Legalizing assisted suicide does not reduce murder-suicide.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

A commentary by Karen Chaffraix that was published in the Fauquier Times (Virginia) on November 10 infers that legalizing assisted suicide will somehow remedy the tragic acts of murder suicide. 

Chaffraix's commentary concerns the tragic deaths of Linda and Clark Johnson by murder-suicide. Chaffraix states that European studies suggest that people should have the right to end their own lives, in these situations. Chaffraix does not provide links to these "studies".

Research by Donna Cohen, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and a suicide researcher, and others prove that murder-suicide is rarely related to assisted suicide.

Donna Cohen

Cohen stated the following in a March 2009 Minnesota Tribune article:

When people read reports of a murder-suicide they will often ask the question, was this an Act of love, or desperation? Cohen who has researched this question tries to find answers. 

She stated in the article:

That notion is common in murder-suicides, said Cohen, who has testified before Congress, written extensively and helped train families and physicians. She is a professor of aging and mental health at the University of South Florida and heads its Violence and Injury Prevention Program. 

"If they were consulted, families usually would try to stop it,'' she said. "In fact, murder-suicide almost always is not an act of love. It's an act of desperation."

Cohen explains that murder-suicide does not equate with assisted suicide. She said:

Some people equate murder-suicide with assisted suicide and the right to control when you will die, Cohen said. "It usually is not the same. This is suicide and murder.''

According to Cohen, the typical murder-suicide case involves a depressed controlling husband who shoots his ill wife. "The wife does not want to die and is often shot in her sleep. If she was awake at the time, there are usually signs that she tried to defend herself." 

Murder-suicide are tragic actions, but legalizing assisted suicide will not reduce the incidence of murder-suicide.

Former California politician charged with assisting the suicide of his wife.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Steven Clute, a former member of the California Assembly, was charged with assisting the suicide of his wife, Pamela Clute. Pamela Clute died from a gun shot wound on August 21, 2016 at their home. Her husband stated that the suicide was related to her severe pain.

According to the Associated Press article:

Steve Clute, 69, a former Navy pilot who served as a Democrat in the state Assembly from 1982 to 1992, allegedly gave her the handgun she used to take her life, John Hall, spokesman for the Riverside district attorney, said Monday.

The Clute assisted suicide trial may test the limits of the California assisted suicide law.

The Associated Press article stated that Steve Clute was not present at the time of his wife's death. Even if this is true, according to the law, it doesn't matter. 

The California Penal Code 401 - Aiding, Advising or Encouraging a Suicide states that it is a crime to: advise or encourage someone to commit suicide.

There were no independent witnesses at the time of the death.

Dying of Despair

This article was published by the National Review online on August 22, 2017

Wesley Smith

By Wesley Smith

I began my work against assisted suicide in 1993. 

In the intervening years, I have witnessed a very disturbing change. When I began, the emotional zeitgeist of society focused intensely on preventing suicide. Today, in many cases, the emotional oomph (if you will) supports suicide, not in all cases to be sure, but certainly in some. 

There has been a concomitant downgrading of suicide prevention intensity. As I wrote a few years ago, we now have what I call “invisible” suicide prevention campaigns. 

I write this because there is a very good article in First Things by UC Irvine psychiatrist Aaron Kheriaty that explores the general issue of suicide. He diagnoses the causes of our crisis as coming from a loss of hope, and to some degree, the decline of religious practice (as distinguished from affiliation). 

I intend to dig deeper into his article later. But for now, I want to focus on the assisted suicide aspect. 

I have long believed that promoting assisted suicide–even if you call it something else, like “death with dignity” or “aid in dying”–sends an enervating message to the suicidal that self-killing is an acceptable answer to suffering and life’s most difficult problems. 

Indeed I believe that the elevation of Brittany Maynard to movie star levels of adulation and celebrity–solely because she promoted and committed assisted suicide–was a tremendously destructive and subversive act that could help push people in dark directions. 

Dr Aaron Kheriaty

Kheriaty discusses that question too. From, “Dying of Despair: 

The law is a teacher, and American law ­increasingly teaches indifference to life when it runs up against respect for radical autonomy. 

California and Colorado recently joined four other states in permitting doctors to assist terminally ill patients to take their own lives. In the same week that Gov. Brown signed the California bill, two British scholars published a study showing that laws permitting assisted suicide in Oregon and Washington have led to a rise in overall suicide rates in those states. 

I wrote about that study here too. Back to Kheriaty: 

These findings should not surprise us. We know that publicized cases of suicide tend to produce copycat cases, often disproportionately among young people. Recall the recent spate of adolescent suicides in Silicon Valley. Social scientists call this “the Werther effect,” from Goethe’s eighteenth-century novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, in which the protagonist, thwarted in his romantic pursuits, takes his own life with a pistol. After the book’s publication, a rash of suicides among young men using the same means alarmed authorities in Germany…  

The case of fourteen-year-old Valentina Maureira, a Chilean girl who suffered from cystic fibrosis, illustrates both effects while highlighting the power of social influences.  

Maureira made a YouTube video begging her government to legalize assisted suicide. She admitted that the idea to end her life began after she heard about the case of Brittany Maynard, the twenty-nine-year-old woman who campaigned for the legalization of assisted suicide before ending her own life.  

Maureira, however, later changed her mind after meeting another young woman suffering from cystic fibrosis who encouraged her to persevere in the face of adversity. Her father complained that the media were only interested in her story when she wanted to die. 

If Maureira had killed herself, we never would have known she would, one day, change her mind. 

But that fact won’t resonate at all with those who increasingly believe that suicide, at least of the sick, is a right rather than a cultural crisis. They will simply shrug and sniff, “She didn’t do it so what’s the problem?” 

But there is a huge problem that could be taking the lives of some who would later want to live. Consider: We now see suicide parties extolled in the media–even joint suicides and euthanasia killings of elderly couples. Movies promote suicide of the sick and elderly. And one can’t discuss assisted suicide with out seeing the photo of a beautifully smiling Brittany Maynard holding a puppy. 

In all of this, I am reminded of a quote from Canadian journalist Andrew Coyne. Writing in the wake of widespread public support for a father who murdered his daughter because she had cerebral palsy, Coyne worried: 

A society that believes in nothing can offer no argument even against death. A culture that has lost its faith in life cannot comprehend why it should be endured. 

We aren’t there yet, but if we aren’t careful, we could become a pro-suicide culture, or at least a suicide-indifferent one. 

Indeed, when it comes to the ill, disabled, and elderly, many of us are already there. And the casualties are mounting.

Canada's Euthanasia Bill provides a perfect cover for murder.

By Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC)

Bill C-14, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make related amendments to other Acts (medical assistance in dying) was tabled today in the House of Commons.

Bill C-14 appears more restrictive in comparison to the radical recommendations from the government assisted dying committee. The bill does not extend euthanasia to mature minors, to people with dementia, or to people who seek death by lethal injection for psychological reasons alone. The bill appears to require the person to have a terminal condition and it appears to require a 15 day waiting period.

In reality Bill C-14 provides legal immunity to anyone, who kills another, while the bill fails to provide effective oversight of the law or conscience rights for healthcare professionals.

There are significant problems with the design of Bill C-14.

1. Bill C-14 does not provide effective oversight of the law. The bill requires approval for euthanasia or assisted suicide by two independent physicians or nurse practitioners, without requiring before the death oversight from an independent third-party (judge or committee). The bill permits the doctor or nurse practitioners that approve the act to also do the act and then also report the act. There is no effective oversight when the same person approves the injection, does the injection and then reports the injection.

2. Bill C-14 provides legal immunity to “any person” who directly participates in the act. Section 241(3) provides legal immunity to any person who does anything for the purpose of aiding a medical practitioner or nurse practitioner to provide a person with medical assistance in dying. Section 241(5) provides legal immunity to anyone who does anything, at another person’s explicit request, for the purpose of aiding that other person to self-administer a substance that has been prescribed for that other person as part of the provision of medical assistance in dying. These sections of the bill are very dangerous because they provide legal immunity to any person who is directly involved with killing another person.

It is unbelievable that legal immunity is provided to anyone. This bill provides the perfect cover for acts of murder.

3. The bill does not limit euthanasia and assisted suicide to people who are terminally ill. The bill defines terminal as: their natural death has become reasonably foreseeable, taking into account all of their medical circumstances, without a prognosis necessarily having been made as to the specific length of time that they have remaining.

What does it mean that natural death has become reasonably foreseeable? How will that be determined if a prognosis is not necessary? This section of the bill provides an illusion of compromise.

4. The “safeguards” are an illusion. The bill requires a medical or nurse practitioner to: be of the opinion that the person meets all of the criteria. To “be of the opinion” is a very low standard. It will be impossible to prove that the medical or nurse practitioner was not of the opinion that the person met all of the criteria.

The bill requires a medical or nurse practitioner to: be satisfied that the request was signed and dated by the person — or by another person under subsection (4). To “be satisfied” is a very low standard. 

Section 4 also enables any person to sign the request. It states anyone can sign the request so long as they are: at least 18 years of age and who understands the nature of the request.

Bill C-14 is a Trojan horse that falsely claims to provide clear and effective guidelines.

5. The bill does not provide conscience protection for medical or nurse practitioners. Medical professionals who consider killing patients as the antithesis to care are not given conscience protection in Bill C-14. Section 241.31 requires medical and nurse practitioners to be involved in the act by requiring them to send requests for euthanasia or assisted suicide to a “designated recipient” or the Minister of Health.

Conclusion: 

Bill C-14 does not provide effective oversight of the law, it is not a harm reduction model, nor does it provide safe spaces for people who are particularly opposed to being killed by lethal injection and it does not provide conscience protection for medical professionals who oppose killing patients. This bill provides the perfect cover for acts of murder by enabling “anyone” to directly participate in the act

This bill is particularly dangerous for Canadians in their time of need.

EPC is a national organization of citizens and groups who support caring measures and oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide. EPC has more than 25,000 supporters.

Spousal homicide: another reason why euthanasia and assisted suicide must be prohibited.

Alex Schadenberg

By Alex Schadenberg

Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The recent case of an elderly man who plead guilty to killing his wife is an example of why assisted suicide must be prohibited.

Robert Edgar (83) was sentenced to 10 years for second degree murder after admitting to smothering to death Zdenko Sekora (79), his wife of 32 years.

An Ottawa Citizen article reported that Teresa Sernets, his daughter-in-law, was afraid of Edgar and was upset that she didn't warn her mother. The article reported:

Tereza Sernets, said she had been afraid of her stepfather, Robert Edgar, since she met him when she was 19 years old. He often chased her and taunted her, she told court. 

“How can I continue living happily when I couldn’t protect her, didn’t warn her?” Sernets said. “Why didn’t I share my fear?”

There have been many cases of spousal homicide where the perpetrator claimed that the act was an assisted suicide or euthanasia/"mercy killing."

Last year, in Montecello New York, Andrew Moore claimed that he strangled to death his mother, Margaret Regalia, as part of an assisted suicide pact.

In 2010 I wrote an article titled: Homicide or "Mercy Killing" in response to another spousal homicide case in New York.

Recently, a man in the Netherlands was acquitted for assisting the suicide of his mother. 

Man kills his mother and claims it was assisted suicide.

By Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Margaret Regalia

The following story from Monticello New York is very upsetting.

The story that is published in the Times-Herald Record states that Andrew Moore confessed to strangling his mother, Margaret "Peggy" Regalia, to death as part of an assisted suicide pact.

Clearly, this upsetting case is not an assisted suicide pact, as the defense attorney claims. 

Assisted suicide is to intentionally assist another person to commit suicide. Regalia didn't kill herself but rather was strangled to death. Therefore it is a murder or murder-suicide pact but not an assisted suicide pact. The defense may have used this to lessen the gravity of the charge.

Moore's sister, Jennifer Panet doubted the argument by the defense attorney. The Mohawk Valley News stated:

Nitschke - "an undetectable death" or murder?

This article was written by Paul Russell, the director of HOPE Australia, and published on August 26, on the HOPE Australia blog.

Paul Russell

By Paul Russell

The recent news of the suspension of Philip Nitschke’s medical licence pending the medical board of Australia’s investigations is good news. But many have asked: why has it taken so long?

The trigger issue for the medical board was the suicide death of Perth man, Nigel Brayley; Beyond Blue chairman, Jeff Kennett and others arguing that, in Nitschke’s contact with Brayley, he had a duty of care to try and stop Brayley from taking his own life.

Nitschke has claimed that his contact with Brayley was not medical in nature and therefore created no onus upon him to attempt to stop Brayley. But a medical professional is a medical professional 24/7 and not simply during a scheduled clinical consultation. There are many professions in our community that hold some sort of mandated civic duty at all times; surely a doctor is no different?

That it has taken so long for the ubiquitous head of the Exit ‘death cult’ as journalist Angela Shanahan called it, to find himself ‘in the dock’ is indeed a matter of some frustration for opponents, including this writer. That it eventually did happen was always a safe bet.

Two years ago when I made a complaint to the medical board I did so because of a significant public safety concern arising out of the then latest in Exit death methods – nitrogen gas hypoxia. What made this method even more of a concern than the other earlier methods was its marketing slogan: “…for an undetectable death…”

The Exit sales blurb talked about this ‘undetectability’ being for those who didn’t want to be remembered as, ‘Uncle so-and-so who killed himself.’ Our concern was more about what was not said – but clearly inferred.

There’s nothing ‘undetectable’ about an Exit nitrogen death if it is truly a do-it-yourself method. The deceased will be found with a gas canister and paraphernalia. Pretty obvious.

So, to be ‘undetectable’ there would need to be a complicit third party who would dispose of the evidence. Now there’s a third party involved; now there’s someone at risk of being charged with the criminal offence of assisting in a suicide.

If that were not enough of a red flag, this ‘undetectability’ provides an opportunity for someone to dispose of someone else with the benefit of being able to avoid suspicion. It’s a rolled-gold method for the most sinister form of elder abuse.

The Brayley case is a ‘smoking gun’, whereas our observations about a real life-and-death risk to the elderly and infirmed, whilst sound and logical, remained theoretical. That is; until July this year in the Utah town of Roy.

Dennis Chamberlain is charged with first degree murder for allegedly killing his wife, Jean Chamberlain and trying to make it look like a natural death.

Jean Chamberlain died in February this year. She was ill and undergoing treatment and was in the care of her husband, Dennis, in their Roy home. Dennis Chamberlain did not advise Roy police of Jean’s death, preferring instead, as he later told his family, to call on an LDS Bishop who declared his wife deceased. As a Roy Detective noted, Mrs Chamberlain’s recent illness and visit to a doctor on the morning of her death were reason enough to issue a death certificate at that time.

It was not until months after the death and burial of Jean that her family raised their suspicion that all was not as it seemed after Chamberlain had told conflicting stories about what had happened that day in February.

Police issued a warrant to search Chamberlain’s home. According to one news report, they found:

On his computer police say they found “methods on how to commit suicide and other resources such as doctors to sign death certificates.” 

Police claim he bought “an oxygen mask and a book titled “the Peaceful Pill Handbook”. 

They also found an exit bag, a plastic hoodie used for suffocation.

The Roy Police Press release of the 1st of July made the claimed subterfuge even clearer:

After several warrants and subpoenas were written and served by investigators, it was found that Dennis had been researching ways to commit suicide and other resources, such as how to find doctors to sign death certificates, and searches that were specific to certain medications, chemicals, and poisons, which could be used to help end your life, and not be detected at autopsy. (PR: sound familiar!) 

Also located was a book which is an instructional book on how to commit suicide without it being detected in an autopsy, this book could also be used as a guide to commit a homicide, and it was found that Dennis had purchased items mentioned in this book the day Jean had died, and it is believed that these items were used to end Jean’s life.

The Salt Lake Tribune puts it this way:

Detectives also learned that Chamberlain allegedly purchased an oxygen mask and a book titled “The Peaceful Pill Handbook,” a euthanasia and suicide how-to manual. Several areas of the book pertaining to the use of nitrogen gas and making of a so-called “Exit Bag” – a plastic bag with a drawstring to put over one’s head – were marked, the affidavit contends. 

Mrs Chamberlain’s body was subsequently exhumed for examination. The specifics of what this autopsy discovered have not been made known, but the Roy Police did confirm that ‘medical examiners found evidence of asphyxiation'.

A preliminary hearing on the charges has been set for the 29th of August.

Nitschke possibly connected to a murder in America.

By Alex Schadenberg

Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The media in Utah has reported that a suspicious death may be connected to a book written by an Australian euthanasia promoter.

The article reports on the suspicious death of Jean Chamberlain and the arrest of her husband Dennis states that:

Dennis Vance Chamberlain, of Roy, was charged Tuesday in 2nd District Court with murder, a first-degree felony. Prosecutors said they believe Chamberlain purposely gave his ailing wife, Jean, substances that killed her.

But Roy police Tuesday declined to say whether they believed Chamberlain's alleged actions were committed as a mercy killing, assisted suicide, or whether his intentions were more malicious.

Police have stated that they think they have a motive but the story also reported the suspicious circumstances related to Jean's death.

Police started interviewing people, and quickly got conflicting stories about where Chamberlain was that morning.

"Dennis had initially told his family that he had walked his dog around the block, and when he returned home, he found Jean deceased. He later told neighbors a different story about him taking Jean to the hospital earlier that morning, and after he went on a walk to the mailbox, he returned home and found her deceased. Dennis also told his family that his LDS (Church) bishop had responded to the home and pronounced Jean deceased, but it was later confirmed he had never responded nor was the bishop notified until a day after Jean’s death," according to the charges.

Another article quoted Janis Ferran, a family member, who stated that Chamberlain had been writing about death. The article stated:

Chamberlain wrote a letter stating some research he was doing on ending a life, but no one thought he'd actually do such a thing. Family members thought it was just another bizarre letter from their odd brother in law. ... 

Farran said she was not immediately alarmed, "You just didn't think he would do such a thing. I just kind of thought what a strange guy who would write something like that you know, you just don't think anything like that would really happen,"

Chamberlain was infamous for his peculiar writings says Farran, many in the family simply ignored him or returned the letters to him unopened.

A care-givers Dilemma (from a disability perspective).

The following article was printed with permission from the author.

By Tina Calabro - Published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on June 14, 2014

Tina Calabro

In the deaths of Richard Liposchok and his son, Mickey, Tina Calabro sees lessons to learn in how society views the disabled.

On Dec. 17, Richard Liposchok, the sole caregiver of his 52-year-old son, Mickey, took his son's life and then his own with a rifle in their Port Vue home.

The tragedy stunned the close-knit community of 3,800, where the Liposchok family was well known and liked. The elder Liposchok, a 78-year-old retired steelworker known as "Lippy," had been a pillar of the borough's volunteer fire department for decades. His wife, Gail, a one-time crossing guard who had died a year earlier, was admired for her pleasant nature and devotion to the couple's only son.

Like many parents of the early 1960s -- an era that preceded widespread advocacy for disability rights, services and access to community life -- the Liposchoks assumed complete responsibility for the upbringing of their son, who had an intellectual disability. It appears that the family never requested support from the Allegheny County Office of Intellectual Disability, even as services such as day programs, vocational training, community residences and professional coordination of family support became available through the years.

By all accounts, the couple were loving, attentive parents who believed that it was their job alone to provide their son with a safe and comfortable life from childhood through adulthood. Out in the community, Mickey always was in the company of one or both parents.

Amour and Fear: Assisted Suicide at the Oscars

By Amy E. Hasbrouck

Once again, a film about “euthanasia” has won an Oscar. Back in the ‘70s the tear-jerker movies were about people dying of cancer. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, it was people dying of AIDS. For the 21st century, the new chic is euthanasia/assisted suicide/”mercy killing” movies.  Million Dollar Baby, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The English Patient, The Sea Inside, Un Dimanche à Kigali, Le Temps qui Reste, The Barbarian Invasion (Les Invasions Barbares), Magnus – all have taken on euthanasia/assisted suicide/”mercy killing” from the point of view of non-disabled white people and come to the same conclusion; great idea!

Now we have the film Amour, directed by Michael Haneke, whose leading actors took the Palm d’Or at Cannes in 2012. The story concerns Anna and George, an elderly couple, former music teachers who live in a nice apartment in Paris. After a series of strokes, Anna is partially paralyzed and her memory begins to fail. The couple withdraws, refusing contact and the help of friends, relatives and neighbours, while George cares for Anna as her mental and physical abilities decline. In the end he suffocates her.

Given the film industry’s adoration of movies that end with a man “lovingly” killing a spouse, it was no surprise when Amour was awarded an Oscar for Best Foreign Picture.

In the real world, many studies have shown that in cases of “assisted suicide”/euthanasia/ ”mercy killing in elderly couples, the woman is generally an unwilling victim, and there is often a history of domestic violence. This fact is rarely reflected in the superficial media coverage in the immediate aftermath of such gruesome crimes. By the time the truth of the matter has been uncovered, the media spotlight has moved on, and the public is left with the same false impression; “he did it for love.”

There has been almost no discussion in the francophone media of the disability and human rights problems with the narrative of Amour, and little in the Anglophone press either. No critics questioned the film’s seemingly inevitable ending, or George’s motives for killing his wife. Not surprising, but disappointing anyway.

It’s troubling that films like this come out so often, but fail to educate the public about the real issues in assisted suicide and euthanasia. In the case of Clint Eastwood’s film, his consistent and vocal opposition to the Americans with Disabilities Act suggests a possible motive for killing off his disabled protagonist. For other writers and filmmakers, the examination of the issue generally arises more from fear of disability, unresolved grief, or other feelings common to non-disabled people.

Like other media portrayals, these films usually show people with disability either as sad, tragic and incapable victims, or as inspirational over-achievers, but never as ordinary human beings. Nor do the filmmakers focus on their struggles against the external barriers and discrimination that limit their life options, focusing instead on the physical changes that are natural to the human experience.

The message is clear; the lives of those of us with disabilities are not worth living. We are better off dead, and the sooner the better. These attitudes only perpetuate fear of and discrimination against disabled people, and the more often this lie is spoken, the deeper entrenched the fear becomes. Through that discrimination, the lie becomes the truth, and pressure grows to allow assisted suicide and euthanasia for old, ill and disabled people.

Amy E. Hasbrouck is the director of Toujours Vivant-Not Dead Yet, a project of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities that unites people with disabilities who oppose assisted suicide, euthanasia and other discriminatory end-of-life practices.

Legalizing assisted suicide does not prevent murder-suicide and leads to an increase in other suicide deaths.

Margaret Dore

The following is a letter sent to Montana legislators. 

In the letter, Margaret Dore explains that it is a false argument to suggest that legalizing assisted suicide will reduce the incidence of murder-suicide.

Dore also provides links to the statistics that prove that the incidence of other suicides have significantly increased since Oregon legalized assisted suicide.

-----------------------------

Please consider the following:

1. According to Donna Cohen, the typical murder-suicide case involves a depressed controlling husband who shoots his ill wife: “The wife does not want to die and is often shot in her sleep. If she was awake at the time, there are usually signs that she tried to defend herself.”  See WebMD, "Murder-Suicides in Elderly Rise: Husbands commit most murder suicides–without wives’ consent," January 30, 2005,  http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=50782
Please also read this article from Oregon, that murder-suicides "follow the national pattern."

Link: http://blog.oregonlive.com/health_impact/print.html?entry=/2009/11/recent_murder-suicides_follow.html

If physician assisted suicide were legal in Montana, the wife, not wanting to die, would still be a victim.

2. Legalization of physician-assisted suicide in Oregon is correlated with a higher rate of other suicides. Oregon’s overall suicide rate, which excludes suicide under Oregon’s physician-assisted suicide act, is 35% above the national average. Moreover, this rate has been “increasing significantly since 2000.” 

See: http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/news/2010news/2010-0909a.pdf

Just three years prior, in 1997, Oregon legalized physician-assisted suicide. Other suicides have thus increased with legalization of physician-assisted suicide. This is consistent with a copy cat or suicide contagion phenomenon (normalizing one type of suicide, i.e., physician assisted suicide, encouraged other suicides)

Moreover, many of these deaths are violent. For 2007, “firearms were the dominant mechanism of suicide among men.” This is according to an Oregon Department of Human Services report issued in September 2010. See excerpts here: http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/oregon-suicide-info_0011.pdf

Please also note that in Oregon, the "cost of suicide is enormous."

As I wrote you before, I live in Washington State where assisted suicide is legal. I am helping Montanans Against Assisted Suicide. Here is one of my articles published in The Advocate, the official publication of the Idaho State Bar Association. http://www.margaretdore.com/pdf/Not_Legal_in_Idaho.pdf

I urge you to not make our mistake.

Vote Yes on HB 505

Margaret Dore
Law Offices of Margaret K. Dore, P.S.
Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation
www.choiceillusion.org

Legalizing assisted suicide will not prevent violent deaths

The following article was written by Seattle attorney Margaret Dore in response to a comment by assisted suicide supporter Marcia Angell. This comment was originally published on the Massachusetts against assisted suicide blog under the title: Legalization will not prevent violent deaths.

By Margaret Dore

Margaret Dore

Assisted suicide proponents claim that legal assisted suicide will prevent violent deaths such as those by murder-suicide and suicide involving a handgun.[1] In Oregon where assisted-suicide has been legal since 1997, murder-suicide has not been eliminated.[2] Indeed, murder-suicides follow "the national pattern."[3] As discussed below, suicides involving a handgun have also not been eliminated. Oregon's suicide rate has instead increased with legalization of assisted suicide.

Oregon’s overall suicide rate, which excludes suicides under Oregon’s assisted suicide act, is 35% above the national average.[4] This rate has been "increasing significantly since 2000."[5] Just three years prior, in 1997, Oregon legalized physician-assisted suicide.[6] Other suicides thus increased, not decreased, with legalization of assisted suicide. Moreover, many of these deaths are violent. For 2007, which is the most recent year reported, "[f]irearms were the dominant mechanism of suicide among men."[7] The claim that legalization will prevent violent deaths is without factual support.

* * *

[1]  See e.g. Lindsey Anderson, Associated Press, "Mass. Voters Consider Physician-Assisted Suicide," October 20, 2012, at: http://www.wbur.org/2012/10/20/physician-assisted-suicide ("Dr. Marcia Angell ... believes [her father] would've lived longer and not turned to a pistol had assisted suicide been available").
[2]  See Don Colburn, "Recent murder-suicides follow the national pattern," The Oregonian, November 17, 2009 ("In the span of one week this month in the Portland area, three murder-suicides resulted in the deaths of six adults and two children") (Available at: http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2009/11/recent_murder-suicides_follow.html); Baldr Odinson, "Fourth Murder-Suicide for the Eugene Area," New Trajectory:  A blog for Ceasefire Oregon, March 2, 2011, ("Harry Hanus, age 74, shot and killed his wife, Barbara, before taking his own life")
(Available at: http://newtrajectory.blogspot.com/2011/03/fourth-murder-suicide-for-eugene-area.html); FOX 12 Webstaff, "Elderly couple's murder-suicide was planned well in advance, police say," Updated November 4, 2011, ("The bodies of 92-year-old Frances Lopes and 87-year-old Edward J. Lopes were found after a lengthy standoff at the Troutdale home")(http://www.kptv.com/story/15634956/standoff-ends-after-police-find-two-dead-in-troutdale-home?clienttype=printable);
and Colleen Stewart, "Hillsboro [Oregon] police investigating couple's homicide and suicide," The Oregonian, July 23, 2010 ("Wayne Eugene Coghill, 67, shot and killed his wife, Nyla Jean Coghill, 65, before taking his own life in their apartment"), at: http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2010/07/hillsboro_police_investigating_homicide_and_suicide.html See also Oregon State website as of October 24, 2012, stating that Oregon's assisted suicide law was enacted on October 27, 1997, at: http://public.health.oregon.gov/ProviderPartnerResources/EvaluationResearch/DeathwithDignityAct/Pages/index.aspx
[3] Don Colburn, "Recent murder-suicides follow the national pattern," at note 2.
[4]  See "Suicides in Oregon, Trends and Risk Factors," Oregon Department of Human Services, Public Health Division, September 2010 ("In 2007, the age-adjusted suicide rate . . . was 35% higher than the national average." "Deaths relating to the death with Dignity Act (physician-assisted suicides) are not classified by Oregon law and therefore excluded from this report")(Available at: http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/suicides-in-oregon-sept-20121.pdf).
[5]  Oregon Health Authority, News Release, Rising suicide rate in Oregon reaches higher than national average, September 9, 2010, available at: http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/rising-suicide-rate-in-oregon.pdf 
[6]  See Oregon State government website as of October 24, 2012, stating that Oregon's assisted suicide law was enacted on October 27, 1997.  Available at: http://public.health.oregon.gov/ProviderPartnerResources/EvaluationResearch/DeathwithDignityAct/Pages/index.aspx
[7]  Excerpt, "Suicides in Oregon, Trends and Risk Factors."  (Available at: http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/suicides-in-oregon-sept-20121.pdf

Murder-suicide rarely "compassionate homicide."

John Romano wrote an excellent article entitled: Murder-Suicides make news, but more abuse hides behind closed doors that was published Sunday, June 10, 2012 in the Tampa Bay Times.

This is an important article because the euthanasia lobby has been using the argument that legalizing assisted suicide will eliminate or lessen the problem of murder-suicide, but in fact research shows that murder-suicide (when done for supposedly "compassionate" reasons) is almost always related to a controlling/ abusive husband being unwilling to care for his sick wife.

Donna Cohen

Research by Donna Cohen, a suicide researcher, and others proves that homicide/suicide is rarely related to "compassionate" homicide.

Cohan stated the following in a Minnesota Tribune article from March 2009:
When people read reports of a murder-suicide they will often ask the question, was this an Act of love, or desperation? Cohen who has researched this question tries to find answers. She stated in the article:

That notion is common in murder-suicides, said Cohen, who has testified before Congress, written extensively and helped train families and physicians. She is a professor of aging and mental health at the University of South Florida and heads its Violence and Injury Prevention Program.

"If they were consulted, families usually would try to stop it,'' she said. "In fact, murder-suicide almost always is not an act of love. It's an act of desperation."

Cohen also recognizes that murder-suicide does not equate with assisted suicide. She said:

Some people equate murder-suicide with assisted suicide and the right to control when you will die, Cohen said. "It usually is not the same. This is suicide and murder.''

Murder-Suicide make news, but more abuse hides behind closed doors.

By John Romano - June 10, 2012

Four words in a headline­ Husband kills wife, self­ is all it takes to quicken the pulse and grip the heart.

Four words to trigger the memories, regrets and fears all around.

In the offices of a domestic violence shelter, Linda Osmundson wonders, and worries, if this was one of the women her group was unable to protect.

Audrey Mabrey debates attending the funeral for the woman she did not know, worrying that the scars from where her own husband once set her ablaze might make her unwelcome.

Paula Moore sits at her desk in the accounting department of a Tampa firm and silently recalls the bruises, broken bones and mental torture she once endured.

That poor woman, they all seem to say, could have been me.

The murder-suicide in Clearwater last week was the sixth case of its kind in Pinellas County in less than five months.

Some of the victims were young; others were older. Some were separated; a few shared a home with their killer. Many of their neighbors were surprised; some were not.

To the survivors of domestic abuse, those details are almost inconsequential. They have already lived through the daily horror of that story.

To them, there is one trait of domestic violence that is nearly universal. And a murder-suicide might be the ultimate example, for it's the final word in power and control.

"It is 100 percent about dominance and control,'' said Moore, who fled Ohio two years ago to escape an abusive relationship. "You look at women who stay and stay and stay, and you wonder why. It's because they have no more self-esteem, no self-respect.

"You've been beaten physically and mentally for so long, you get to the point where you think that's all there is, or all that will ever be.''

Anecdotally, it might seem as if the number of murder-suicides is suddenly spiking. Statistically, it is harder to track.

For law enforcement agencies, the investigation ends once a ruling of murder-suicide is confirmed. And that means it may never reach the desk of a domestic violence unit.

What we do know is the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has tracked roughly 90 to 120 murders of spouses or co-habitants every year for the past decade.

And those numbers don't even begin to tell the story of women who endure their beatings in silence. Women who are afraid to leave. Who don't have the means. Who worry what will become of their children if they try to flee.

In fact, the desperation of a murder-suicide is often precipitated by the possibility of the woman leaving the relationship. Of the six recent cases in Pinellas, at least four involved some level of separation between the couples.

"The violence often escalates when the guy feels he's losing control,'' said Osmundson, executive director of Community Action Stops Abuse in St. Petersburg. "If he starts threatening suicide, it's a huge red flag for us. 

If he is willing to commit suicide, then you are entering a really, really dangerous situation.

"That's what murder-suicide is: I've got you, and I'm taking you with me.''

Even in cases when the abuse was not as apparent, or not as severe, the trigger before the escalation is almost always there.

In Mabrey's case, which drew national headlines in 2009 when her husband doused her in gasoline and threw a candle at her, physical abuse had arrived only in the final days.

It was when Mabrey moved out of their home and began preparing for a divorce that the situation turned dangerous.

"The point of hitting is to obtain and maintain control,'' Mabrey said. "My husband was not a violent man before that. He was a cop. He was the last person you would have expected to do something like that.

"But at the end of the day, when a person who is used to being in control feels like they've lost everything, then they're capable of doing anything.''

Mabrey now devotes her life to speaking out against domestic abuse and spreading the word for groups such as Community Action Stops Abuse and the Family Justice Center of Hillsborough County.

The Justice Center has created an advocacy committee called Voices, where domestic abuse survivors tell their stories and encourage battered women to seek help.

"We can answer their questions, identify with their fears, speak their language,'' said Kimberly Alexander, who is chair for the Voices committee. "All of the women in Voices have been to hell and looked Satan in the eyes, and we've survived. We would be doing ourselves and our legacy a disservice if we didn't speak out.

"As a society, we've become kind of insensitive. Yes, it's in the news and you're talking about it today, but in a few days we will have forgotten about it. But that doesn't mean it's not still out there behind a lot of closed doors.''

Need help? The statewide domestic violence hotline is, toll-free, 1-800-500-1119.
That number will direct you to the nearest domestic violence center.

Link to a previous article on the topic by Stephen Drake, the research analyst from the disability right group Not Dead Yet.

Time to rethink - rethink euthanasia.

In his article [“Time to rethink euthanasia,” Ottawa Citizen, Dec. 29th ] Marcel Lavoie implies that legalizing euthanasia would stop violent deaths in the elderly, such as the death of Doreen Flann by stabbing at the hands of her husband, Ian.  In many of these deaths, the perpetrator-husband also kills himself for a murder-suicide.

Link to a recent Canadian study on the topic.

In Oregon where assisted-suicide has been legal since 1997, murder-suicide has not been eliminated. Indeed, murder-suicide follows “the national pattern.”

Donna Cohen

Moreover, according to Donna Cohen, an expert on murder-suicide, the typical case involves a depressed, controlling husband who shoots his ill wife:

“The wife does not want to die and is often shot in her sleep. If she was awake at the time, there are usually signs that she tried to defend herself.”

If euthanasia were legal, the wife, not wanting to die, would still be a victim.

Our laws against assisted suicide and euthanasia are in place to protect vulnerable people. Assisted suicide and/or euthanasia should not be legalized in Canada.

[Note: You may be interested in these articles: Don Colburn, "Recent murder-suicides follow the national pattern," The Oregonian, November 17, 2009,  and “Murder-suicides in Elderly Rise: Husbands commit most murder-suicides – without wives’ consent,”]

Stephen Drake Isn't Dead Yet

Daniel J Vince, has written an excellent article for the Rocklin and Roseville Today, titled: Drake Isn't Dead Yet. Stephen Drake, the research analyst for Not Dead Yet, is a leader in the disability community and a fabulous advocate and speaker against euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Drake and his partner Diane Coleman, are amazing advocates and leaders who both hero's at upholding legal protections for people with disabilities.

Stephen Drake writes regularly on the Not Dead Yet blog site.

Drake Isn't Dead Yet

When infant Stephen Drake was being born sideways breech in a New York hospital in the mid-'50s, a doctor wrongly used forceps to pull him from the womb. The resulting brain injury gave Drake hydrocephalus, which would require a lifelong brain shunt to manage. He also would have permanent challenges with nonverbal learning, tremors, body movement, and coordination.

Now Drake works for Not Dead Yet of Rochester, New York. In part, it's a nonprofit group for people with disabilities opposed to assisted suicide laws.

In a telephone interview, 55-year-old Drake said, "Not Dead Yet was founded in 1996, shortly after the third time Dr. Jack Kevorkian was acquitted for being involved in suicides, the last time with two women with non-terminal disabilities. That same year, the Supreme Court had two cases on whether a person had a constitutional right to assisted suicide. At that time, many individual disability advocates were speaking out against assisted suicide, but it was clear a group was needed to focus on that issue alone."

Drake cited a recent poll of people with disabilities in the United Kingdom. Although some people with disabilities there have pushed hard for having a legal right to assisted suicide, the majority of people with disabilities were against it.

In the U.S., Drake and many others with disabilities also have serious concerns. For one, people with disabilities are increasingly seen as a financial and emotional burden on society. If an assisted suicide law existed nationally, said Drake, medical professionals and family members would be in a position to consciously or unconsciously coerce vulnerable people with disabilities into making a lasting decision they normally wouldn't consider.

"And another concern is that [assisted suicide laws] are discriminatory," said Drake. "If, as advocates argue, giving someone assistance for suicide is honoring their suicide (choice), then assistance should be offered to anyone committing suicide, not just the ill, elderly or disabled."

Drake said media bias was one reason Americans haven't been better informed. For example, he said, "There has been an uptick (in the U.S.) in the number of elderly husbands killing their (disabled) wives, then killing themselves. In almost every case, the press has called this a 'mercy' killing. But studies looking into the details have shown no evidence at all the wife knew she was going to be killed, let alone asking for it."

We need Stephen Drake and Not Dead Yet to continue its work and we need more people like Drake and Coleman, who are willing and able to articulate on behalf of others.

Interesting Op-ed by PR Guy for Hawaii Death with Dignity Society

Stephen Drake, the research analyst for the disability rights group Not Dead Yet has done a great analysis of the recent comments by Scott Foster, the communications director for the Hawaii Death with Dignity group. Drake always does a great analysis, and he always looks into the archives for more information.

Drakes comment is work reading.

Interesting Op-ed by PR Guy for Hawaii Death with Dignity Society

Well, whatever else you can say about Scott Foster, Communication Director at the Hawaii Death with Dignity Society, he churns out an op-ed pretty quickly. Like lots of communications folks, he regurgitates stuff he's written elsewhere, but every once in awhile he introduces some new gem and there are several items of interest in his op-ed in the Star Advertiser after the defeat of the assisted suicide bill last week.

Foster wants a "better" debate - an ironic request from an assisted suicide zealot who exploited the tragic attempted murder-suicide in late 2009. Robert Yagi attempted to kill his wife with a flare gun loaded with shotgun shells. It was unsuccessful. However, Yagi succeeded in killing himself a short time later when police sent him home after being charged with attempted murder, left alone in his home. Like "Conflation and Con Jobs," Foster jumped on this incident to promote legalized assisted suicide, making the bizarre case that an attempted murder of a woman who didn't want to die somehow would have been prevented by a "death with dignity." Draw that reasoning up on a chalkboard and it would have a striking similarity to some of Glenn Beck's exercises in fantastical "logic."

The first "gem" in Foster's op-ed is that he comes very close to "speaking" Derek Humphry's "unspoken argument" - that an aging population and rising health care costs are powerful hidden motivations in supporting assisted suicide. Here's what Foster says:

I remain convinced that the well-organized opposition to DwD legislation in Hawaii and elsewhere is more about money and God than about our solving the many challenges associated with an aging population, the resulting end-of-life issues, or the out-of-control cost of health care in our state and nation. If you wonder where all that money is going, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Research, Development, and Information: "Medicare provides 64 percent of total health expenditures for beneficiaries in their last year of life ..." and the numbers for private insurance and out-of-pocket expenditures are similar. Despite the smoke and mirror arguments about "compassion," as it is, there's big money in death for many in the health care industry and DwD seems to threaten the status quo. (Emphasis added.)

It's fascinating, really. If you read that carefully, what Foster is saying is "assisted suicide will save money." After you look beyond "the smoke and mirror arguments about 'compassion'" (to use Foster's words) you see what Foster and the rest are really betting on.

Another interesting aspect of this op-ed is his attack on the chair of the Committee that held the hearings on the assisted suicide bill. Pro-assisted suicide advocates normally portray physicians as absolutely trustworthy professionals who would never abuse or expand killing beyond what an assisted suicide statue allows. That doesn't mean that Foster wants one to run a hearing on assisted suicide:

It is also clear that an M.D. should not be chairing health committees. It's an inherent conflict of interest.

There's a contradiction there - trust a doc with your life but not your legislation? Seriously, though, I doubt that Foster would object to the hearing being chaired by a pro-euthanasia doctor.

For anyone interested, there's been a fairly heated exchange between myself and another commenter at the newspaper site. I wouldn't be surprised if the other person was Foster himself, since he or she uses the same tired old arguments and fantasy scenarios about husbands who murder their wives.

Check out the comments in the Star Advertiser.

Homicide or Mercy Killing?

Alex Schadenberg

By Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The New York Daily News is reporting on a very sad case of homicide, whereby an elderly man shot his wife, reportedly based on compassion.

The daughter of the couple was reported by the newspaper as stating:

"It was a mercy killing," 

"Her mind was gone."

These cases need to be reported very carefully by the media. We do not know the actual intention of the spouse who is the perpetrator.

Research indicates that often a older person who kills their spouse has a history of abuse, has a controlling personality, or is experiencing depression or mental illness. Sadly these acts are almost always done by men.

A recent study entitled: Domestic Homicide and Homicide-Suicide: The Older Offender that was researched by Dominique Bourget and published in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 38:3:305-311 (2010) found that a disturbing trend exists in Spousal homicide cases among older persons.

The study found:

Most homicides committed by offenders aged 65 and older occur in a domestic context. In Canada, incidence rates of family homicide against people in this age group have increased in recent years, with spouses or ex-spouses accused in 42 percent of deaths of older women and 25 percent of deaths of older men. Most of the perpetrators of spousal homicide (77%) were close in age to their spouses. This finding differs from results in U.S. studies that indicate that female spousal homicide victims are usually younger than the perpetrators, and that the risk of homicide victimization increases as the age difference between spouses increases.

A history of domestic violence is a major risk factor for spousal homicide for female and male victims of any age. Lethal violence is often a result of long-term abusive behavior by a man against his female partner, and some women kill their intimate partners in a severe reaction to longstanding abuse. Spousal violence often continues into old age. In the past decade in Canada, 37 percent of older adults accused of spousal homicide had past incidents of domestic violence. Older male spousal homicide victims were more likely than older female homicide victims to have a history of domestic violence against the accused. While this finding is consistent with those in previous research that indicate a continuation of spousal violence into old age, it is important to note that the perpetrators of previous domestic violence cannot be established from available police reports. It should also be noted that, for various reasons, the prevalence of domestic violence is likely to be higher than reports indicate and that the apparent association with spousal homicide would therefore also be under-reported.

The study continues by promoting the high rate of mental illness among older persons who are prosecuted for homicide. The study states:

In an investigation of psychiatric characteristics of older offenders (65 and older) who had been referred to a medium-security forensic unit in the London area over a 13-year period, Tomar et al. identified diagnoses of schizophrenia and dementia in three of four homicide perpetrators who had offended after the age of 65. Coid et al. recorded index offenses and lifetime diagnoses of mental disorder in 52 older offenders (aged 60 and older) admitted to seven secure forensic psychiatric services in the United Kingdom over a seven-year period. The investigators found that schizophrenia, other delusional disorders, organic brain syndrome, and depressive disorder were the most prevalent lifetime diagnoses for the offenders, most of whom (82%) had committed homicide or attempted homicide. Link to study.

When reading these very disturbing facts it becomes abundantly clear that when a spouse of many years murders their spouse, even when the spouse who died was ill, one should never conclude that the action was based on a "compassionate" homicide.

It is better to speak about the sad reality of the story and not draw conclusions, especially conclusions that suggest that these acts would not occur if euthanasia or assisted suicide were legalized.

Link to a previous article on this topic.

Letter sent to Idaho paper concerning murder-suicide

I was cleaning up my email and found this article that I recently sent to the Couer D'Alene press in Idaho.

Re: Idaho doctors can offer a compassionate option, June 25, 2010

Dear Editor:

I am the Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, and Chair for the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, International. I was dismayed to see that Kathryn Tucker, Legal Director for the suicide lobby group, Compassion & Choices, is now targeting your state to legalize assisted suicide. Moreover, her column, suggesting that legalization will prevent murder-suicide, is spurious.

Donna Cohen

According to Donna Cohen, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, the typical murder-suicide case involves a depressed controlling husband who shoots his ill wife. "The wife does not want to die and is often shot in her sleep. If she was awake at the time, there are usually signs that she tried to defend herself." http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=50782

The typical wife in these cases does not “choose” her death. She is a victim of spousal abuse. Legal assisted suicide, regardless, fails to guarantee “choice.” These laws instead empower doctors, family members and new “best friends” to legally pressure people to take their lives. http://wsba.org/media/publications/barnews/jul-09+deathwithdignity.htm

In Canada, a bill that would have legalized assisted-suicide was recently defeated in our Parliament, 228 to 59. When I spoke with lawmakers who voted against the bill, many voiced the opinion that our government’s efforts should be focused on helping our citizens live with dignity, rather than developing strategies to get them out of the way.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Box 25033 London ON, Canada, N6C 6A8
1-877-439-3348, info@epcc.ca

Link to the original article: http://cdapress.com/columns/my_turn/article_ed885905-9ec9-5f4b-acf3-97063cb5f2de.html