Purported Assisted Suicide Statistics

Isaac Jackson, Esq.

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

According to an article in yesterday's Vermont Digger: 

The report released this week —  which covered the two years between July 1, 2017, June 30, 2019 — said that 34 patients qualified for the terminal prescriptions under Vermont’s law. Of those, 24 had cancer, four had ALS, three had neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Huntington’s, and three others had unspecified conditions.

A few years ago, I investigated a death under Oregon's similar law in conjunction with attorney Isaac Jackson. There was a near complete lack of transparency in which even the police were unable to obtain verifying information regarding deaths under the law. To learn more, click here.

Repeal Physician-Assisted Suicide Now

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/opinion/comment-debate/2014/07/30/repeal-physician-assisted-suicide-now/13334997/

By Michele Morin

I'm confused. Years ago we did away with the death penalty in Vermont (and rightly so) because we understood that despite the care and precision of our legal system, mistakes could be made and an innocent person could be wrongly put to death. The Legislature wasn't willing to take that chance and so abolished the death penalty.

Now we have Act 39 (physician-assisted suicide), another law whose only purpose is to result in the death of one of our citizens. Yet this law, with shockingly few protections and no oversight at all by our judicial system, passed the Legislature.

What is the difference here? A wrongful death is a wrongful death is a wrongful death.

Assisted Suicide Bill Passes

Shumlin

On May 20, 2013, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed S.77, an assisted suicide law, which creates legal paths of abuse and exploitation against persons who fall within its terms. 

Jackowski: Assisted Suicide Is Not the Answer

https://vtdigger.org/2013/05/20/jackowski-assisted-suicide-is-not-the-answer/

Editor's note, This op-ed is by Rosemarie Jackowski, an advocacy journalist and peace activist who is the author of "Banned in Vermont."

The “assisted suicide bill” does exactly what it is designed not to do. It will eliminate choice for the most vulnerable. Unintended consequences are sure to follow. We need more, not fewer rights. Government-approved suicide as an end-of-life option does not give more rights — in reality it takes them away.

Assisted Suicide Bill is Dead!

Senator Dick Sears

[To view an analysis of the failed bill, go here]

"Death with dignity debate tabled"
By Susie Steimie, March 16, 2012

http://www.wcax.com/story/17176558/vt-lawmakers-right-to-die-bill-wont-pass

MONTPELIER, Vt. -  The death with dignity debate has been tabled and a state senator is in the hospital. The vice chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Alice Nitka, is currently in the hospital after an accident at her home Thursday. The committee was expected to vote on the controversial end of life bill Friday.

The bill would give terminally ill patients the right to end their own life. But instead of voting Friday, the chair met with Gov. Peter Shumlin to say the bill will not move.

This session marks the first hearing of the end of life bill in a Vermont Senate committee. But lawmakers say most of the work was done behind closed doors.

Reporter Susie Steimle: How much would you say politics have come into play here?

Sen. Diane Snelling: Quite a bit.

"Oh yeah, there's been some strong pressure. But there's strong pressure on a lot of bills. But this is an emotional bill; it hits everyone," said Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington County.

Sears is holding his ground. He said the bill would not leave his committee this session. We now know that it won't.

As a seasoned senator with the president pro-tem on his side, much of the political pressure to keep this bill from moving came from him. On the other side it came from the governor, who supports the bill.

"When you're a good friend like I am with the governor, it's hard to tell when it's friendship and when it's pressure. But I know he's disappointed with the decision," Sears said.

The committee held extensive testimony this week, which drew hundreds of Vermonters from across the state.

Snelling, who supports the bill, says she fears this gave people false hope.

"I almost wish we hadn't taken testimony, which we did take, because in a sense that gets people to think something is going to happen," said Snelling, R-Chittenden County.

Snelling wanted to send this bill out of committee without recommendation, something Sears calls "wimpy."

"Saying we voted it out without recommendation is like saying we don't have the courage to stand up for what we believe," Sears said.

"I wish that this bill could come to the floor and I've heard from many people on both sides that it's a matter of conscience, in which case, let's vote on our conscience," Snelling said.

Snelling says at this point she's accepted defeat for this session, but that doesn't mean she's giving up.

"It's a difficult issue, I know it's a difficult issue, but I didn't come here to do easy things. So it's very important to stand on the strength of my convictions," Snelling said.

Both senators say it's likely some supporters of the end of life bill will try to attach it to the health care bill, which will be voted on later this session, but neither senator believes it will pass that way. Snelling says she expects it will be back next session.

Supporters don't know if there are enough votes to pass it in the Senate. It's extremely divided. I've heard the vote could be 16-14 either way, but part of the controversy here is this is truly a Senate battle; the House is ready to pass it and the governor supports it.

Assisted Suicide Law Sends Contradictory Message

Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Guy Page, a parent and resident of Cambridge.

http://vtdigger.org/2012/02/01/page-assisted-suicide-law-sends-contradictory-message/

In the Jan. 19 mail I received a letter from Lamoille Union High School, where my daughter is enrolled. It begins with the following sentence: “Over the last few years Vermont has seen an increase in suicide among young people.” It went on to describe a school initiative to hopefully address this awful development. I hope they are successful. All of my children have friends, or friends of friends, who have taken their own lives.

My eldest son, Tim, was a constant suicide risk through his teens. Through the wise, compassionate help of state social workers, Tim escaped his teen years alive. I can tell you that he was personally shaken by the implications, to him, of the proposed assisted suicide law several years ago. When he heard about it, my brilliant, troubled son began to shake in anger and almost despair. “Those hypocrites,” he said. “They’ve been telling me all this time that suicide is never OK.” It didn’t matter when I said the law is meant to address another set of problems – his teenaged hypocrisy-o-meter had already pegged assisted suicide as another example of “do as I say, not as I do, it’s all right for adults, not OK for kids.”

"State can't oversee doctor assisted suicide"

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20111222/OPINION03/112220320/Letter-State-can-t-oversee-doctor-assisted-suicide

 

In a state where there are some 300-plus uninvestigated cases of abuse of the vulnerable, I simply cannot believe that Gov. Peter Shumlin, House Speaker Shap Smith and Rep. Ann Pugh, D-South Burlington, can even contemplate pushing a bill to help the terminally ill kill themselves! Curiously they are pushing doctor-prescribed death in the name of "compassionate care."

A state government that is unable to investigate a known backlog of 300 reports of abuse and neglect of the elderly, the disabled, the sick -- and to prevent such abuse in the first place -- is demonstrably untrustworthy to safely implement doctor-prescribed death!

Pete Gummere

Bennington Banner: Suicide choice is an illusion

http://www.benningtonbanner.com/opinion/ci_19084377Posted: 10/10/2011 10:26:03 PM EDT
Monday October 10, 2011

This letter responds to Dr. Guerrero's letter referring to an upcoming assisted suicide bill, which he discusses in terms of providing patient choice. Last March, I did a legal analysis of two assisted-suicide bills that were pending in your legislature. I previously analyzed two similar bills introduced in 2009.

None of these bills assured patient choice or control over their deaths. For example, there was no required supervision over administration of the lethal dose. The death was not even required to be witnessed. This created the opportunity for an heir, or someone else who would benefit from the patient's death, to administer the lethal dose to the patient without his consent. Even if he struggled, who would know?

To view my most recent analysis, go here:  http://www.choiceillusionvermont.org/p/2011-bills.html To view my prior analysis, see Physician-Assisted Suicide: "A Recipe for Elder Abuse and the Illusion of Personal Choice," Vermont Bar Journal, winter 2011, available at www.vtbar.org/Images/Journal/journalarticles/winter2011/PhysicianAssistedSuicide.pdf .

Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation www.margaretdore.com  [should be www.choiceillusion.org ]

MARGARET K. DORE

Seattle, Wash.

Assisted Suicide: A Recipe for Elder Abuse and the Illusion of Personal Choice

The original version of this article was published in The Vermont Bar Journal, Winter 2011.  

Bill Peace ("Bad Cripple") Center

By Margaret K. Dore, Esq.

Elders and people with disabilities

are, as a group, at a high risk for

violence, abuse, and exploitation.

- Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services [1]

Introduction

In 2009, a legislative proposal to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Vermont was introduced, but not brought to a vote.[2] The proposal was modeled on Oregon’s assisted suicide act.[3] Oregon is one of just two states where assisted suicide is legal. In Vermont, proponents have indicated that they will be backing a similar proposal in the 2011 legislative session.[4]

Physician-Assisted Suicide

The American Medical Association (AMA) defines physician-assisted suicide as follows: "Physician-assisted suicide occurs when a physician facilitates a patient’s death by providing the necessary means and/or information to enable the patient to perform the life-ending act (e.g., the physician provides sleeping pills and information about the lethal dose, while aware that the patient may commit suicide)."[5]

The AMA rejects assisted suicide.[6] Assisted suicide is also opposed by disability rights groups such as the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, and Not Dead Yet.[7]