What does it mean to coerce someone to death?

Alex Schadenberg

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

What does it mean to coerce someone to death?

Coercion the practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats. 

Subtle coercion means manipulating someone into doing something they don't want to do through non-physical, often gradual tactics.

This week I received a call from a woman who was very upset about the euthanasia death of her nephew who was in his 50's, was never married and had multiple health issues.

She told me that she spoke to him a few days before his death and during the conversation she realized that he was being offered euthanasia. She spoke to him about it and he told her that he wants to live.

Being offered euthanasia is common. Every major hospital in Canada has a MAiD team that not only approves and carries out the death, but they also offer death.

After his death she received a call from an immediate family member of the nephew concerning his death. The family member described the death with glowing language. 

When she stated that she had spoken to the nephew recently and he told her that he wanted to live, the immediate family member responded by saying it was for the best.

Who wanted the nephew to die?

Was it a medical practitioner?

Was it the immediate family member(s)?

Was it the nephew, even though he said to his Aunt that he wanted to live?

Subtle coercion is often all that it takes when someone is experiences multiple health issues and needs the love and support of close family members, but instead is told, it is for the best.

The woman who called me wanted to know how she could be assured that she would not be killed by euthanasia?

I told her that the law is problematic but the Life Protecting Power of Attorney for Personal Care clearly states that you do not want euthanasia or assisted suicide, as well as it lists how you would want to be treated or not treated. 

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition has documents that are designed for all 50 states and for the different Canadian provinces. (Article about the Life Protecting Power of Attorney)

ChatGPT accused of "acting" like a suicide coach.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Anna Betts reported for the Guardian on November 7, 2025 that ChatGPT which is an AI (Artificial Intelligence) platform, "has been accused of acting as a “suicide coach” in a series of lawsuits filed this week in California alleging that interactions with the chatbot led to severe mental breakdowns and several deaths."

I have published this article to warn people about the possible response by ChatGPT to questions about suicide.

The Guardian article reported:

The seven lawsuits include allegations of wrongful death, assisted suicide, involuntary manslaughter, negligence and product liability.

Each of the seven plaintiffs initially used ChatGPT for “general help with schoolwork, research, writing, recipes, work, or spiritual guidance”, according to a joint statement from the Social Media Victims Law Center and Tech Justice Law Project, which filed the lawsuits in California on Thursday.

Over time, however, the chatbot “evolved into a psychologically manipulative presence, positioning itself as a confidant and emotional support”, the groups said.

“Rather than guiding people toward professional help when they needed it ChatGPT reinforced harmful delusions, and, in some cases, acted as a ‘suicide coach’.”

This is important because ChatGPT and other AI tools are not neutral, but rather these programs are created by feeding these systems with information and programing them based on a distinct ethic. ChatGPT appears to be thinking but rather it is responding based on information and algorithms.

The article reported the response from OpenAI:

A spokesperson for OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, said: “This is an incredibly heartbreaking situation, and we’re reviewing the filings to understand the details.”

The spokesperson added: “We train ChatGPT to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress, de-escalate conversations, and guide people toward real-world support.

“We continue to strengthen ChatGPT’s responses in sensitive moments, working closely with mental health clinicians.”

Zane Shamblin

The article explains what happened:

One case involves Zane Shamblin of Texas, who died by suicide in July at the age of 23. His family alleges that ChatGPT worsened their son’s isolation, encouraged him to ignore loved ones, and “goaded” him to take his own life.

According to the complaint, during a four-hour exchange before Shamblin took his own life, ChatGPT “repeatedly glorified suicide”, told Shamblin “that he was strong for choosing to end his life and sticking with his plan”, repeatedly “asked him if he was ready”, and referenced the suicide hotline only once.

The chatbot also allegedly complimented Shamblin on his suicide note and told him his childhood cat would be waiting for him “on the other side”.

Another case involves Amaurie Lacey of Georgia, whose family claims that several weeks before Lacey took his own life at the age of 17, he began using ChatGPT “for help”. Instead, they say, the chatbot “caused addiction, depression, and eventually counseled” Lacey “on the most effective way to tie a noose and how long he would be able to ‘live without breathing’”.

In another filing, relatives of 26-year-old Joshua Enneking say that Enneking reached out to ChatGPT for help and “was instead encouraged to act upon a suicide plan”.

Another case involves Joe Ceccanti, whose wife accuses ChatGPT of causing Ceccanti “to spiral into depression and psychotic delusions”. His family say he became convinced that the bot was sentient, suffered a psychotic break in June, was hospitalized twice, and died by suicide in August at the age of 48.

According to the article the lawsuit claims the following:

All users named in the lawsuits reportedly used ChatGPT-4o. The filings accuse OpenAI of rushing that model’s launch, “despite internal warnings that the product was dangerously sycophantic and psychologically manipulative” and of prioritizing “user engagement over user safety”.

In addition to damages, the plaintiffs seek product changes, including mandatory reporting to emergency contacts when users express suicidal ideation, automatic conversation termination when self-harm or suicide methods are discussed, and other safety measures.

All users named in the lawsuits reportedly used ChatGPT-4o. The filings accuse OpenAI of rushing that model’s launch, “despite internal warnings that the product was dangerously sycophantic and psychologically manipulative” and of prioritizing “user engagement over user safety”.

In addition to damages, the plaintiffs seek product changes, including mandatory reporting to emergency contacts when users express suicidal ideation, automatic conversation termination when self-harm or suicide methods are discussed, and other safety measures.

Adam Raine

The article also reported that "a similar wrongful-death lawsuit was filed against OpenAI earlier this year by the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine, who allege that ChatGPT encouraged their son to take his own life."

ChatGPT was in fact programmed to act very similar to the assisted suicide lobby who encourage people to die by suicide at a low time in their life. They claim it is about freedom, choice and autonomy when often it involves a medical professional suggesting or agreeing that a person's life is not worth living.

In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

Psychiatrist speaks to Massachusetts legislative committee to oppose assisted suicide bill.

Dear Representative,

As a Massachusetts psychiatrist and medical ethicist, I appreciate that there are people of good will on both sides of the assisted suicide controversy. Nevertheless, I believe the bills before you (Massachusetts House 2381/ Senate 1384) are masterpieces of misleading euphemisms. They represent a betrayal of medical ethics, and a clear and present danger to our most vulnerable patients. The House bill might well be called, “An Act that Gives Legal Cover to Physicians Who Assist in Their Patients’ Suicide.”

The bill perversely re-defines suicide, exonerating physicians who act under its aegis from the charge of “assisted suicide.” As a psychiatrist for nearly 40 years, I can tell you that when a patient knowingly ingests a lethal medication with the intent of dying, that is suicide. The context of terminal illness may partly explain--but does not alter--that fact. Attempts to separate suicides into “regular” and “assisted”, based on supposed psychological differences, are not well grounded in psychiatric knowledge or experience. In short, suicide is suicide.

Furthermore, the self-administration of a lethal drug does not aid or ease the dying process: it terminates dying by terminating the patient. We have well-established medical interventions for easing a terminally ill patient’s final days, such as the discontinuation of futile life-support, and the provision of state-of-the art palliative care. Lethal drugs don’t ease dying—they merely open the gateway to death.

And contrary to a popular myth, most patients requesting assisted suicide are not experiencing extreme bodily suffering, or excruciating and intractable pain. Data from Oregon show that the vast majority of patients requesting physician-assisted suicide (PAS) fear loss of autonomy; enjoyment, and personal dignity. [1] Many such patients fear becoming a burden to their families. These emotional problems deserve empathic counseling—not death in a bottle. Furthermore, research has shown that when physicians intervene and successfully address issues such as pain, depression, and other medical problems, as many as 46% of patients seeking assisted suicide will change their minds. [2]

I do not believe that psychiatrists or other physicians should collude with the machinery of assisted suicide. That said, the bills’ provisions regarding a mental health evaluation are woefully inadequate. The bill speaks soothingly of “counseling”, but all it calls for is a single determination that the patient is “…not suffering from a psychiatric or psychological disorder or depression causing impaired judgment” and is not subject to “coercion.” There is no requirement for a thorough, face-to-face, psychiatric evaluation to assess subtle cognitive distortions that may fall short of a full-blown disorder.

Indeed, research has shown that some cancer patients requesting assisted suicide have subtle cognitive distortions that are clouding their judgment. [3] In real counseling, these distortions could be addressed and remediated. Furthermore, many terminally ill patients who may not meet criteria for a full-blown psychiatric disorder are nevertheless impaired in their judgment by feelings of despair, anxiety, hopelessness, and demoralization. These emotional states often fluctuate over time, and may compromise genuine autonomy or “authentic voluntarism,” as Dr. Laura Weiss Roberts has explained. [4]

Such cognitive and emotional nuances are unlikely to be detected in a single assessment of a dying patient, and would require a very sophisticated and knowledgeable mental health professional, such as a forensic psychiatrist. The current bills require only a “licensed mental health professional,” which includes a broad range of professions, several of which, in my view, would not have the expertise to detect subtle cognitive and emotional factors that may compromise genuine autonomy.

As for detecting “coercion,” it should be obvious that once the patient leaves the evaluation milieu—returning home, for example—the bills provide no mechanism whatsoever for assessing coercive influences in the family setting, which may push the patient to ingest the lethal drugs. Nor do the bills provide any procedural “safety lock” that would prevent children or others in the family from finding and ingesting the lethal drugs. Finally, the bills contain no requirement that suicidal patients be treated for any diagnosed psychiatric or psychological disorder.

To conclude: the tenets of Hippocratic medicine erect a wall of separation between physicians and assisted suicide. As Dr. Leon Kass has put it, “We must care for the dying, not make them dead.” [5] Accordingly, I urge you to reject these bills and re-focus your attention on providing accessible, state-of-the-art palliative care to our patients with terminal illnesses.

Respectfully,

Ronald W. Pies, MD
Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Lecturer on Bioethics & Humanities;
SUNY Upstate Medical University;
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry,
Tufts University School of Medicine;
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, Psychiatric Times
piesr@upstate.edu

References

1. The most common reasons for requesting medical aid in dying were loss of autonomy (97.2%), inability to engage in enjoyable activities (88.9%), and loss of dignity (75.0%). Loggers ET, Starks H, Shannon-Dudley M, Back AL, Appelbaum FR, Stewart FM. Implementing a Death with Dignity program at a comprehensive cancer center. N Engl J Med. 2013;368(15):1417-1424. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa1213398.

2. Linda Ganzini et al., “Physicians’ Experiences with the Oregon Death with Dignity Act,” 342 New Eng. J. Med. 557, 557 (2000).

3. For example, Tomer T. Levin, MD, and Allison J. Applebaum, PhD, note that some cancer patients may make erroneous assumptions, like, “No one can help me” or “No one understands what I am going through.” Such cognitive distortions may respond favorably to cognitive behavioral interventions and potentially avert or abort a request for PAS. Levin TT, Applebaum AJ. Acute cancer cognitive therapy. Cogn Behav Pract. 2014;21(4):404-415.

4. Roberts LW. Informed consent and the capacity for voluntarism. Am J Psychiatry. 2002 May;159(5):705-12. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.159.5.705. PMID: 11986120.

5. Kass LR. Dehumanization triumphant. Conn Med. 1996;60(10):619-620

For further reading:

Ronald W. Pies, MD, Annette Hanson, MD

Twelve Myths About Physician Assisted Suicide and Medical Aid In Dying

July 7, 2018

https://www.hcplive.com/view/twelve-myths-concerning-medical-aid-in-dying-or-physicianassisted-suicide

Against Assisted Suicide

July 8, 2021

Ronald W. Pies, MD, Mark S. Komrad, MD, Cynthia M.A. Geppert, MD, MA, MPH, MSBE, DPS, Annette Hanson, MD

https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/against-assisted-suicide

Snyder Sulmasy L, Mueller PS; Ethics, Professionalism and Human Rights Committee of the American College of Physicians. Ethics and the Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide: An American College of Physicians Position Paper. Ann Intern Med. 2017 Oct 17;167(8):576-578. doi: 10.7326/M17-0938. Epub 2017 Sep 19. PMID: 28975242.

Cynthia M.A. Geppert, MD, MA, MPH, MSBE, DPS, Ronald W. Pies, MD. Two Misleading Myths Regarding “Medical Aid in Dying.” Psychiatric Times Vol 35, Issue 8, Volume 35, Issue 8. August 1, 2018.

Two Misleading Myths Regarding “Medical Aid in Dying” (psychiatrictimes.com)

Conrad's law to prevent suicide coercion in Massachusetts.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Conrad Roy

Amy Sokolow, reported for The Boston Herald that Conrad's Law will once again be debated in the Massachusetts legislature. 

The bill is named for Conrad Roy who died in July 2014 after his girlfriend, Michelle Carter, pressured him through text messages and phone calls to carry out suicide. Almost seven years after his death, legislators have refiled legislation to prosecute coerced suicide in Massachusetts, bringing the state in line with almost all the others in the U.S.

Sokolow quotes Sen. Barry Finegold, D-Andover, who filed the legislation as stating:

“The fact that 42 other states have something like this on the books and we’re only one of eight states that (doesn’t) speaks volumes about why we do need something like this,”

Roland St. Denis, the husband of Conrad's mother, told the media

...having struggled with mental illness himself. He has worked with Medwed, Higgins and Finegold to shape this bill and shepherd it through the legislative process.

The lack of a coercion bill made Carter’s court case drag out longer than necessary, and “put an enormous amount of strain on Lynn, her daughters, (and) her son’s father’s family,”

Sokolow reported that Carter was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and was released from prison last year.

More articles on this topic:

• Massachusetts high court upholds manslaughter conviction for woman who assisted the suicide of her boyfriend (Link).
  

Deaths of despair are increasing.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

I was speaking to a friend, today, who told me that 4 people, who he knows, died by suicide in the past two weeks.

An article by Shannon Roberts published by Mercatornet suggests that the COVID-19 crisis has led to an increase in suicide "deaths of despair." Roberts connects research indicating that opioid related deaths are often fueled by loneliness and a lack of hope, factors that have been exasperated by the COVID-19 crisis. Roberts writes:

Many drug counsellors will tell you that they are deaths caused by a lack of connection, fuelled by loneliness and a lack of hope. It has also been well-documented that increasing numbers of young men without purpose or jobs have turned to opioids. It is telling that Covid-19 lockdowns and job losses appear to be hugely increasing death rates.

Roberts quotes from an article by Chris McGreal that was published in the Guardian which states:

...coronavirus looks to be undoing the advances made against a drug epidemic that has claimed close to 600,000 lives in the US over the past two decades.

Worse, it is also laying the ground for a long-term resurgence of addiction by exacerbating many of the conditions, including unemployment, low incomes and isolation, that contributed to the rise of the opioid epidemic and “deaths of despair”.

…“The number of opioid overdoses is skyrocketing and I don’t think it will be easily turned back,” said Dr Mike Brumage, former director of the West Virginia office of drug control policy.

I’m a firm adherent to the idea that the opposite of addiction is not sobriety, the opposite of addiction is connection. Clearly, what we have lost with the pandemic is a loss of connection,” he said.

When considering the suicide epidemic in relation to our culture, it seems that Brumage is right, that the increase in suicide rates are closely related to the increase in cultural loneliness and social isolation.

If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
 
I suggest another factor that is causing an increase in suicide deaths is the online availability of assisted suicide drugs.

Shawn Shatto's parents

A few days ago I reported on a Pennsylvania woman who is working to get a bill passed after her daughter died by suicide. Her daughter was given lethal instructions and encouraged to die by suicide by an assisted suicide website. I explained that Shawn Shatto was not the first person who was struggling with depression and anxiety to come across an assisted suicide website and then die by suicide.

Australian man loses appeal in his conviction for assisting the suicide of his wife for $1.4 million.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Jennifer Morant

In a unanimous decision, the Queensland Australia Court of Appeal upheld the conviction of Graham Morant who assisted the suicide of his wife, Jennifer Morant (56) for her $1.4 million in life insurance. 

Morant was convicted in October, 2018 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Commentary by Richard Egan on the Court of Appeal decision (Link).

In an article published by the Brisbane Times by Lidia Lynch, Lynch explains why Morant's conviction appeal failed. Lynch reports:

Morant was the sole beneficiary of his wife's three life insurance policies, totalling $1.4 million.

Ms Morant lived with chronic back pain and found even the most simple everyday tasks difficult.

But Morant persuaded her over the months before her death by telling her the funds would go towards building a religious commune.

Morant claimed to police his wife wanted to die, but two witnesses close to her testified she did not want to kill herself and was scared by his pressure on her to do so.

Morant's lawyers appealed his conviction on four grounds and argued for a retrial based on emails between Ms Morant and Dr Nitschke came to light after the initial conviction. Lynch explains why the Court of Appeal didn't view these emails as effecting the conviction:

In the emails sent months before her death, Ms Morant told Dr Nitschke about her suffering and sought his help.

She told him of her anguish and pain and asked for his help about "how to end my life in a peaceful manner".

In his reasons, Court of Appeal President Walter Sofronoff acknowledged the emails were not available to Morant's lawyers at trial.

"However, it is impossible to see how they could have helped the appellant to secure an acquittal," he wrote.

"It would, instead, have reinforced Ms Morant’s vulnerability to the appellant’s inducements."

At his sentencing in November 2018, ABC News Australia reported Justice Peter Davis stating:

"You took advantage of her vulnerability as a sick and depressed woman. 

You counselled your wife to kill herself because you wanted to get your hands on the $1.4 million. 

Your general financial position was such that $1.4 million was a very significant sum, as it would be to most people. 

You have not shown any remorse for the offences you have committed. 

You did not plead guilty and you did not cooperate with the administration of justice."

Candice Lewis

The coercion used by Graham Morant that led to the assisted suicide death of his wife Jennifer is not indicative of most assisted suicide deaths, but it is also not uncommon.

In Canada, Candice Lewis, among others, was pressured by her doctors to ask for an assisted death. We will never know how many assisted deaths occurred after the person was pressured by doctors, nurses, family members or friends because the victim is dead and the victimizer thinks that it was the right thing to do.

Queensland Australia Court of Appeal upheld Decision in Morant Aiding Suicide Case

A Red Flag for Assisted Suicide Law

By Richard Egan

Jennifer Morant

In a unanimous decision by three judges of the Queensland Court of Appeal handed down in Brisbane on 19 June 2020 in the case of R v Morant [2020] QCA 135, Graham Morant’s appeal against his conviction for aiding the suicide of his wife was rejected on all four grounds of appeal and the sentence of 10 years imprisonment was upheld as fair.

Morant was convicted on two counts under s311 of the Queensland Criminal Code. The first was that he had counselled Ms Morant to kill herself and thereby induced her to do so. The second was that he had aided her in killing herself.

One of the grounds of appeal was the belated discovery of two emails Ms Morant had exchanged with Dr Philip Nitschke. The emails presumably showed that she had suicidal ideation and was actively considering means of suicide.

However, these things were already apparent from evidence presented at Mr Morant’s trial. As Sofronoff P concluded (at 38):

The evidence could not have helped the appellant. It would, instead, have reinforced Ms Morant’s vulnerability to the appellant’s inducements.

Sofronoff P explains (at 47):

It was implicit in the jury’s verdicts that the appellant had counselled Ms Morant to kill herself with the intention that she should commit suicide. It also follows that the jury found that the counselling was effective to induce her to commit suicide so that, but for the appellant’s counselling, she would not have gassed herself on 30 November 2014.

Morant stood to benefit from three life insurance policies to the total of $1.4 million.

His efforts to induce his wife to commit suicide included recounting to her a story about “a customer of his [who] had taken out policies of insurance in favour of his wife and had then killed himself.” Mr Morant told his wife that that was “an amazing and wonderful thing” to have done. He encouraged her to do the same for him.

Sofronoff P concluded (at 64-65):

The present case is a paradigm case that exhibits the wickedness of the offence of counselling and thereby inducing a victim to kill herself. The offence was committed against a woman who was vulnerable to the appellant’s inducements. His actions were premeditated, calculated and were done for financial gain… The offence was a serious one that involved a killing of a human being.

One of the judges, Boddice J summarised (at 248-249) the case against Graham Morant:

[T]he deceased was a vulnerable person with difficulties with her physical health, who was already suffering depression; and the fact that the appellant, by his conduct, took advantage of those vulnerabilities in order to persuade her to kill herself and then assisted her to do so. 

In addition to those matters, the more serious aspect of the offences, counselling suicide, occurred over a period of months. Its seriousness was aggravated by the fact that the appellant had also aided the deceased to kill herself, being the end result of that extended period of counselling.

This case should be a big red flag to those intent on legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia as the current Queensland Government intends to do if re-elected on 31 October 2020. It has charged the Queensland Law Reform Commission with preparing draft legislation and is instructed in doing so to “have regard to” the draft legislation prepared by Ben White and Lindy Willmott.
 
That draft legislation proposes that the two doctors assessing requests for euthanasia or assisted suicide must, among other things, undergo “approved assessment training” and assess the request as “made voluntarily and without coercion”.
 
The approved training prepared by Ben White for doctors licensed to kill by lethal injection or to prescribe poison to people in Victoria under its euthanasia and assisted suicide law contains a total of just over 5 minute (including a 2 minute 20 second video and slides which take a further 2 minutes 50 seconds to read) assessing voluntariness, including assessing the absence of coercion. 

As a co-author of “an article entitled “Biggest decision of them all – death and assisted dying: capacity assessments and undue influence screening”, published in the Internal Medicine Journal in January 2019, White dissented from the recommendations of his co-authors proposed “Guideline for clinicians assessing capacity and screening for undue Influence for voluntary assisted dying”.
 
Issues identified in this insightful report but completely ignored in the training prepared by White for Victorian doctors include:

• undiagnosed depression;
• cognitive impairment associated with Motor Neuron Disease and its effect on decision making capacity;
• the use of supported decision making “allowing one person to communicate or assist with communicating another’s decision raises concerns about potential for undue influence, especially given the gravity of the assisted suicide or euthanasia decision”.

If Queensland passes a law permitting euthanasia and assisted suicide it will be removing from vulnerable Queenslanders like Ms Morant, the protection of Section 311 with its absolute prohibition on counselling, inducing and aiding suicide.

Instead manipulative, greedy, coercive, murderous perpetrators like Graham Morant, will simply need to suggest to a vulnerable spouse or parent or “friend” that accessing legal doctor provided euthanasia or taking doctor prescribed lethal poison is “all for the best dear”.

Indeed, no jurisdiction that has legalised assisted suicide has even made any serious effort to establish a genuinely safe framework in this regard. No such framework is possible. Any law permitting assisted suicide or euthanasia will result in wrongful deaths from coercion.

Richard Egan is a researcher who has studied euthanasia and assisted suicide laws for 36 years and is the author of Seventeen Fatally Flawed Experiments in Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia and Twelve Categories of Wrongful Death from Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

Seattle assisted suicide party propaganda.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
 

The following story may seem like a plot from a bad horror film, but it is simply another assisted suicide propaganda story.

The Associated Press (AP) published an article by Gene Johnson about an assisted suicide party in Seattle. The story is designed to make you open to assisted suicide, but this story leads to questions about assisted suicide and why AP decided to publish assisted suicide propaganda.

*Washington State: Nearly 25% more assisted deaths in 2018.

The AP story, concerns Robert Fuller (75) who planned his suicide party and this story gives Fuller his 15 minutes of fame.

The story goes something like this, Fuller, who is a nominal Catholic, marries his male partner, Reese Baxter, in the morning. He then moves down to the common room, in his seniors building, to greet friends, well wishers and later that afternoon he injects a fatal drug cocktail into his feeding tube and dies.

* Order the Fatal Flaws film from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and see the other side of the story (Link).

It appears that Fuller may have had a life-long problem with suicidal ideation.

When Fuller was 8 his Aunt died by a suicide drowning in the Merrimack river. Johnson states that seeing her body began Fuller's long relationship with death. According to Johnson, Fuller stated:

"If life gets painful, you go to the Merrimack River."

Johnson describes how Fuller survived a suicide attempt in 1975. His marriage ended after telling his wife that he was gay and he was drinking too much.

Johnson writes that as a nurse in the 1980's, Fuller cared for people with HIV. Fuller admits to intentionally killing a patient, with a drug overdose, to "end his battle" with AIDS.

Johnson also writes that Fuller intentionally lived a risky sexual life-style in the 80's, a lifestyle that verged on suicidal. Johnson quotes Fuller as saying:

"I think I wanted to get AIDS,"

"All my friends were dying."

When Fuller was sought assisted suicide, were his suicidal tendencies examined? It is difficult to differentiate between a "rational" wish to die and suicidal ideation.

To offer the other side of the issue, Johnson publishes a few quotes from bioethicist Wesley Smith, who opposes assisted suicide. Smith states:

to allow people to hasten their deaths represents an abandonment, a signal to the terminally ill that their lives are not worth living, he said.

"We should be very concerned that we are normalizing suicide in our society, especially at the very time during which, practically out of the other side of our mouth, we are saying suicide is an epidemic," Smith said.

I think that Smith, hit the nail on the head, but the article contradicts Smith's comments, and continues with its suicide contagion narrative to explain that Fuller rejected treatment and "chose death" but not until he lived out a few "bucket list" experiences.

The article undermines the Catholic Church. Fuller attended a Catholic parish where the priest and many parishioners appear accepting of death by assisted suicide. The parish priest even had a group of children bless Fuller at his final mass before his death. (Link to the Archdiocese of Seattle statement)

Finally the article describes the "death midwife" participation and how his death was without complications. Data shows that many people who die by assisted suicide do not experience a death without pain, suffering and complications.
 
Why am I writing about the AP propaganda article?

I guess I am giving this propaganda article attention. Yes, this is a pro-assisted suicide article designed to undermine opposition to doctor prescribed suicide.
 

Johnson seems to have little concern about how glorifying suicide leads to a suicide contagion effect. 

Popularizing assisted suicide is not about creating awareness but providing new customers for the assisted suicide death business.
 
The article admits that suicide was a integral part of Fuller's life experience. What effect do these articles have on other wounded individuals who are scarred by their suicide experiences or suicide attempts. Society must not trivialize suicide as it deeply effects a person's inner most being.

Finally, did AP have to gain by promoting assisted suicide. Assisted suicide was once an avant garde concept, now normalizing assisted suicide is another political propaganda tool.

Its time for the media to provide real journalism with real life, juxtaposing stories, complicated reality, and not propaganda.

Order the Fatal Flaws film from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and see the other side of the story (Link).

Massachusetts to debate suicide coercion bill "Conrad's law"

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Conrad Roy

Massachusetts State Senator Barry Finegold and Representative Natalie Higgins are introducing Conrad's Law, a bill to deter suicide coercion.

Lauren Fox reporting for The Boston Globe stated that the bill is named for Conrad Roy who died in July 2014 after his girlfriend, Michelle Carter, pressured him through text messages and phone calls to carry out his suicide.

Conrad's law punishes those who coerce others into committing or attempting to commit suicide, with punishment of up to five years in prison. This bill does not apply to assisted suicide, which is illegal in Massachusetts.

Lauren Fox reported Lynn Roy, Conrad's mother as saying: 

she was honored to support the legislation, called “Conrad’s Law.” 

“Before my son passed, I was excited about so much,” she said. Still, she had never said “I’m friggin’ excited” about anything until she learned the anti-suicide measure was moving forward. 

“My heart is so full,” she said. “And I’m so proud of my son.”

CBS Boston reported Lynn Roy as saying that this is the first time she has felt joy since the death of her son. Roy stated:

“My son was the most kind, warm, compassionate person,” she said. “By passing Conrad’s Law, I truly believe this is the perfect way to honor him.”

Conrad's father told The Boston Globe that he hopes that:

“this bill helps saves some lives and just puts some more awareness out there about suicide and about bullying.”

Fox reported that Carter was convicted, in 2017, of involuntary manslaughter in Roy’s death. Earlier this month, Carter’s lawyers petitioned the US Supreme Court to review the case. 

Suicide by Choice Is a Fantasy

The following article was written by Liam Carnahan and published in Newser.com on November 1 under the title: Suicide by Choice Is a Fantasy. Carnahan has written a synopsis of the excellent article by Ben Mattlin that was published on October 31, 2012 in the New York Times under the title: Suicide by Choice, Not so Fast. 

Suicide by Choice is a Fantasy

By Liam Carnahan, Newser.com, November 1, 2012

A proposed law in Massachusetts to make assisted suicide legal has built-in rules to make sure patients aren't coerced into the decision, but journalist and author Ben Mattlin thinks the concept of coercion is murky, dangerous water, he writes in the New York Times. The subject is close to his heart—he was born with a degenerative muscular disease, and has shocked doctors by living for decades beyond his prognosis. But that experience has shown him "how thin and porous the border between coercion and free choice is, how easy it is for someone to inadvertently influence you to feel devalued and hopeless."

There are many forms of "invisible coercion," he says, like the "look of exhaustion in a loved one's eyes, or the way nurses and friends sigh in your presence while you're zoned out in a hospital bed." Doctors are worse, because they "feel entitled to render judgments and voice their opinions" about his life and prognosis, even if Mattlin is only visiting for a sinus infection. With so much negativity surrounding patients like him—despite his career, family, and aspirations—maybe assisted-suicide laws should wait until attitudes change. Click to read his full piece, or a counter argument here.