California's Prohibition Against Assisted Suicide Is Constitutional

Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

A California trial court has upheld the constitutionality of that state's criminal statute prohibiting assisted suicide, which states:

Every person who deliberately aids, or advises, or encourages another to commit suicide, is guilty of a felony.

Penal Code § 401

The court's reasoning is contained in a 19 page "Ruling on Demurrer," filed on July 24, 2015. The ruling uses the term, "Aid in Dying" to mean physician-assisted suicide.  The term also means euthanasia. The court states in part:

Since "Aid in Dying" is quicker and less expensive, there is a much greater potential for its abuse, e.g,, greedy heirs-in-waiting, cost containment strategies, ímpulse decision-making, etc. Moreover, since it can be employed earlier in the dying process, there is a substantial risk that in many cases, it may bring about a patently premature death. For example, consider that a terminally ill patient, not in pain but facing death within the next six months, may opt for “Aid in Dying”' instead of working through what might have been just a transitory period of depression. Further, "Aid in Dying" creates the possible scenario of someone taking his life based upon an erroneous diagnosis of a terminal illness illness, which was, in fact, a mis-diagnosis that could have been brought to light by the passage of time. After all, doctors are not infallible.

California Assembly Health Committee: Vote NO on SB 128

I am an attorney from Washington State where assisted suicide is legal.  Enclosed please find a memo and attachments in opposition to SB 128.  Points include:

• SB 128 will legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia for young adults with chronic conditions such as diabetes.
• There is a complete lack of oversight when the lethal dose is administered (even if the patient struggled, who would know?)
• The bill requires falsification of the death certificate, which will prevent legal recourse and justice to patients and their families harmed by the bill.

If SB 128 becomes law, people with years, even decades to live, will be encouraged to throw away their lives; patients and their families will be traumatized. 

SB 128, as written, will allow the perfect crime.  Even if you like the concept of assisted suicide and euthanasia, SB 128 is the wrong bill.

Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA
Law Offices of Margaret K. Dore, PS
Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation
www.margaretdore.com
www.choiceillusion.org
1001 4th Avenue,  Suite 4400
Seattle, WA  98154
206 389 1754

"Medical killing is already occurring in California and elsewhere, which is causing much suffering and tearing families apart"

Dear Senators,

I am writing to urge you to vote "NO" on SB 128, which seeks to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Medical killing is already occurring in California and elsewhere, which is causing much suffering and tearing families apart. 

California cases are documented at this website link to the Kaiser papers: http://kaiserpapers.org/abt.html

Another case in point is my mother who died a horrible death by medically supervised dehydration.  See here.

Meanwhile, attorney Margaret Dore reports on two cases in her recent press release involving legal assisted suicide, in which both patients and their families were traumatized: the second case implies an actual murder.  See here.

It's time to stop the madness. Please send a strong statement by voting NO.

What happens in California will likely affect the rest of the world. I urge you to please vote against SB 128.

Thank you,

Kate Kelly, B.A., B.Ed.

Northwest Territories, Canada

Attorney slams California suicide bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Attorney slams California suicide bill

Dore: “Even if you like the concept of assisted suicide, SB 128 is the wrong bill.”

Contact: Margaret Dore (206) 697-1217

Seattle, WA -- Attorney Margaret Dore, president of Choice is an Illusion, which has fought assisted suicide legalization efforts in many states and now California, made the following statement after the California Senate Appropriations Committee passed SB 128 on May 28, sending the assisted suicide bill to the Senate floor.

"SB 128 is sold as giving people an 'end of life option,’” Dore said. “The fact is this bill is about ending the lives of people who aren’t necessarily dying anytime soon, and giving other people the ‘option’ to hurry them along."

Dore, an attorney in Washington State where assisted suicide is legal, explained, “In my law practice, I started out working in guardianships, wills and probate, and saw abuse of all kinds, especially where there was money involved (where there's a will, there are heirs). Then, in 2008, I got dragged to a meeting about our assisted suicide law and saw the perfect crime: your heir could help sign you up, and once the lethal dose was in the house, there was no oversight. Not even a witness is required. If you struggled, who would know?"

Protect your healthcare. Don't let legal assisted suicide come to California.

Kenneth Stevens, MD

http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article17359709.html#storylink=cpy (fourth
letter down)

I am a doctor in Oregon, one of the few states where assisted suicide is legal. I have been following the progress of California’s assisted-suicide bill [SB 128] with alarm.

Here in Oregon, our Medicaid program steers patients to suicide, which is covered in lieu of treatments for cure or to extend life. Private health plans and providers have this same ability.

I first became involved with the assisted suicide issue shortly before my first wife died of cancer in 1982. We had just made what would be her last visit with her doctor. As we were leaving, he suggested that she overdose herself on medication. I still remember the look of horror on her face. She said “Ken, he wants me to kill myself.”

Protect your health care. Don’t let legal assisted suicide come to California.

DR. KENNETH STEVENS, SHERWOOD, ORE.

Brother pressured and written off

A few years ago, my brother, Wes Olfert, died in Washington State where assisted suicide is legal. 

When he was first admitted to the hospital, he made the mistake of asking about assisted suicide.  I say a mistake, because this set off a chain of events that interfered with his care and caused him unnecessary stress in what turned out to be the last months of his life.

By asking the question, he was given a "palliative care" consult by a doctor who heavily and continually pressured him to give up on treatment before he was ready to do so.  Other doctors and staff members also lost interest in helping him once they learned that he had asked about assisted suicide.

With legal assisted suicide, by brother's choice was not enhanced; he was instead written off and pressured to die.  Assisted suicide should not be legal.

Marlene Deakins, RN
Tuscon Arizona