Assisted suicide bills are not what they appear to be.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The assisted suicide lobby has introduced assisted suicide bills in at least 18 States in 2020. All of these bills include "safeguards" that appear to provide oversight of the law.

Recently I published an article explaining how the "safeguards" are written with loosely defined language to permit the laws to be redefined over time. I also explained that the "safeguards" are designed to convince legislators to legalize assisted suicide, while the assisted suicide lobby intends to remove them overtime. 

For instance, the Hawaii legislature passed an assisted suicide bill in 2018 that came into effect on Jan 1, 2019. There were 27 assisted suicide deaths in 2019.

The assisted suicide lobby is proposing to expand the assisted suicide law after only one year. The Hawaii legislature is debating bills SB 2582 and HB 2451 to expand the assisted suicide law by:

• permitting nurses to prescribe the lethal drugs,
• shortening the waiting period in general, and 
• waiving the waiting period when someone is "nearing death."

The Hawaii legislature also debated bill SB 3047 that would have allowed:

• assisted suicide for incompetent people who requested death in an advanced directive,
• physicians to waive the counseling requirement, 
• assisted suicide to be approved by "telehealth" and 
• require insurance companies to pay for assisted suicide.

Its hard to believe that the assisted suicide lobby wants death by "Telehealth."

The Washington State legislature is debating Bill 2419, a bill to study the "safeguards" in their assisted suicide law. One of the issues to be studied is allowing euthanasia (lethal injection) rather than limiting it to assisted suicide.

Last year the Oregon legislature expanded their assisted suicide law by waiving the 15 day waiting period.

Assisted suicide may not be a peaceful death.

The assisted suicide lobby has been using experimental lethal drug cocktails as they attempt to find a cheaper way to kill. The current assisted suicide drug cocktails have caused painful deaths that may take many hours to die. A recent article stated:

The (first drug mix) turned out to be too harsh, burning patients’ mouths and throats, causing some to scream in pain. The second drug mix, used 67 times, has led to deaths that stretched out hours in some patients — and up to 31 hours in one case.

The assisted suicide lobby is working on their third experimental lethal cocktail. Assisted suicide is not guaranteed to cause a "peaceful or painless death."

Our greatest concern is the New York assisted suicide bill. Governor Cuomo stated that he will sign an assisted suicide bill into law.

New York Assembly Bill A2694 and Senate Bill S3947 where introduced as the Medical Aid in Dying Act.

As Margaret Dore, the President of Choice is an Illusion stated in her article: New York: Reject Medical Aid in Dying Act:

“Aid in Dying” is a euphemism for euthanasia.[3] The Act, however, purports to prohibit euthanasia. On close examination, this prohibition will be unenforceable.

If enacted, the Act will apply to people with years or decades to live. It will also facilitate financial exploitation, especially in the inheritance context. Don’t render yourself or someone you care about a sitting duck to heirs and other predators. I urge you to reject the proposed Act.

Assisted suicide is an act whereby one person (usually a physician) provides a prescription for a lethal drug cocktail knowing that the other person intends to use it for suicide.

Euthanasia is an act whereby one person (usually a physician) lethally injects another person, usually after a request.

Several of the assisted suicide bills have language that can be interpreted to permit euthanasia.

Assisted suicide bills are usually designed as an application process for obtaining a lethal dose.

For instance the Maryland assisted suicide bill HB 0643 may permit euthanasia (homicide) because it doesn't require the person to self-administer. The Maryland bill doesn't protect the conscience rights of medical professionals either.

The Massachusetts assisted suicide bill can also be interpreted to permit euthanasia.

The New Hampshire assisted suicide bill gives physicians the right to write a lethal prescription but the term self ingest is not found in the main text of the bill. Only within the life insurance section is there a statement that may be construed as limiting the act to assisted suicide where it states:

Neither shall a qualified patient’s act of ingesting medication to end such patient’s life in a humane and dignified manner have an effect upon a life, health, or accident insurance or annuity policy.

Even this statement does not refer to self-ingestion.

The New Hampshire bill permits euthanasia by giving a physician the right in law to write a lethal drug prescription, but it does not limit how the lethal drugs can be used.

New Hampshire assisted suicide bill will create a perfect crime (Link).

Assisted suicide bills are intentionally written in a deceptive manner, so that if legalized, the legislation can be interpreted in a wider manner. Further to that, the assisted suicide lobby has no intention of maintaining the "safeguards" in the bills. These "safeguards" are simply mean't to sell assisted suicide to the legislators.

Hawaii is debating the expansion of its assisted suicide law only one year after it came into effect, and Washington State is examining all of the safeguards, while Oregon expanded its assisted suicide law last year.

Clearly assisted suicide bills are not what they appear to be.

In the Last Ten Years, at Least Nine U.S. States Have Strengthened Their Laws Against Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia

Margaret Dore published this list of legislative and judicial victories to counter the media narrative that the United States is legalizing assisted suicide.

Alabama Governor, Kay Ivy

In the last ten years, at least nine states have strengthened their laws against assisted suicide/euthanasia. They are (alphabetical): 

1. Alabama: In 2017, Alabama enacted the Assisted Suicide Ban Act; 
2. Arizona: In 2014, Arizona strengthened its law against assisted suicide. 
3. Georgia: In 2012, Georgia strengthened its law against assisted suicide. 
4. Idaho: On April 5, 2011, Idaho strengthened its law against assisted suicide. 
5. Louisiana: In 2012, Louisiana strengthened its assisted suicide/euthanasia ban. 
6. New Mexico: In 2016, the New Mexico Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision recognizing a right to physician aid in dying, meaning physician assisted suicide. Physician-assisted suicide is no longer legal in New Mexico. See Morris v. Brandenburg, 376 P.3d 836 (2016). 
7. Ohio: In 2017, Ohio strengthened its law against assisted suicide. See http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3795 
8. South Dakota: In 2017, the South Dakota Legislature passed Concurrent Resolution 11, opposing physician-assisted suicide. See Bill History. 
9. Utah: In 2018, Utah amended its manslaughter statute to include assisted suicide. For more information, see https://le.utah.gov/~2018/bills/static/HB0086.html and click “status.”

The media promotes the legalization of assisted suicide but it ignores the success in preventing euthanasia and assisted suicide.

What happened to do no harm? Protecting you from medical homicide.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

I just re-published the excellent article concerning the involuntary euthanasia deaths at Mount Carmel hospitals in Ohio. (Link to the article).

It is shocking that 34 people are known to have died after allegedly receiving an intentional lethal overdose of painkillers from Dr William Husel. Husel had his medical license suspended and he was fired from the hospital, while 20 other hospital employees have been suspended. 

Last night I received a call from a physician who was seeking advice about launching a criminal case into the death a close family member. The cover-up for the death started immediately and no one would have suspected anything if this doctor didn't arrive the afternoon before the death and start asking questions about the lethal levels of drugs that the family member was administered.

We spoke for a long time about his frustration about the lack of response from the local police. We have referred him to an excellent lawyer.

It is not easy to bring medical homicide cases forward. Usually the victim's family do not have a medical background and only suspect that something wrong occurred while the police view medical homicide complaints as "medical error" cases or simply as not in their jurisdiction.

We hope that this case will go forward since the plaintiff is an experienced physician and the circumstances are similar to Ohio.

Become a member of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (membership) or make a (donation) to enable us to help you in your time of need.

• More than 1000 Belgian deaths were hastened without request in 2013 (Link).
• 431 deaths without request in the Netherlands in 2015 (Link).
• 456 patients killed in a British hospital (Link).

34 elderly people are dead. Why the silence?

This article was published by Mercatornet on February 12, 2019

Michael Cook

By Michael Cook

Abuse of the vulnerable and elderly is a vile crime. That’s why the alleged rape of a 29-year-old woman in a Phoenix, Arizona, healthcare facility made news around the world when she gave birth to a baby boy. The New York Times ran at least four articles on the stomach-churning scandal.

Intentionally ending of a patient's life, more than medical error.

But, astonishingly, the involuntary euthanasia of possibly as many as 34 elderly patients in two Catholic hospitals in the city of Columbus has been almost ignored outside of Ohio.

According to Mount Carmel Health System, one of its doctors, William Husel, ordered overdoses of powerful painkillers for at least 34 near-death patients — 33 at Mount Carmel West in Franklinton and one at Mount Carmel St. Ann’s in Westerville. All of the 34 died, although six may not have died because of the painkillers.

No charges have been laid, but the State Medical Board has suspended Husel’s licence and Mount Carmel has fired him. Twenty employees, including pharmacists and nurses, have been suspended.

Lawsuits are also being filed by relatives of one of the deceased patients. One of them cited Husel, the hospital, an unnamed pharmacist and an unnamed nurse in the death of 79-year-old Janet Kavanaugh.

A "grossly inappropriate dose was either ordered negligently and not properly reviewed, or was intentionally prescribed by Defendant Husel for the purposes of hastening the termination of Janet Kavanaugh’s life," the lawsuit says.

“The pharmacist has an obligation to question an order, and the nurse has an obligation to question the order as well,” said the lawyer for Mrs Kavanaugh’s family. “All of those safeguards were overridden or ignored. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

According to The Columbus Dispatch:

Staff members who worked in the ICU in the past five years said Husel often would give emergency orders for the powerful opioid fentanyl or some other painkiller. Those emergency orders, meant to be used in certain urgent situations, would allow him to bypass a pharmacist’s pre-approval, giving the medical staff access to drugs stored in a Pyxis machine, or secure cabinet, on the ICU floor.

Husel sometimes would tell families agonizing over removing a loved one from a ventilator that he would ease the patient’s suffering with pain medication, but he didn’t tell the families he was prescribing potentially lethal dosages, family members said.

“Regardless of the reason the actions were taken, we take responsibility for the fact that the processes in place were not sufficient to prevent these actions from happening,” Mount Carmel President and CEO Ed Lamb declared in a video statement.

Police are investigating the alleged crimes, but no one has been arrested yet. If the deaths are proven, it will be one of the worst instances of an “angel of mercy” in the United States. In Europe, there are nurses and doctors who have been convicted of killing dozens of patients.

Why have the leading American media ignored the case? Perhaps because no one has been arrested yet. Perhaps because the facts are murky at the moment. But perhaps because the pro-euthanasia paradigm is that doctors won’t commit involuntary euthanasia – they will always have the best interests of autonomous patients at heart. But this is obviously not true – just read up on British GP Dr Harold Shipman – and when assisted suicide and euthanasia are legalised, who will be able to tell the difference between the voluntary and involuntary euthanasia of a dying patient?

Michael Cook is editor of MercatorNet.

Intentional ending of a patient’s life more than ‘ medical error’?

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Last week, Limaohio.com columnist, Melissa Martin comments on the Ohio Department of Health investigation concerning 27 cases of massive overdoses of pain medication by a Ohio doctor and assisted suicide.

Melissa Martin

Commenting on the Ohio overdoses, Martin writes:

According a 2019 article in the Columbus Dispatch, “The Ohio Department of Health has begun an investigation into a Mount Carmel doctor accused of ordering potentially fatal doses of painkiller for 27 near-death hospital patients, all of whom have died. Mount Carmel officials fired the doctor and placed 20 pharmacists and nurses on leave while they look into the cases.” 

“Eighteen months ago, Mount Carmel began work to stop preventable medical errors — work that puts systems into place to make the care we provide highly reliable and consistent,” is another statement on the Mount Carmel website. 

Why is a policy to prevent medical errors not ongoing? Why 18 months ago? Why not prior to opening the hospital for business? It appears that whistle-blowing employees came forth with the allegations. When did the intentional ending of a patient’s life by a physician become ‘a medical error’?

Martin puts the Ohio investigation into the context of other medical professionals. She writes:

Donald Harvey, a nurse’s aide, dubbed “the Angle of Death,” pleaded guilty in 1987 to killing 55 patients in Cincinnati and Kentucky hospitals. Many of his victims were chronically ill patients. He claimed he was ending their suffering. “Harvey told a newspaper after he pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty that he liked the control of determining who lived and died. Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Arthur Ney Jr. who prosecuted the cases in Cincinnati said Harvey was not a mercy killer,” according to a 2017 article in USA Today. 

Lisa Schattinger, a nurse, founded Ohio End of Life Options in 2015. The members support a Death with Dignity law in Ohio...

Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a medical pathologist, was arrested, tried in a court of law, and convicted of physician-assisted suicide. According to a 2011 article in the New York Times, “The American Medical Association in 1995 called him “a reckless instrument of death” who “poses a great threat to the public.”

Martin concludes the article by stating:

The phrase ‘physician-assisted suicide’ has been replaced by ‘death with dignity.’ Loaded language is a persuasive technique used to heighten emotion, gain support, and sway voters. And loaded phrases are changed to make horrific acts more palatable to the public. 

Do you support or oppose a Death with Dignity law in Ohio for the terminally ill? 

Do you support or oppose the alleged acts of a rogue physician to end the suffering of terminally ill patients by injecting lethal doses of fentanyl at Mount Carmel hospital in Columbus? Mercy killings or playing God?

If you think the article by Melissa Martin is extreme, maybe you need to read about Charles Cullen, a nurse who killed at least 40 patients and said "I thought I was helping."

Ohio Governor signs bill making assisted suicide a felony.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Ohio Governor Kasich

Great news: Yesterday, Ohio Governor Kasich signed Bill HB 470 making Ohio the fifth state in the past few years to strengthen protections in law from assisted suicide, a bill that makes assisted suicide a felony.

EPC-USA was very pleased with the outcome of the bill, even though our advisory role was small.

The Ohio Senate passed HB 470, nearly unanimously, on Thursday December 8. HB 470 passed in the Ohio House last May by a vote of 92 - 5.

Jeremy Pelzer, reported for Cleveland.com  on November 7 before the vote:

House Bill 470 ... would make knowingly assisting in a suicide a third-degree felony in Ohio, punishable by up to five years in prison. 

Currently, Ohio law only permits a court to issue an injunction against anyone helping other people to kill themselves. 

If the Senate passes the bill on Thursday - expected to be the last day of the legislative session - it would head to Gov. John Kasich for his signature. The measure passed the Ohio House 92-5 last May. 

State Sen. Bill Seitz, the Cincinnati Republican who authored HB 470, said the legislation mirrors Michigan's 1998 ban on assisted suicide, which was passed in response to Dr. Jack Kevorkian's well-publicized campaign.

In the past few years Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, and Arizona have passed bills to strengthen protection from assisted suicide.