly a decade to advance to the same juncture. We kept this scourge at bay session after session. In fact, it took two sessions to finally, narrowly pass HB 140 just like it took two sessions to pass the California assembly. The parallels between California and Delaware are striking. Because our utmost activism did not prevail in California in strikingly similar circumstances, there is a temptation to despair that this same outcome may happen now. That is until we consider this a second chance to redouble our resolve and protect vulnerable lives in Delaware. Since 2015, we now have the benefit of nearly a decade more of experience, expertise, and mobilization. 

Governor John Carney

Whereas I was sharing the Governor's email address to cut and paste and drafting sample language for individuals to use, we now have a pre-populated email that can be auto-filled with each advocate's name and address and then sent instantly. There are embedded buttons that allow for easy sharing across a host of social media platforms. It could not be more efficient or easy to speak up for those in danger and spread the word to other advocates on a variety of platforms where this call to action will be seen by audiences that were previously harder to reach. This is a numbers game, as in my experience there are legislative aides who are simply tallying the sum of those who contact the governor in support of assisted suicide and those opposed. We must not let calls and support go unanswered where the governor could believe he has a mandate to allow HB 140 to become law.

This is a rematch of sorts, an opportunity to show how much stronger we are now than we were 9 years ago. The euthanasia lobby is stronger also, so we must give this our greatest effort. I am seizing this moment and it only takes a mere moment to contribute. I implore you to join the fight. Visit the link, speak for the weak, and share everywhere you can. The sum of these small efforts is what can save countless lives at risk in Delaware.

Balancing Canada's healthcare budget with euthanasia

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Based on the number of euthanasia deaths, Canada's healthcare system saved at least $568 million in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

In October 2020, Canada's Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer released a report titled: Cost Estimate for Bill C-7 "Medical Assistance in Dying." The report was created for Canada's parliament during the Bill C-7 debate. Bill C-7 (among other changes) expanded euthanasia to people who are not terminally ill.

The report concluded that Bill C-7, if passed, would enable Canada's healthcare system would save $149 million in 2021.

At the time of the report I published an article stating:

I estimate that the numbers in the report are low for two reasons. The first reason is that we will have more euthanasia deaths than predicted. The second reason is that people with months and years to live will be dying by euthanasia leading to cost savings far beyond predictions.

These cost savings will not only be related to the medical system but also to the cost of social services. People on a disability pension, or people living on welfare, as well as the cost savings related to retirement benefits.

Sadly, some people will point to the cost savings as a positive reason to promote euthanasia. 

There has not been another published report by the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), but I believe that the estimates by the PBO were low. For instance, the PBO estimated that in 2021 there would be 6,465 Track 1 MAiD deaths and 1164 Track 2 MAiD deaths when in fact there were 9,869 Track 1 MAiD deaths and 223 Track 2 MAiD deaths. 

Based on the cost saving data from the PBO, euthanasia deaths accounted for at least $144.5 million dollars saved by Canada's healthcare system in 2021 ($132.65 million saved from Track 1 deaths and $11.85 million saved for Track 2 deaths).

The PBO did not estimate the amount of social service cost savings from euthanasia of people with disabilities or people living on welfare or people collecting retirement benefits. We know that some people who died by euthanasia were living with chronic conditions and would have had years, not months left to live.

What about the healthcare savings in 2022 and 2023?

Since I don't have the data to estimate the increase in the base cost of euthanasia I will stick to the conservative estimate by using the PBO report from October 2020.

The 2022 Annual Report reported that there were 13,241 reported MAiD deaths with 12,788 Track 1 deaths and 463 Track 2 deaths. 

Based on the conservative PBO data, in 2022 euthanasia deaths accounted for at least $196.5 million saved by Canada's healthcare system ($171.8 million saved from Track 1 deaths and $24.7 million saved from Track 2 deaths). 

Once again, the $196.5 million does not include increased healthcare costs related to inflation and other factors.

The 2023 annual report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada is not yet released but based on provincial data, that EPC collected I estimate that there were 15,300 MAiD deaths in 2023. Since I do not have all of the data I will estimate the Track 2 deaths as 3.5% of all MAiD deaths, as in 2022. According to my 2023 estimates, there were approximately 14,765 Track 1 MAiD deaths and 535 Track 2 MAiD deaths (there were likely more Track 2 deaths).

Based on October 2020 PBO report, in 2023 there was at least $227 million saved by Canada's healthcare system ($198.5 million saved from Track 1 deaths and $28.5 Million saved from Track 2 deaths).

Canada's healthcare system has saved at least $568 million since January 1, 2021 not including savings to social service costs and retirement benefits.

The actual amount is likely higher than $568 million. I am convinced that the original PBO data under-estimated the savings associated with killing Canadians and I did not include inflation data in my estimates for 2022 and 2023.

Euthanasia is not about freedom choice and autonomy but rather it abandons people at their time of need.

No amount of money can justify killing people. 

Legalizing assisted suicide may increase the rate of other suicides

Elder suicide rates continue to rise in the United States.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Suicide is always a tragedy.

An argument used to legalize assisted suicide is the idea that assisted suicide will prevent some suicide deaths (deaths of despair) but the data indicates that where euthanasia and assisted suicide are legal suicide rates don't decrease or remain steady but in fact increase.

The assisted suicide lobby have published articles justifying the assisted suicide deaths of elderly people and people with disabilities. Does the promotion of assisted suicide lead to a suicide contagion effect among older Americans?

 

According to the National Institute of Mental Health the American suicide rate in 2021 was 14 deaths per 100,000.

It is concerning that in the past few years, the suicide rates have become highest among older Americans. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, in 2022, Americans over the age of 85 had the highest suicide rate with 23.02 deaths per 100,000 people which was up from 22.39 in 2021 and those aged 75 to 85 had the second highest suicide rate with 20.26 suicide deaths per 100,000 people which was up from 19.56 in 2021.

More importantly, historically, 2019 was the first year that Americans over the age of 85 had the highest suicide rate. I am convinced that the rapid increase in suicide rates among older Americans is related to the promotion of assisted suicide.

States that are debating assisted suicide need to know that in nearly every jurisdiction, states that have legalized euthanasia or assisted suicide have also experienced higher suicide rates.

The suicide rate in Oregon, where assisted suicide has been legal for more than 20 years, in 2021 was 19.5 suicide deaths per 100,000 people as compared to 14.0 suicide deaths per 100,000 nationally. 

It is important to note that in states that have legalized assisted suicide, such as Oregon that the assisted suicide deaths are not included in the suicide data.

Suicide rates have also increased in the Netherlands where euthanasia has been legal since 2002.

Professor Theo Boer, who is a former euthanasia case reviewer in the Netherlands, published an article titled: Be careful what you wish for when you legalize active killing. Boer explains:

the percentage of euthanasia of the total mortality went from 1.6% in 2007 to 4.2% in 2019, the suicide numbers went also up: from 8.3 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2007 to 10.5 in 2019, a 15% rise. If we would include the deaths through assisted suicide in patients considered to be at risk of committing suicide (psychiatric patients, people with chronic illnesses, dementia patients, elderly and lonely people), the total increase in self chosen deaths over the past decade would be closer to 50% than to 15%. Meanwhile in Germany, very similar to the Netherlands in terms of religion, economy and population, the suicide rates went down by 10%.

The difficulty with suicide data is that there are many factors that affect suicide rates. Nonetheless, several studies have indicated that legalizing assisted suicide is associated with a suicide contagion effect.

Considering the fact that elder Americans now have the highest suicide rates. It is likely that the promotion of assisted suicide for elderly people and people with disabilities has affected the suicide rate among those groups.

What is most concerning is the silence concerning the increase in the elder suicide rate. Suicide is always a tragedy.

More articles on this topic:

• Suicide deaths increasing in America. Elderly Americans now have the highest suicide rate (Link).
• US suicide rates are now highest among the elderly (Link).
• Suicide contagion (Link).
• Legalizing assisted dying can actually increase suicides (Link).

Join the "Dying to Meet You" Zoom event with Amanda Achtman (September 25).

Amanda Achtman

Register for the Zoom event with Amanda Achtman who has been studying, travelling and speaking about re-humanizing the culture and preventing euthanasia.

Amanda who is Dying to Meet You - will share her mission and her goals and relate them with stories and experiences to how we can change the culture by encouraging hope.

The Zoom event is Wednesday, Sept 25 at 2 pm (Eastern Time).

Register in advance for the event: (Registration Link)
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Amanda states:

Now we do not so much have a culture of death as we have death without culture.

That's why we need a better cultural conversation - one that explores death as an occasion for discovering who and what we truly are.

I am convinced that artistic beauty, humanizing storytelling, and edifying examples are critical to restoring our cultural health when it comes to our experiences of death and dying.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition encourages people to become active in their community, with friends and family and to share hope. EPC opposes euthanasia and assisted suicide, as we oppose killing people. We support a culture of care, such as Compassionate Community Care and Dying To Meet You initiatives.

Urge Delaware Governor John Carney to veto assisted suicide Bill

Governor John Carney

Everyone needs to contact Delaware Governor John Carney and urge him to veto assisted suicide Bill HB 140.

On June 25, 2024, the Delaware Senate passed assisted suicide bill HB 140 by a vote of 11 to 10.

In a 2022 interview, Governor Carney stated that he opposed assisted suicide. He stated:

“Ultimately, though, I believe enabling physicians to facilitate suicide crosses a boundary that I’m just not comfortable crossing.”

In the past, Alex Schadenberg called Governor Carney's office and was told that the assisted suicide bill was not on his desk yet.

We are not sure why the assisted suicide bill was delayed in getting to Governor Carney's desk but it has reached his desk and it must be vetoed.

Call Governor Carney at: 302-744-4101 or email him at: john.carney@delaware.gov

You can also contact him at his Wilmington Office at: 302-577-3210 

Stick to the basic talking points. Don't mix the issues. Assisted suicide is never a solution. It is never a good idea to give physicians the right in law to assist the suicide of their patients. We believe in caring for people, not killing.

More information:

• Delaware Governor Carney needs to veto assisted suicide Bill HB 140 to protect citizens in need of real care (Link).
• Delaware Governor John Carney needs to veto assisted suicide Bill HB 140 (Link)

Liberal Democrat (UK) leader is skeptical about assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Faith Ridler reported for Sky News (UK) on September 16, 2024 that: 

Sir Ed Davey

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey is 'sceptical' of the case for assisted dying for 'quite personal' reasons. Ridler reported that during an interview with Sky News' deputy political editor Sam Coates, Davey stated that MP's must deeply and carefully listen to all sides of the debate, considering it's outcome. Davey also urged MP's not to rush a vote on assisted suicide.

Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, won a majority government in the last election. Starmer, who is a long-time supporter of assisted suicide, stated that he may fast-track legislation to legalize assisted suicide.

Ridler reported that Davey told Coates in an interview that:

He said: "My concerns are both quite personal. I asked my mother as a teenager when she was dying of bone cancer. And I saw someone with a very painful disease."

The Liberal Democrat leader said that through nursing and palliative care "she was able to enjoy life and be with us".

Separately, Sir Ed has concerns about the pressure legalising assisted dying could place on elderly people.

He said this wouldn't "necessarily" be from relatives, but "from the inside, internally, which they may not express".

Ridler stated that Sir Ed Davey is a skeptic concerning assisted suicide and believes that any vote on the issue must be a free vote.

Ridler pointed out that Scotland's Liberal Democrat MSP, Liam McArthur, is leading efforts to change the law in Scotland with a private member's bill on the issue.

Governments in the UK need to examine the experience with Canada's euthanasia law and outright reject legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide.

Better off Dead documentary is available to be viewed on youtube

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Liz Carr is an actress, comedian and disability rights activist, who produced a documentary titled - Better off Dead? that was aired on BBC1 on May 14. Carr may be best known for her role as Clarissa Mullery on the BBC series Silent Witness.

Liz Carr's Better off Dead? is available for you to watch on youtube (youtube link).

Anna Moore who wrote an article for the Guardian explains Better off Dead?

Better Off Dead? takes a deep dive into assisted dying and disability. Carr believes the two can’t be separated. It’s disturbing, of course, but also life-affirming and darkly funny, which isn’t surprising; Carr was a standup comic for years. In the opening shots, she and her disabled friends remember the times they have been told they would be better off dead. One, Jamie Hale, has even had someone offer to kill him. (“And this wasn’t someone I was particularly close to,” he says.)

The film is also intensely personal. Carr looks back at her childhood and the impact of having her life turned upside down by a rare autoimmune condition at seven. It’s something she has been reluctant to share in the past. “Our perception of disability is that it’s the greatest tragedy to befall you and I don’t want to compound that,” she says. “But I did want to show that I do know how your life changes so hugely when you join that camp – the most unsexy, unfun, unglamorous group. Who’d want that?”

One of the people that Carr interviews in her film was Dr Ellen Wiebe, Canada's most prolific euthanasia doctor. 

Wiebe told Carr that nobody is more grateful than the patients that she has killed. Emira Tanatarova reported in the Daily Mail on May 15 on some of the comments from the BBC documentary viewers:

Enjoying her job a little too much I felt,' one wrote.

'She was extremely scary and oddly cheerful,' another added. 'But it might have been defensiveness which made her so very strange indeed.'

'Her eagerness and her excitement over grateful patients was unsettling,' one poster penned.

'Really eerie,' one comment read. 'Her job should bring feelings of solemnity, profoundness, sadness... anything but the weird euphoric state she seems to be in.'

Previous articles about Liz Carr:

• Better off Dead? documentary to be aired on BBC1 on May 14 (Link).
  
• Laws against assisted suicide provide equal protection (Link).
• Liz Carr address to Victoria Australia parliament on assisted suicide (Link).
• Disability activists say no to euthanasia bill (Link).

UK "citizens' jury" supported legalizing euthanasia, has ties to the euthanasia lobby.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Previous article: Pro-assisted suicide committee (UK) publishes report (Link).

Alex Schadenberg

Keir Starmer, the UK Prime Minister,  announced that he may fast-track the legalization of euthanasia in the UK. This response came after the release of a pro-euthanasia report from a "citizens' jury" that called for the legization of euthanasia.

On September 12 I published a criticism of the citizens jury report by the Care Not Killing Alliance. One of the criticisms stated (Link to article):

Disappointingly, we note that the Director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics was formerly Director of Compassion in Dying, the charitable arm of Dignity in Dying which campaigns for assisted suicide. Additionally, a leading Council member was previously chair of Compassion in Dying, and the project was funded by a group which has also funded another leading pro-assisted suicide campaign organisation.

It is significant that Danielle Hamm, the director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics is a former director of Compassion in Dying, which is the charitable arm of the Dignity in Dying the leading euthanasia lobby group in the UK.

It is also significant that A B Charitable Trust which, in the past, funded a Humanist Association euthanasia campaign was the same group to cover the cost of the "citizens jury."

It is also significant that the "citizens' jury" supported child euthanasia.

This is a set-up. Instead of marching our the same old faces offering the same old rhetoric, choose a "jury" of "average" citizens and them to agree to the same old rhetoric.

Will the media let the response of 28 people who were picked by a pro-euthanasia campaign team change the course of history in the UK?

A recent UK poll found that UK citizens believe that there are - too many complicating factors to safely implement a euthansasia law (Link).

Pro-assisted suicide committee (UK) publishes report.

Care Not Killing responds to Nuffield Council on Bioethics disappointing project on assisted suicide and euthanasia

Responding to the news that England’s first Citizens’ Jury on so-called assisted dying will report tomorrow, Dr Gordon Macdonald, CEO for Care Not Killing commented: 

“Disappointingly, we note that the Director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics was formerly Director of Compassion in Dying, the charitable arm of Dignity in Dying which campaigns for assisted suicide. Additionally, a leading Council member was previously chair of Compassion in Dying, and the project was funded by a group which has also funded another leading pro-assisted suicide campaign organisation.

“That’s before we get to the selection criteria. A jury in a court of law must be rigorously impartial with no strong views about the case they are judging. This does not appear to be the case with this exercise, indeed, from the methodology which is being published today, two thirds of the panel (65 per cent) were either in favour or strongly in favour of changing the law on assisted suicide and euthanasia before taking any evidence. So, what could have been a serious contribution to this important debate seemingly fails the impartiality test.

“Perhaps this is why the results also run contrary to recent polling carried out under British Polling Council guidelines which concluded that a clear majority (56 per cent) of the public who expressed a view supporting assisted dying/assisted suicide in principle do not believe that the current laws preventing assisted suicide or euthanasia can be implemented safely.”

Dr Gordon Macdonald

The polling, carried out earlier this year by Whitestone Insight also found:

• A majority feel that if assisted dying is legalised in the UK, patients should have the legal right to choose to be treated by doctors and other health professionals who have opted out of participating in it.
• Legalising assisted dying/assisted suicide is not a political priority for most people. Legalising assisted dying/assisted suicide ranked 23 out of 24 of issues that need attention, with “regulating AI” and “international trade deals” ranking higher. Only four per cent thought it should be a priority for politicians. 
• 60 per cent of those surveyed worried that legalising AD/AS would fundamentally change the relationship between doctor and patient, including more than half (51 per cent) of those who support AD/AD. 
• Seven in 10 (70 per cent) said that assistance in dying in countries like Canada and the Netherlands, where young people with no terminal illness are helped to die, has gone too far. This rose to more than eight in 10 (84 per cent) when those who answered ‘don’t know’ were discounted. 
• Young people reject assisted dying/assisted suicide more than do any other age group. Fewer than half (44 per cent) of 18–24-year-olds supported legalising assisted dying/assisted suicide. 
• A clear majority – 56 per cent – voiced fears that legalising assisted suicide would lead to a culture where suicide becomes more normalised than it is today. This rose to 67 per cent when those who answered “don’t know” were omitted. 
• Similarly, 43 per cent fear that introducing assisted suicide when the NHS and Social Care budget is under such pressure would inevitably place an incentive on health professionals to encourage some people to end their lives early.
  

Dr Macdonald concluded: 

“At a time when we see how quickly the safeguards in countries like Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands have been eroded so disabled people and those with mental health problems, even eating disorders are now being euthanised, I would strongly urge the Government to focus on fixing our broken palliative care system that sees up to one in four Brits who would benefit from this type of care being unable to access it, rather than discussing again this dangerous and ideological policy. With suicides in the UK being at record levels financial worries and the NHS in crisis, now is not the time to encourage or facilitate more suicides by legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia.” 

For more information please contact Alistair Thompson of Team Britannia PR on: 07970 162225 or by email: alistair@teambritanniapr.com