Woman who attempted to kill her mother claims it was an assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Kimberly Hopkins

A woman who plead guilty in the attempted murder of her mother is now claiming, at her parole hearing, that she was only carrying out the wishes of her mother, Jan Martin, who she claims wanted to die by suicide. 

Last October Kimberley Hopkins pleaded guilty to the attempted first-degree murder of her mother and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

According to the report by Cole Sullivan for WBIR.com news:

Kimberly Hopkins said her elderly Tellico Village mother asked for her help to take her own life Father's Day weekend 2018. She said her mother had long suffered verbal and emotional abuse from her father and wanted to die that specific weekend to send a message.

Hopkins said that's why she coerced her mother into a bedroom under the guise of giving her a manicure, zip-tied her hands and tried to put a plastic bag with helium over her head. 

"She had ordered some things to help her kill herself and so I agreed to do that. I regret that now, but I was just doing what she wanted me to do," Hopkins said.

Death plan

But Sullivan reported that prosecutors said that there is no evidence to uphold Hopkins assertions.

Assistant District Attorney Jed Bassett said Jan Martin denied asking her daughter for assistance killing herself. 

Hopkins, he said, had been estranged from her parents for years. 

"There was not any correspondence that she was talking about referencing an attempt to assist her mother in any suicide or euthanasia type situation," District Attorney General Russell Johnson said. 

They say the murder plot was financially motivated.

Assisted suicide is illegal in Tennessee, nonetheless, once the concept of euthanasia or assisted suicide takes hold it becomes an argument for a lesser murder charge.

It is also important that Hopkins used Derek Humphry's Final Exit book to plan the murder.

As much as Hopkins is spinning a story in an attempt to have her jail sentence reduced, it is not unlikely that an excellent lawyer under different circumstances could successfully achieve a lesser sentence or even a suspended sentence.

The difference between homicide and euthanasia or suicide and assisted suicide is the societal perception of the person who died. Society judges that life is not worth living under certain conditions.

Two Massachusetts doctors file case to give them the right to prescribe lethal drugs for assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The suicide lobby have filed a case on behalf of two Cape Cod Massachusetts doctors in the Massachusetts Superior Court to give them the right in law to prescribe lethal drugs to assist the suicide of their patients.

According to an article by Ryan Bray of the Cape News:

The suit, which was filed in Massachusetts Superior Court, was filed by Compassion & Choices, a Denver-based nonprofit organization that advocates nationally for allowing doctors to assist patients in dying. The suit was filed on behalf of Dr. Roger M. Kligler, a resident of Falmouth, and Dr. Alan Steinbach, a resident of Woods Hole. 

The suit seeks a declaration that assisted suicide, or "medical aid in dying," is not a crime by Massachusetts law. The suit also seeks an injunction protecting from prosecution doctors who provide medical aid in dying. 

Dr. Kligler is currently in the late stages of prostate cancer. In a press release from Compassion & Choices released Wednesday, October 26, he argued for the right to medicate himself as needed, given his condition. 

"Having a prescription for aid-in-dying medication that I could self-administer if my suffering became too great in the final days would provide great comfort to me," Dr. Kligler said. 

In the same release, Dr. Steinbach voiced his desire to be able to discuss assisted suicide as an option with his patients and to assist his patients, as needed, without fear of prosecution from the state.

Compassion & Choices were unsuccessful in New Mexico, Connecticut, Tennesee, California and New York with similar court cases. 

The Massachussets Superior Court should reject this case and honor the vote of Massachusetts residents who rejected an assisted suicide voter initiative in 2012.

New York court upholds law protecting people from assisted suicide.

By Alex Schadenberg
International Chair - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

A New York State judge rejected a legal challenge to the state laws that protect people from assisted suicide. The New York Daily News reported that:

state civil judge Joan Kenney said that while she was sympathetic to their plight, their doctors would have to stay on the sidelines. 

Kenney said in her ruling that the U.S. Supreme Court has already found that New York state laws prohibit assisted suicide, and the statutes are not in violation of a patients civil rights. 

“In New York, as in most states, it is a crime to aid another to commit or attempt suicide,” Kenney said in her ruling. “But patients may refuse lifesaving medical treatment.” 

Doctors could face prison time if convicted of aiding a suicide.

The case was based on three people who are seeking to die by assisted suicide in New York.

Judge Kennedy joins three other judges in upholding state assisted suicide laws. In the past few months, a Tennessee Judge upheld the state assisted suicide law, the New Mexico court of appeal and two California judges have upheld laws that protect people from assisted suicide.

Judge upholds Tennessee assisted suicide law.

Tennessee

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

A Tennessee Judge, today, upheld the state law protecting people from assisted suicide. (Link to the decision).

Chancellor Carol McCoy, ruled today, that former Democrat politician, John Jay Hooker, does not have standing to bring action and challenge the Tennessee assisted suicide law.

The Tennessean reported McCoy as saying:

"The aid-in-dying prescription involves a script for a lethal dose of medication to cause quick death, not to provide palliative care to relieve physical pain and discomfort, as is allowed," 

"If the physicians intend to provide lethal drugs to end their patients' lives, they engage in criminal conduct."

Chancellor Carol McCoy

According to the Tennessean, Hooker will continue lobbying for assisted suicide.

Last week, Hooker appeared in a wheelchair before the Davidson County Grand Jury. He presented his case, and asked the grand jury to request the state legislature to support his request to end his life with the help of a willing doctor. 

The jury issued its report earlier this week. It showed support for aid-in-dying legislation. 

"This Grand Jury overwhelming supports Mr. Hooker's desire to have the laws of Tennessee amended to permit a severely ill patient to have option to end his or her life, thus ending all the pain and suffering for the patient and his or her family," the report reads.

Hooker said he has forwarded the grand jury's report to the members of the Tennessee General Assembly.

In the past year the New Mexico court of appeal and two California judges have upheld laws that protect people from assisted suicide.