tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395088269354459862024-03-25T17:24:47.044-07:00WashingtonA non-profit corporation opposed to assisted suicide, euthanasia and other forms of imposed death, worldwideUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-2785449449468351862024-03-11T23:51:00.000-07:002024-03-11T23:51:04.158-07:00My Personal Experience With Assisted Suicide<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIkoh7p9AIub0m_p-tZX3UsthZT0-6nBYYSm018VpxbQvVnRJSHAewOSQlkfTogg0DGaef1WjHvPOf965kURh9a8MHYRIp4k0XG6C8-rf8MbqAXmPQsZ6ASgZ1lxhPFcVLQPuQTr_MpvM9jcLnkiwd8dyATeDaYKnqxkuts_UBhDq54qB-AO_wNytFNFb1/s500/Seward%20Park%20Playground.jpg" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIkoh7p9AIub0m_p-tZX3UsthZT0-6nBYYSm018VpxbQvVnRJSHAewOSQlkfTogg0DGaef1WjHvPOf965kURh9a8MHYRIp4k0XG6C8-rf8MbqAXmPQsZ6ASgZ1lxhPFcVLQPuQTr_MpvM9jcLnkiwd8dyATeDaYKnqxkuts_UBhDq54qB-AO_wNytFNFb1/w193-h145/Seward%20Park%20Playground.jpg" width="193" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">By Margaret Dore</span></p><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In another life, I talked three young men down from suicide.<br /></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #222222;">What I think happened is that a final exit network type person had given them my phone number by mistake. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">This was before the age of caller ID.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">I was contacted by each of the three young men over a period of time, each one wanting assistance to kill himself. </span></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">I called a suicide prevention person to ask what I should do,</span><i style="font-family: inherit;"> </i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><i>i.e.</i>, with regard to the first one. The person told me to ask the suicidal person why? To engage him. <span><a name='more'></a></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">So that’s what I did. I met each one at a local Seattle park, which I thought would be safe for me and asked him why, and then I tried to expand to other topics. </span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The last one I got him laughing. He told me that he no longer felt like killing himself.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To the best of my knowledge they all lived, but I don't know for sure.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></div>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-80949806851036064872023-12-28T18:32:00.000-08:002023-12-28T18:34:44.499-08:00My Mum Didn't Die<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWP23JKxorW-iNPtNs0QfpU7Gfkl1sRvwIf9YcXB26ucUerfOtyG-16bABMf9kM9pDLrCS6EashcYRhNG8fx9_GyIRgEnR6phYbU9tQfQs_-C4eBXMlJFj3J4a4THVExOwg64mavnUoBPK030st6BmUxrjhnM50Tzix2gszEB_2oTQ701E1cau98_Pqtxy/s1800/AnitaCameron.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1800" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWP23JKxorW-iNPtNs0QfpU7Gfkl1sRvwIf9YcXB26ucUerfOtyG-16bABMf9kM9pDLrCS6EashcYRhNG8fx9_GyIRgEnR6phYbU9tQfQs_-C4eBXMlJFj3J4a4THVExOwg64mavnUoBPK030st6BmUxrjhnM50Tzix2gszEB_2oTQ701E1cau98_Pqtxy/w164-h125/AnitaCameron.webp" width="164" /></a></div>Good morning. I’m Anita Cameron, Director of Minority Outreach for Not Dead Yet, a national, grassroots disability organization opposed to medical discrimination, healthcare rationing, euthanasia and assisted suicide.<p></p><p>Assisted suicide laws are dangerous because though these laws are supposed to be for people with six months or less to live, doctors are often wrong about a terminal diagnosis. In 2009, while living in Washington state, my mother was determined to be at the end stage of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. I was told her death was imminent, that if I wanted to see her alive, I should get there in two days. She rallied, but was still quite ill, so she was placed in hospice. Her doctor said that her body had begun the process of dying.</p><p>Though she survived 6 months of hospice, her doctor convinced her that her body was still in the process of dying, and she moved home to Colorado to die.</p><p>My mum didn’t die. In fact, six weeks after returning to Colorado, she and I were arrested together in Washington, DC, fighting for disability justice. She became active in her community and lived almost 12 years!<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>Assisted suicide laws put sick people, seniors and disabled people, especially, at risk due to the view of doctors that disabled people have a lower quality of life, therefore leading them to devalue our lives. </p><p>In 2021, Lisa Iezzoni, a professor of medicine at Harvard University, conducted a survey of 714 doctors around the country as part of a study. She found “82.4 percent reported that people with significant disability have worse quality of life than nondisabled people. Only 40.7 percent of physicians were very confident about their ability to provide the same quality of care to patients with disability, just 56.5 percent strongly agreed that they welcomed patients with disability into their practices, and 18.1 percent strongly agreed that the health care system often treats these patients unfairly.”</p><p>* * *</p><p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33523739">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33523739</a></p><p>* Cameron’s Remarks Before the New York State Bar Association Task Force. Article provided by Diane Coleman, President and CEO of Not Dead Yet, a national disability rights group, which Coleman founded in 1996, to give voice to disability rights opposition to the legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia. Original article dated 11/17/23.</p>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-60577278359594836572021-10-07T16:24:00.000-07:002024-02-25T16:32:04.145-08:00Seattle Mother Who Died from Blood Clots got J&J Vaccine to be Child's 'Room Mom'<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjPzS-Qi9eV7tOHMGs-YH57uDdj63uAMqkK75Jk24tz5xTCZcpxGrL_nYTrvQYFj1mnrCjukmHAlAkZBei8_K0A_gJgDB_Imx5oLgllxqnPfBgD_b-AV1pmqW_vtE_HEH0ApeuWgwY3eEJYYqpybn3PcMNBCIT-7yftWFVvYumgbAbaK7ZZnXH-OqqQxGF/s200/Jessica%20Berg%20Wilson.jpg" style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjPzS-Qi9eV7tOHMGs-YH57uDdj63uAMqkK75Jk24tz5xTCZcpxGrL_nYTrvQYFj1mnrCjukmHAlAkZBei8_K0A_gJgDB_Imx5oLgllxqnPfBgD_b-AV1pmqW_vtE_HEH0ApeuWgwY3eEJYYqpybn3PcMNBCIT-7yftWFVvYumgbAbaK7ZZnXH-OqqQxGF/w130-h130/Jessica%20Berg%20Wilson.jpg" width="130" /></a></p><p><span style="color: #121212; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">SEATTLE (KOMO) — A King County woman has died from a blood clot after she got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: inherit;">The Washington State Department of Health (WSDH) confirmed she is the first blood clot death in the state after getting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: inherit;">“Sadly, this is the first such death in Washington State,’ Secretary of Health Umair A. Shah said. “We send our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones. Losing a loved one at any time is a tragic and difficult and pain that’s become all too familiar in the last year and a half of this pandemic.”</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: inherit;">Jessica Berg Wilson, 37, received the J & J vaccine on Aug. 26 and died Sept. 7, according to her family.</span></p><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: inherit;">Jessica’s obituary says she was an exceptionally healthy and vibrant mother of two young girls with no underlying health conditions.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: inherit;">Seattle King County Public Health says she died from a special type of thrombosis - a condition identified as a rare, but potentially adverse event in people who received the J&J vaccine.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: inherit;">The CDC has reported just three other confirmed deaths nationwide due to the rare blood clotting syndrome while 38 people have confirmed blood clot cases after receiving the J&J vaccine.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: inherit;">“Nothing lessens the burden on this woman and her family and I’m sorry for that,” said Dr. Chris Spitters who is the Snohomish County Health Director. “But it doesn’t shake our faith in the vaccines and the overwhelmingly positive impacts despite these side effects.”</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: inherit;">But for Berg Wilson, her obituary says she strongly opposed getting the vaccine because she was young and in good health.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: inherit;">But because she wanted to spend time in her child’s classroom, she got the vaccine.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: inherit;">“Jessica was pressured to get the vaccine due to a vaccine mandate at their child’s school requiring ‘room moms’ who wished to serve in the classroom be fully vaccinated,"said Berg Wilson’s obituary.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: inherit;">It was Berg Wilson’s greatest passion to be the best mother to her young daughters who will now grow up with only memories of their Mom.</span></p><p><span style="color: #121212; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">The CDC says the benefits of the J&J vaccine still out weight the risks. </span></span></p>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-22616185324736768542021-04-12T18:15:00.002-07:002021-04-13T14:10:19.776-07:00Conrad Reynoldson Makes a Difference<p style="text-align: right;"></p><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><div>By Margaret Dore, Esq.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6DTEHMJUZlC0LgOK6V_VCLxSz4cnK7ZNghGWFY7lgKX_kLR6fiTuq7QRF7iM7x-c_sYHNSehhvIiz6bWipKerONH2ZJYINeMMwSXUaC2b6b8zGBxals1-BfTEK2VEtVIXWVSj4iX9Onor/s194/Photo+reynoldson+179+x+194.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="179" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6DTEHMJUZlC0LgOK6V_VCLxSz4cnK7ZNghGWFY7lgKX_kLR6fiTuq7QRF7iM7x-c_sYHNSehhvIiz6bWipKerONH2ZJYINeMMwSXUaC2b6b8zGBxals1-BfTEK2VEtVIXWVSj4iX9Onor/w149-h161/Photo+reynoldson+179+x+194.jpg" width="149" /></a></div><br /></div><div>Bill HB 1141, which had sought to expand Washington State's assisted suicide and euthanasia law, is dead. From my vantage point, a big reason was a young lawyer named Conrad Reynoldson (pictured here). </div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div>Reynoldson is founder and lead attorney of Washington Civil & Disability Advocate, a 501(c)(3) tax exempt non-profit, formed to ensure individuals with disabilities a low-cost option to protect their civil rights.</span><div><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div><div>Reynoldson, himself, did not take the credit, sending out an email thanking others for the win. <span><a name='more'></a></span></div><div><br /></div><div>"<span style="font-family: inherit;">Thank you all for helping make this happen," said Reynoldson. "What an amazing team win for the disability community in Washington State."</span></div></div>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-41360684085293359742021-04-12T16:22:00.001-07:002021-04-13T14:09:28.951-07:00Expansion Bill Dead<div class="separator"><p style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </p></div><p><span>By Barbara Lyons (pictured here)<br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwp7hnTLz2_r9qzHJcoKY3UsN7ODPSM8KDyfB3QyOycXLEDJtuowa8aDJJ83ogTrQFn9DBG10ohhZXe9BtNNTNNw5Y_8jU0CsTVnYZOw4GuGvqULtkmDu6m3P3upUUzLBzqtnVyTnpmy5j/s220/Photo+lyons+brown+220+x+191.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="191" data-original-width="220" height="123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwp7hnTLz2_r9qzHJcoKY3UsN7ODPSM8KDyfB3QyOycXLEDJtuowa8aDJJ83ogTrQFn9DBG10ohhZXe9BtNNTNNw5Y_8jU0CsTVnYZOw4GuGvqULtkmDu6m3P3upUUzLBzqtnVyTnpmy5j/w141-h123/Photo+lyons+brown+220+x+191.jpg" width="141" /></a></div><span>The Washington State expansion of assisted suicide bill, HB 1141, is dead. It passed in the House by a 60-37 vote and cleared several Senate committees. </span><p></p><p><span>Thanks to the dedicated, persistent work of a diverse coalition of people in the disability rights, medical, right-to-life and faith communities, the Senate adjourned last night without taking up the bill. It is dead for this session. </span></p><p><span>The bill’s dangerous expansions included: reducing patient waiting times from 15 days to three days, allowing non-physicians to make terminal diagnoses and prescribe lethal drugs, and allowing for the lethal drugs to be shipped through the postal service rather than obtained in-person. Many thanks and congratulations to the coalition which led this successful effort!</span></p>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-27621569260522168622019-11-02T23:00:00.000-07:002019-11-04T18:16:10.696-08:00Dore Featured Speaker <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuKtAm16V7GBpUFgQyD9o1q2DJwztjd0qVDVknOzBiSk0c5FanRZNHRKUJsKGpBfCjKbh35d_sm1M4nBVofaWHkN3Maw18ECkH_Z-MGTMQeSECI8Yl_0quq7hC92oboQ-hdds8_HDA0hDt/s1600/Margaret+Dore+Bellevue+215+x+215.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="215" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuKtAm16V7GBpUFgQyD9o1q2DJwztjd0qVDVknOzBiSk0c5FanRZNHRKUJsKGpBfCjKbh35d_sm1M4nBVofaWHkN3Maw18ECkH_Z-MGTMQeSECI8Yl_0quq7hC92oboQ-hdds8_HDA0hDt/s200/Margaret+Dore+Bellevue+215+x+215.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">Margaret Dore</td></tr>
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This evening, Margaret Dore was the featured speaker at St. Louise Parish Hall in Bellevue, Washington.<br />
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Her main topics included problems with assisted suicide in Washington State and how to win in the future against legalization. She also discussed <a href="https://www.choiceillusion.org/2016/10/montana-say-no-to-oregon-experience.html" target="_blank">suicide contagion in Oregon</a>.<br />
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Special thanks to Debby Ummel who organized the event.<br />
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-27378587962479692842019-10-25T16:59:00.000-07:002019-11-04T16:05:51.386-08:00Death With Dignity Act Must Be Overturned<a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/bullet-point-handout.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #5b84ed; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;">Click here</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"> for pdf version.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpU_EgAQ7q60BxoEc18FsbvklocnTigpqpzLZZIIpR1fASt1LSEy8HjXezKl7Q1QdKQl0Ze2bVHM_AtG8-C9Z4BCxYDWuVWjTOaiGLjQy-Usn8oyBe1KXl-npw-cmEWbT07ppF2JzgukEw/s1600/washington-flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; clear: right; color: #5b84ed; float: right; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpU_EgAQ7q60BxoEc18FsbvklocnTigpqpzLZZIIpR1fASt1LSEy8HjXezKl7Q1QdKQl0Ze2bVHM_AtG8-C9Z4BCxYDWuVWjTOaiGLjQy-Usn8oyBe1KXl-npw-cmEWbT07ppF2JzgukEw/s1600/washington-flag.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(111, 168, 220); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" /></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Washington State’s Death with Dignity Act was passed by the voters as Initiative1000. During the election, backers touted it as providing "choice" for individuals. A glossy brochure declared, "Only the patient — and no one else — may administer the [lethal dose]." The Act does not say this anywhere.[1]</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: center; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">• The Act legalized assisted suicide as that term is traditionally defined. In the fine print, the Act allows euthanasia.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">• The Act applies to adults with a disease expected to produce death within six months. In practice, this includes people with years, even decades, to live. This is because the six months to live is determined without treatment, so that young adults with chronic conditions, such as insulin dependent diabetes, are terminal for the purpose of the Act. This is also because predictions of life expectancy are often wrong, with some people living decades past a terminal diagnosis.[2]</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">• Assisting persons can have an agenda: a criminal seeking financial gain; a family member wanting an inheritance; or a doctor who just likes to kill people.[3]</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">• The Act is sold as completely voluntary, but someone else is allowed to speak for the patient during the lethal dose request process, even a stranger or the patient’s heir.[4]</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">• Administration of the lethal dose is allowed to occur in private without a doctor or witness present.[5] If the patient objected or even struggled, who would know?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">• The death certificate is required to list a terminal disease as the cause of death.[6] This prevents prosecution for murder as a matter of law, no matter what the facts. The Act creates a perfect crime.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">• Assisted suicide, even when voluntary, can be traumatic for patients, friends and families.[7]</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA, President</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation</span><br />
<a href="http://www.choiceillusion.org/" style="background-color: white; color: #5b84ed; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;">www.choiceillusion.org</a><br />
<a href="http://www.margaretdore.org/" style="background-color: white; color: #5b84ed; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;">www.margaretdore.org</a><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">1001 4th Avenue, Suite 4400</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Seattle, WA 98154</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">206 697-1217</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Footnotes:</b><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></a><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[1] For more information, see Margaret Dore, “‘Death with Dignity’: What Do We Advise Our Clients?” King County Bar Bulletin, May 2009, available at </span><a href="https://www.kcba.org/newsevents/barbulletin/BView.aspx?Month=05&Year=2009&AID=article5.htm" style="background-color: white; color: #5b84ed; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.kcba.org/newsevents/barbulletin/BView.aspx?Month=05&Year=2009&AID=article5.htm</a><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[2] Cf. Nina Shapiro, "Terminal Uncertainty," Washington's new "Death with Dignity" law allows doctors to help people commit suicide - once they've determined that the patient has only six months to live. But what if they're wrong? The Seattle Weekly, January 14, 2009, </span><a href="https://www.seattleweekly.com/news/terminal-uncertainty" style="background-color: white; color: #5b84ed; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.seattleweekly.com/news/terminal-uncertainty</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">; Jessica Firger, "12 Million Americans Misdiagnosed Each Year," CBS NEWS, April 17, 2014, at </span><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/12-million-americans-misdiagnosed-each-year-study-says" style="background-color: white; color: #5b84ed; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.cbsnews.com/news/12-million-americans-misdiagnosed-each-year-study-says</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">; and Margaret Dore, “John Norton: A Cautionary Tale,” 09/22/12, </span><a href="https://www.massagainstassistedsuicide.org/2012/09/john-norton-cautionary-tale.html" style="background-color: white; color: #5b84ed; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.massagainstassistedsuicide.org/2012/09/john-norton-cautionary-tale.html</a><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[3] Consider Tammy Sawyer, trustee for Thomas Middleton in Oregon. Two days after his death by legal assisted suicide, she sold his home and deposited the proceeds into bank accounts for her own benefit. "Sawyer Arraigned on State Fraud Charges," KTVZ.COM, 08/16/16. Consider also Graham Morant, convicted of counseling his wife to kill herself, to get the life insurance. The Court found: “[Y]ou counselled and aided your wife to kill herself because you wanted ... the 1.4 million,” R v Morant [2018] QSC 251, Order, 11/02/18, available at: https://archive.sclqld.org.au/qjudgment/2018/QSC18-251.pdf and Charlie Leduff, “Prosecutors Say Doctor Killed to Feel a Thrill,” The New York Times, 09/07/00, </span><a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/ny-times-killed-to-feel-a-thrill-1.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #5b84ed; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;">https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/ny-times-killed-to-feel-a-thrill-1.pdf</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"> (“Basically, Dr. Swango liked to kill people. By his own admission in his diary, he killed because it thrilled him.”) See also David Batty, “Q & A: Harold Shipman,” The Guardian, 08/25/05, at </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/aug/25/health.shipman" style="background-color: white; color: #5b84ed; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/aug/25/health.shipman</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">. (Attached hereto at A-46 to A-48).</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[4] The Act, RCW 70.245.010(3) , allows another person to speak for the patient during the lethal dose request process. The only requirement is that the speaking person be "familiar with the patient's manner of communicating." The speaking person is allowed to be the patient's heir or otherwise in a position to benefit from the patient's death.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[5] Dore, at note 1.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[6] </span><a href="https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/Pubs/422-148-DWDAInstructionsForMedicalExaminers.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #5b84ed; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/Pubs/422-148-DWDAInstructionsForMedicalExaminers.pdf</a><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[7] “Death by request in Switzerland: Posttraumatic stress disorder and complicated grief after witnessing assisted suicide,” B. Wagner, J. Muller, A. Maercker; European Psychiatry 27 (2012) 542-546, available at </span><a href="http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/family-members-traumatized-eur-psych-2012.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #9db84e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/family-members-traumatized-eur-psych-2012.pdf</a>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-8008579035879834702019-08-11T20:26:00.000-07:002020-06-10T21:48:08.125-07:00Join Us at the Fair!<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_sC04KlBcpWw95a4xeJDp0fKFlw7ZPvG9U0Cq8MnArHdjLGjpc92WLyIp3yZByRBiaBKexoNKvOk7DjIC2L2Znr8u2ikER-Y2OkR-6OxZQAMH_N4cArxgfAT0SR_XDd2OUQJ9VH31oKgB/s1600/Goats+224+x+145.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="145" data-original-width="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_sC04KlBcpWw95a4xeJDp0fKFlw7ZPvG9U0Cq8MnArHdjLGjpc92WLyIp3yZByRBiaBKexoNKvOk7DjIC2L2Znr8u2ikER-Y2OkR-6OxZQAMH_N4cArxgfAT0SR_XDd2OUQJ9VH31oKgB/s1600/Goats+224+x+145.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">This month, <a href="http://www.choiceillusion.org/" target="_blank">Choice is an Illusion</a> will be at the <span class="il">fair</span> in both Montana and Washington State. We have a long history of working in Montana, but this will be our first time in Washington.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In Montana, we will have a booth at the NW Montana <span class="il">Fair</span> & Rodeo, in Kalispell, August 14-18, 2019. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://t.e2ma.net/click/o1g5wb/o5v736/wjw3yo&source=gmail&ust=1591931899126000&usg=AFQjCNEYrXmB7y7AWhR1PqE0tojsfB5VbA" href="https://t.e2ma.net/click/o1g5wb/o5v736/wjw3yo" style="color: #333333;" target="_blank" title="Click here">Click here</a> to read our event flyer to learn more.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We will also have a booth at the <span class="il">Evergreen</span> State <span class="il">Fair</span> in Monroe, Washington on August 31, 2019. (Booth C79).</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In Washington State, assisted suicide was legalized by a ballot measure in which voters were promised that "only the patient" would be allowed to administer the lethal dose, which isn't true. Such persons may also have years to live. For more information, click <a href="https://www.kcba.org/kcba/newsevents/barbulletin/BView.aspx?Month=05&Year=2009&AID=article5.htm" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://www.seattleweekly.com/news/terminal-uncertainty/" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In Montana, assisted suicides are occurring due to a State Supreme Court decision (Baxter). Bills to overturn the decision have been proposed in every legislative session since. To learn more, <a href="https://www.choiceillusionmontana.org/" target="_blank">click here</a>. <br /><br />In Montana, our booth will be located near the political booths, which will allow us to talk to legislators and candidates for office about problems with legalization. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Donations needed and appreciated!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Looking forward to seeing you at the <span class="il">fair</span>!</span></div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-84870054524597798172016-06-21T13:10:00.001-07:002018-11-01T16:57:38.368-07:00‘Death with Dignity’ Law Imperils the Poor <h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; color: #303030; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;">
<a href="http://realchangenews.org/index.php/site/archives/9122" style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: 13.2px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">http://realchangenews.org/index.php/site/archives/9122</a></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjVv3CvbKONSKHm1XZfMjIJ3X6cOPlBEPjNEjA16rCT2pynhHgqGjjDNp-NpM7hcY7Pi-fJ9AC-9LbnmgBGp_Mim-BOVHj96UAQcU4MkaXN11hpiRYC3UF1ARlRZicFGnuSvymDiKQ2rYu/s1600/RealChange_logo+with+person.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="60" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjVv3CvbKONSKHm1XZfMjIJ3X6cOPlBEPjNEjA16rCT2pynhHgqGjjDNp-NpM7hcY7Pi-fJ9AC-9LbnmgBGp_Mim-BOVHj96UAQcU4MkaXN11hpiRYC3UF1ARlRZicFGnuSvymDiKQ2rYu/s200/RealChange_logo+with+person.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Last week’s article by an assisted suicide/euthanasia advocate struck me as a bizarre article </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">for </span><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Real Change</span></i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">, which advocates for the dignity and self-determination of the poor. (“Terminally ill patients face shortage of right-to-die drug amid controversy over capital punishment,” </span><i style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Real Change</span></i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">, June 18, 2014)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Washington’s assisted suicide law was passed in 2008 and went into effect in 2009. This was after a deceptive initiative campaign promised us that “only” the patient would be allowed to take the lethal dose. Our law does not say that anywhere. See Margaret K. Dore, “’Death with Dignity,” What Do We Advise Our Clients?,” King County Bar Association, <i>Bar Bulletin</i>, May 2009, available at <a href="https://www.kcba.org/newsevents/barbulletin/BView.aspx?Month=05&Year=2009&AID=article5.htm" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration: none;">https://www.kcba.org/newsevents/barbulletin/BView.aspx?Month=05&Year=2009&AID=article5.htm</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">In Oregon, which has a similar law, that state’s Medicaid program using the law to steer patients to suicide. In other words, indigent patients are offered suicide in lieu of desired treatments to cure or to extend life. The most well-known cases are Barbara Wagner and Randy Stroup. See: Susan Donaldson James, “Death Drugs Cause Uproar in Oregon,” <i>ABC News</i>, August 6, 2008, at <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=5517492&page=1" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration: none;">http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=5517492&page=1</a>; and “Letter noting assisted suicide raises questions,” KATU TV, July 30, 2008. See also the Affidavit of Kenneth Stevens, MD, filed by the Canadian government in <i>Leblanc v. Canada</i>, available at <a href="http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/signed-stevens-aff-9-18-12.pdf" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration: none;">http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/signed-stevens-aff-9-18-12.pdf</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Finally, consider this quote from a March 8, 2012 Jerry Large column in the <i>Seattle Times</i>. He says that at least a couple of his readers suggested euthanasia “if you couldn’t save enough money to see you through your old age." <a href="http://seattletimes.com/text/2017693023.html" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration: none;">http://seattletimes.com/text/2017693023.html</a> For the poor, this would be non-voluntary or involuntary euthanasia. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">So much for the dignity and self-determination of the poor.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Seattle</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal;">*</span><a href="http://www.margaretdore.com/" style="color: #3d85c6; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">www.margaretdore.com</a><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal;"> & </span><a href="http://www.choiceillusion.org%20/" style="color: #3d85c6; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.choiceillusion.org </a></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-58171562989794441282015-11-11T16:53:00.002-08:002015-11-11T16:58:02.969-08:00WA Case Medical Homicide<b> State probe finds hospital 'sloppy' in man's death</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/article31786419.html">http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/article31786419.html</a><br />
August 20, 2010<br />
<br />
By Sheila Hagar, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin<br />
<br />
<div class="">
WALLA WALLA -- A Washington state Department of Health investigation
found procedural problems at Providence St. Mary Medical Center in a
death that Walla Walla County Coroner Frank Brown has listed as a
medical homicide.<br />
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The department launched its investigation when a caller to the
state's complaint hotline alleged that a 60-year-old patient at the
hospital died March 1 of accidental acute morphine overdose. The caller,
who is not named in the report, pointed to a forensic pathologist's
autopsy, health officials said.<br />
<br />
Brown labeled the death "medical homicide," a decision agreed with by
Dr. Carl Wigren, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy.
Wigren is paid by the county for his services.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The man died so quickly after being hospitalized for respiratory
distress, Wigren said from his office in Seattle, that he and Brown were
concerned about a possible H1N1 influenza victim. An autopsy was
ordered to address the possibility of a significant contagion and threat
to public health.<br />
Wigren took a swab of the man's airway and, as a matter of routine,
turned blood samples over to the Department of Health's Shoreline-based
lab. "I like to submit all my cases for toxicology because sometimes you
get a surprise. And, obviously, this was a surprise."<br />
<br />
<b>Lethal dose</b><br />
<br />
The level of morphine found in the deceased man was lethal, which
falls under the definition of medical homicide, the pathologist said.<br />
<br />
In a prepared statement, Wigren said Brown's ruling on the matter
came after "he carefully considered the totality of the evidence,
including the toxicology report, and the hospital's medical records and
appropriately applied the medical definition of homicide as death
resulting from an intentional or volitional act of one person against
another. As coroner, Frank's job is to assign a manner of death. It is
not a legally binding opinion and does not necessarily imply criminal
intent. It is the responsibility of other agencies to follow up and
investigate."<br />
<br />
<br />
Wigren, who is required by law to report his findings, notified the
Washington state Quality Assurance Board and Walla Walla Adult
Protective Services after consulting with a palliative-care specialist
at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.<br />
<br />
Because the patient was on end-of-life, or palliative, care, the
allegation of medical homicide does not apply and was not substantiated
at the level of the state's Health Systems Quality Assurance office,
according to an investigation conducted by Department of Health.<br />
<br />
'Things went wrong'<br />
<br />
Nonetheless, things went wrong in the case on several key points,
despite St. Mary having proper policies and procedures in place, noted
Linda Foss, executive director of clinical care facilities at the state
Department of Health.<br />
<br />
Her staff is in charge of investigation and inspection of clinical
care facilities, checking for compliance for federal Medicare and state
regulations. At the helm of that department for eight years, Foss said
this has been an unusual case.<br />
<br />
The particulars in this death are "a new issue" to Foss, one her
staff did not find in other charts of patients in similar situations,
the department head said.<br />
<br />
At issue is a failure by staff to follow protocol, according to the
state. The patient was admitted to St. Mary on March 1 with pneumonia.
After determining that end-of-life care was desired by the patient and
his family, the attending physician wrote an order for one milligram of
morphine to be administered intravenously continuously after a two
milligram injection directly into the vein. The IV drip was ordered
adjusted for the patient's comfort and respiratory distress.<br />
<br />
<b>No limits given</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
There was no specific range -- or dosage -- or incremental increases
identified in the order, nor was a maximum dose or "no limit" written,
despite established policies at St. Mary.<br />
<br />
That's a problem, Foss said, "It makes no difference if it is
end-of-life or other. Any drug given in a hospital, there is a range on
that. And it should be applied to any patient."<br />
<br />
The hospital's pharmacy then filled the order without contacting the
physician for clarification. Nursing staff proceeded to administer the
morphine, also without seeking input from the doctor.<br />
Nurses' notes indicated the drip rate on the patient was initiated at
two milligrams per hour, "and was increased to 60 mg/ph in less than 3
hours," the report notes. "Documentation of the patient's symptoms did
not include pain assessments, and only brief descriptions of respiratory
effort and heart rate."<br />
<br />
The investigator's interviews with hospital staff -- including the
chief nursing officer, quality assurance director, nurse practitioner
and registered nurse in charge of the patient -- confirmed the amount,
rate and increase of the medication given to the patient were within
normal ranges for comfort care.<br />
<br />
However, staff also agreed the doctor's order lacked enough
information and that not all physicians write palliative orders at St.
Mary in accordance with approved policies, noted the state's report.<br />
As well, nursing and pharmacy staff "did not consistently ask for
clarification prior to medication and administration to the patient."<br />
<br />
And while the family of the deceased may have agreed to the plan of
action, "they don't know about titrating drugs," Foss said. "They just
know they have come to terms with it."<br />
<br />
As the set of regulatory "eyes," she sees this as leadership failure
at St. Mary, she explained. "I'm a straight shooter and I call it as I
see it."<br />
<br />
The hospital should be holding doctors and nurses accountable for
following procedures, Foss said. "They are not bad people, but they got
into sloppy practices."<br />
<br />
St. Mary officials declined comment, referring questions to the
hospital's attorney, David Robbins, who said the hospital does not
respond to pending matters of this nature and pointed out he has
previously described Brown's finding as "inaccurate and without basis."<br />
<br />
<b>Health citations</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The Department of Health issued St. Mary citations for deficient
practices related to Medicare and state licensing regulations, but that
is where her department stops, Foss said. "We never make a statement
(regarding cause of death) because we don't know."<br />
<br />
Neither does her office have authority to levy fines, she explained.<br />
<br />
Her job, instead, is to identify the problem, ask the questions and
make sure procedures are in place and followed, Foss added. "If it's in
writing, you better do it and you better know it. I'm expecting you to
know it. St. Mary should know better."<br />
<br />
The case was brought to the attention of the Walla Walla Police
Department by the state Department of Health, prompting an investigation
by detectives. Police Chief Chuck Fulton said the department is waiting
for additional information from a related investigation by the state.<br />
<br />
-- Reporter Andy Porter contributed to this story.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-62458632442983624092015-11-03T20:09:00.000-08:002015-11-03T20:09:28.194-08:00Washington's Act Allows Euthanasia<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7720243551178021223" style="background-color: white; color: #303030; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 470px;">
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Washington's <a href="http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=70.245&full=true" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Death with Dignity Act</a>, Chapter 70.245, RCW, allows a patient to "</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">self-administer" a lethal dose to end his or her life. See e.g., <a href="http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=70.245.010" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">RCW 70.245.010(11)</a>. On close examination, this term allows euthanasia.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Per the act, self-administer is defined </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">as</span> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">the “act of ingesting.” </span><a href="http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=70.245.010" style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">RCW 70.245.010(12)</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> states:</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Self-administer” means a qualified patient’s <i>act of ingesting</i> medication to end his or her life . . . (Emphasis added)</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The act does not define “ingest.” <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/definitions-of-ingest.pdf" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Dictionary definitions include</a>:</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">[T]o take (food, drugs, etc.) into the body, as by <i>swallowing, inhaling, or absorbing</i>.” (Emphasis added). </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">With these definitions, someone else putting the lethal dose in the patient’s mouth qualifies as proper administration because the patient will be “swallowing” the lethal dose, <i>i.e.</i>, “ingesting” it. Someone else placing a medication patch on the patient’s arm will qualify because the patient will be “absorbing” the lethal dose,<i> i.e</i>., “ingesting” it. Gas administration, similarly, will qualify because the patient will be “inhaling” the lethal dose, <i>i.e.</i>, “ingesting” it. With self-administer defined as mere ingesting, someone else is allowed to administer the lethal dose to the patient. </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Allowing someone else to administer the lethal dose to the patient is "euthanasia" under generally accepted medical terminology. </span><a href="http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/medical-ethics/code-medical-ethics/opinion221.page?#" style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The American Medical Association's Ethics Opinion 2.21</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> states: </span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"</span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.2px;">Euthanasia is the administration of a lethal agent <i>by another person</i> to a patient . . .</span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.2px;"> " </i><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.2px;">(Emphasis added).</span></blockquote>
Washington's act allows euthanasia.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-78886671543993192492014-07-04T10:56:00.001-07:002014-12-07T13:47:15.810-08:00Washington’s ‘Death with Dignity’ law imperils the poor<a href="http://realchangenews.org/index.php/site/archives/9122" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration: none;">http://realchangenews.org/index.php/site/archives/9122</a><br />
<br />
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Veranda, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Last week’s article by an assisted suicide/euthanasia advocate struck me as a bizarre article for Real Change, which advocates for the dignity and self-determination of the poor. (“Terminally ill patients face shortage of right-to-die drug amid controversy over capital punishment,” Real Change, June 18)</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Veranda, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Washington’s assisted suicide law was passed in 2008 and went into effect in 2009. This was after a deceptive initiative campaign promised us that “only” the patient would be allowed to take the lethal dose. Our law does not say that anywhere. See Margaret K. Dore, “’Death with Dignity,” What Do We Advise Our Clients?,” King County Bar Association, Bar Bulletin, May 2009, available at <a href="https://www.kcba.org/newsevents/barbulletin/BView.aspx?Month=05&Year=2009&AID=article5.htm" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration: none;">https://www.kcba.org/newsevents/barbulletin/BView.aspx?Month=05&Year=2009&AID=article5.htm</a>.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Veranda, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
In Oregon, which has a similar law, that state’s Medicaid program using the law to steer patients to suicide. In other words, indigent patients are offered suicide in lieu of desired treatments to cure or to extend life. The most well-known cases are Barbara Wagner and Randy Stroup. See: Susan Donaldson James, “Death Drugs Cause Uproar in Oregon,” ABC News, August 6, 2008, at <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=5517492&page=1" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration: none;">http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=5517492&page=1</a>; and “Letter noting assisted suicide raises questions,” KATU TV, July 30, 2008, at <a href="http://www.katu.com/news/specialreports/26119539.html" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration: none;">http://www.katu.com/news/specialreports/26119539.html</a> See also the Affidavit of Kenneth Stevens, MD, filed by the Canadian government in <i>Leblanc v. Canada</i>, available at <a href="http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/signed-stevens-aff-9-18-12.pdf" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration: none;">http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/signed-stevens-aff-9-18-12.pdf</a>.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Veranda, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Finally, consider this quote from a March 8, 2012 Jerry Large column in the Seattle Times. He says that at least a couple of his readers suggested euthanasia “if you couldn’t save enough money to see you through your old age.”<a href="http://seattletimes.com/text/2017693023.html" style="color: #3d85c6; text-decoration: none;">http://seattletimes.com/text/2017693023.html</a> For the poor, this would be non-voluntary or involuntary euthanasia. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Veranda, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
So much for the dignity and self-determination of the poor.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Veranda, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA*<br />
Seattle<br />
<br />
*<a href="http://www.margaretdore.com/">www.margaretdore.com</a> & <a href="http://www.choiceillusion.org%20/" target="_blank">www.choiceillusion.org </a></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-62411577476046713062014-02-05T21:19:00.000-08:002014-02-05T21:19:33.375-08:00Preventing Abuse and Exploitation: A Personal Shift in Focus<h3>
<a eudora="autourl" href="http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/dore-preventing-abuse-and-exploitation-aba.pdf" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/dore-preventing-abuse-and-exploitation-aba.pdf</span></a></h3>
<div style="text-align: right;">
By
Margaret K. Dore, Esq., MBA</div>
<i><div style="text-align: right;">
<i>The Voice of Experience</i>, American Bar
Association</div>
</i><div style="text-align: right;">
Volume 25, No. 4, Winter 2014</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
I graduated from law school
in 1986. I first worked for the courts and then for the United States
Department of Justice. After that, I worked for other lawyers, and then, in
1994, I officially started my own practice in Washington State. Like many
lawyers with a new practice, I signed up for court-appointed work in the
guardianship/probate context. This was mostly guardian ad litem work. Once in
awhile, I was appointed as an attorney for a proposed ward, termed an “alleged
incapacitated person.” In other states, a guardianship might be called a
“conservatorship” or an “interdiction.” A guardian ad litem might be called a
“court visitor.”<br /><br /><b>My Guardianship Cases<br /></b>Most of my
guardianship cases were straightforward. There would typically be a elderly
person who could no longer handle his or her affairs. I would be the guardian
ad litem. My job would be to determine whether the person needed a guardian,
and if that were the case, to recommend a person or agency to fill that
role.<br /><br />My work also included private pay cases with moderate estates.
With these cases, I would sometimes see financial abuse and exploitation. For
example, there was an elderly woman whose nephew took her to the bank each week
to obtain a large cash withdrawal. She had dementia, but she could pass as
“competent” to get the money. In another case, “an old friend from 30 years
ago” took “Jim,” a 90 year old man, to lunch. The friend invited Jim to live
with him in exchange for making the friend sole beneficiary of his will. Jim
agreed. The will was executed and he went to live with the friend in a nearby
town. A guardianship was started and I was appointed guardian ad litem. I
drove to the friend’s house, which was dilapidated. Jim did not seem to have
his own room. I asked him if he would like to go home. He said “yes” and got
in my car. He was not incompetent, but he had allowed someone else to take
advantage of him. In another case, there was a disabled man whose caregiver had
used his credit card to remodel her home. He too was competent, but he had been
unable to protect himself.<br /><br />In those first few years, I loved my
guardianship cases. I had been close to my grandmother and enjoyed working with
older people. I met guardians and other people who genuinely wanted to help
others.<br /><br />But then I got a case involving a competent man who had been
railroaded into guardianship. The guardian, a company, refused to let him out.
The guardian also appeared to be churning the case, i.e., causing conflict and
then billing for work to respond to the conflict and/or to cause more conflict.
I have an accounting background and also saw markers of embezzlement. I tried
to tell the court, but the supervising commissioner didn’t know much about
accounting. She allowed the guardian to hire its own CPA to investigate the
situation, which predictably exonerated the guardian. The guardian had many
cases and if what I said had been proved true, there would have been political
fallout. There were also conflicts of interest among the lawyers.<br /><br />At
this point, the scales began to fall from my eyes. My focus started to shift
from working within the system to seeing how the system itself sometimes
facilitates abuse. This led me to write articles addressing some of the
system’s flaws. See e.g., Margaret K. Dore, Ten Reasons People Get Railroaded
into Guardianship, 21 AM. J. FAM. L. 148 (2008), available at<a href="http://www.margaretdore.com/pdf/Dore_AJFL_Winter08.pdf">www</a><a href="http://www.margaretdore.com/pdf/Dore_AJFL_Winter08.pdf">.margaretdore.com/pdf/Dore_AJFL_Winter08.pdf</a>;
Margaret K. Dore, The Time is Now: Guardians Should be Licensed and Regulated
Under the Executive Branch, Not the Courts, WASH. ST. B. ASS’N B. NEWS, Mar.
2007 at 27-9, available at<a href="http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/dore-the-time-is-now-ashx.pdf">http</a><a href="http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/dore-the-time-is-now-ashx.pdf">://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/dore-the-time-is-now-ashx.pdf</a><br /><br /><b>The
MetLife Studies <br /></b>In 2009, the MetLife Mature Market Institute
released its landmark study on elder financial abuse. See<a href="http://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/studies/mmi-study-broken-trust-elders-family-finances.pdf">www.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/studies/mmi-study-broken-trust-elders-family-finances.pdf</a>
The estimated financial loss by victims in the United States was $2.6 billion
per year.<br /><br />The study also explained that perpetrators are often family
members, some of whom feel themselves “entitled” to the elder’s assets. The
study states that perpetrators start out with small crimes, such as stealing
jewelry and blank checks, before moving on to larger items or coercing elders to
sign over the deeds to their homes, change their wills or liquidate their
assets.<br /><br />In 2011, Met Life released another study available at<a href="http://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/studies/2011/mmi-elder-financial-abuse.pdf">www</a><a href="http://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/studies/2011/mmi-elder-financial-abuse.pdf">.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/studies/2011/mmi-elder-financial-abuse.pdf</a>,
which described how financial abuse can be catalyst for other types of abuse and
which was illustrated by the following example. “A woman barely came away with
her life after her caretaker of four years stole money from her and pushed her
wheelchair in front of a train. After the incident the woman said, “We were so
good of friends . . . I’m so hurt that I can’t stop crying.”<br /><br /><b>Failure
to Report<br /></b>A big reason that elder abuse and exploitation are
prevalent is that victims do not report. This failure to report can be for many
reasons. A mother being abused by her son might not want him to go to jail.
She might also be humiliated, ashamed or embarrassed about what’s happening.
She might be legitimately afraid that if she reveals the abuse, she will be put
under guardianship.<br /><br />The statistics that I’ve seen on unreported cases
vary, from only 2 in 4 cases being reported, to one in 20 cases. Elder abuse
and exploitation are, regardless, a largely uncontrolled problem. <br /><br /><b>A
New Development: Legalized Assisted Suicide<br /></b>Another development
relevant to abuse and exploitation is the ongoing push to legalize assisted
suicide and euthanasia in the United States. “Assisted suicide” means that
someone provides the means and/or information for another person to commit
suicide. If the assisting person is a physician who prescribes a lethal dose, a
more precise term is “physician-assisted suicide.” “Euthanasia,” by contrast,
is the direct administration of a lethal agent with the intent to cause another
person’s death.<br /><br />In the United States, physician-assisted suicide is legal
in three states: Oregon, Washington and Vermont. Eligible patients are
required to be “terminal,” which means having less than six months to live.
Such patients, however, are not necessarily dying. One reason is because
expectations of life expectancy can be wrong. Treatment can also lead to
recovery. I have a friend who was talked out of using Oregon’s law in 2000.
Her doctor, who did not believe in assisted suicide, convinced her to be treated
instead. She is still alive today, 13 years later.<br /><br />Oregon’s law was
enacted by a ballot measure in 1997. Washington’s law was passed by another
measure in 2008 and went into effect in 2009. Vermont’s law was enacted on May
20, 2013. All three laws are a recipe for abuse. Onw reason is that they allow
someone else to talk for the patient during the lethal dose request process.
Moreover, once the lethal dose is issued by the pharmacy, there is no oversight
over administration. Even if the patient struggled, who would know? [See e.g.,
<a href="http://www.choiceillusion.org/2013/11/quick-facts-about-assisted-suicide_11.html">http://www.choiceillusion.org/2013/11/quick-facts-about-assisted-suicide_11.html</a>]<br /><br />Here
in Washington State, we have already had informal proposals to expand our law to
non-terminal people. The first time I saw this was in a newspaper article in
2011. More recently, there was a newspaper column suggesting euthanasia “if you
couldn’t save enough money to see yourself through your old age,” which would be
involuntary euthanasia. Prior to our law being passed, I never heard anyone
talk like this.<br /><br />I have written multiple articles discussing problems with
legalization, including Margaret K. Dore, "Death with Dignity”: What Do We
Advise Our Clients?," King Co. B. ASS’N, B. BuLL., May 2009, available at <a href="http://www.kcba.org/newsevents/barbulletin/BView.aspx?Month=05&Year=2009&AID=article5.htm">www.kcba.org/newsevents/barbulletin/BView.aspx?Month=05&Year=2009&AID=article5.htm</a>;
Margaret K. Dore, Aid in Dying: Not Legal in Idaho; Not About Choice, 52 THE
ADVOCATE [the official publication of the Idaho State Bar] 9, 18-20 (Sept. 2013)
available at <a href="http://www.margaretdore.com/pdf/Not_Legal_in_Idaho.pdf">www.margaretdore.com/pdf/Not_Legal_in_Idaho.pdf</a>
<br /><br /><b>My Cases Involving the Oregon and Washington Assisted Suicide
Laws<br /></b>I have had two clients whose parents signed up for the lethal
dose. In the first case, one side of the family wanted the father to take the
lethal dose, while the other did not. He spent the last months of his life
caught in the middle and traumatized over whether or not he should kill
himself. My client, his adult daughter, was also traumatized. The father did
not take the lethal dose and died a natural death.<br /><br />In the other case,
it's not clear that administration of the lethal dose was voluntary. A man who
was present told my client that the father refused to take the lethal dose when
it was delivered (“You’re not killing me. I’m going to bed”), but then took it
the next night when he was high on alcohol. The man who told this to my client
later recanted. My client did not want to pursue the matter
further.<br /><br /><b>Conclusion<br /></b>In my guardianship cases, people were
financially abused and sometimes treated terribly, but nobody died and sometimes
we were able to make their lives much better. With legal assisted suicide, the
abuse is final. Don’t make Washinton’s mistake.<br /><br />Margaret K. Dore (<a href="mailto:margaretdore@margaretdore.com">margaretdore@margaretdore.com</a>)
JD, MBA, is an attorney in private practice in Washington State where assisted
suicide is legal. She is a former Law Clerk to the Washington State Supreme
Court and the Washington State Court of Appeals. She worked for a year with the
U.S. Department of Justice and is president of Choice is an Illusion, <a href="http://www.choiceillusion.org/">www.choiceillusion.org</a>, a nonprofit
corporation opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-40150065667136333292011-11-19T14:04:00.000-08:002011-11-19T14:10:13.697-08:00A Better Response Would be To Repeal Washington's Act as a Fraud on the Voters<div align="right"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By Margaret Dore</span></div><div align="right"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On November 16, 2011, an article appeared in a Washington State newspaper arguing for expansion of Washington's physician-assisted suicide act to direct euthanasia and to persons without a terminal disease.[1] The author, Brian Faller, candidly admitted: "To improve the chances of passage, the Death with Dignity Act was written to apply only to the choices of the terminally ill who are competent at the time of their death."[2] Now, he shows the other side's true colors.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">In any case, this is my response:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dear Editor:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am an attorney who has written multiple articles about our physician-assisted suicide act. I am also President of Choice is an Illusion, a non-profit corporation opposed to assisted-suicide. I disagree with Brian Faller that our physician-assisted act should be expanded to include direct euthanasia. A better course would be to repeal that act as a fraud on the voters.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our assisted-suicide act was enacted as Initiative 1000 in 2008 and went into effect in 2009. During the election, proponents claimed that its passage would assure individuals control over their deaths. The act is instead a recipe for elder abuse. Key provisions include that a patient’s heir, who will benefit financially from his death, is allowed to actively assist him to sign up for the lethal dose. Specifically, an heir is allowed to be one of two witnesses on the lethal dose request form. In the context of a will, the same situation would create a presumption "duress, menace, fraud, or undue influence." (<a href="http://www.margaretdore.com/pdf/D-RCW-11.12.160_001.pdf"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">RCW 11.12.160(2)</span></a>).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are also no witnesses required at the death. Without disinterested witnesses, the opportunity is created for someone else, including an heir, to administer the lethal dose to the patient without his consent. Even if he struggled, who would know?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The idea that our act promotes patient control or individual liberty is untrue. Our act instead puts older people and others in the cross-hairs of abuse. For more information, please see </span><a href="http://www.choiceillusion.org/"><u><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">www.choiceillusion.org</span></u></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> and click on the page for Washington State. </span><br />
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<div align="center"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><strong><span style="font-family: Verdana;">* * *</span></strong></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">[1] Brian Faller, "Perhaps it's time to expand Washington's Death with Dignity Act, <em>The </em>Olympian, November 16, 2011, available at <span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.theolympian.com/2011/11/16/1878667/perhaps-its-time-to-expand-washingtons.html">http://www.theolympian.com/2011/11/16/1878667/perhaps-its-time-to-expand-washingtons.html</a></span></span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">[2] Id.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-1337473596432556322011-10-14T13:43:00.000-07:002012-10-09T16:39:52.131-07:00Compassion & Choices Embraces Derek Humphry<div class="post-header">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Compassion & Choices of Washington has announced that Derek Humphry will be the keynote speaker at its 2011 annual meeting.[1]</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Derek Humphry has recently been in the news as a promoter of suicide kits from a company now shut down by the FBI. According to an article in Oregon's Register-Guard newspaper: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">"</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A spotlight was cast on the mail-order suicide kit business after a 29-year-old Eugene man committed suicide in December using a helium hood kit. The Register-Guard traced the $60 kit to [the company, which] has no website and does no advertising; clients find [the] address through the writings of Humphry."[2]</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">[1] See current newsletter for Compassion & Choices of Washington, stating</span>:<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> "Derek Humphry to be Keynote Speaker at 2011 Annual Meeting." To view the newsletter, go to the following link and scroll down to the lower half of the page: <a href="http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/derek.pdf"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/derek.pdf</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">[2] </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">See e.g., Jack Moran, "<a href="http://www.registerguard.com/web/newslocalnews/26910049-46/kit-police-suicide-fbi-springfield.html.csp"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Police kick in door in confusion over suicide kit: The FBI message to police about the purchase of the gear failed to mention it was bought seven months ago</span></a>, " The Register-Guard, September 21, 2011.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-32851238117684185322011-09-06T14:14:00.000-07:002011-09-07T11:11:00.253-07:00Theresa Schrempp Published in King County Bar Bulletin<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dear Editor:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Margaret K. Dore's <a href="http://choiceillusionwashington.blogspot.com/2011/07/washington-assisted-suicide-report.html"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">article</span></a> regarding Washington's assisted suicide law [Bar Bulletin, July] highlights a troubling disconnect between this statute and the commendable trend in Washington law to recognize and protect elders from abuse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On the one hand, the Slayer's Statute, RCW 11.84, was recently amended to penalize heirs who financially exploit a vulnerable adult. On the other hand, safeguards for assisted suicide are minimal, far less than the standards demanded for executing a valid will. As Ms. Dore points out, record-keeping by the state appears to consist of the "hear-no-evil, see-no-evil" variety.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Theresa Schrempp </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sonkin & Schrempp, PLLC</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To view the letter in the Bar Bulletin, go here (the link may not work for non-bar members): </span><a eudora="autourl" href="https://www.kcba.org/newsevents/barbulletin/BView.aspx?Month=09&Year=2011&AID=letters.htm"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">https://www.kcba.org/newsevents/barbulletin/BView.aspx?Month=09&Year=2011&AID=letters.htm</span></a><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-30543525945323031612011-07-12T19:00:00.000-07:002011-08-05T16:05:58.324-07:00Washington Assisted-Suicide Report Lacks Information About Consent<div style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(as published in the King County Bar Association Bar Bulletin, July 2011; for print version, <a href="http://www.kcba.org/newsevents/barbulletin/archive/2011/07/article10.htm"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">click here</span></a>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By Margaret Dore</span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On March 10, the Washington State Department of Health issued a formal report about our physician-assisted suicide act.<sup>1</sup> However, the report does not address whether the people who died under the act did so on a voluntary basis.</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Washington's Act</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Washington's assisted-suicide act was enacted via a ballot initiative in 2008 and went into effect in 2009.<sup>2</sup> During the election, proponents claimed that the act's passage would assure individuals control over their deaths.</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The act, however, does not assure such control. For example, the act allows a person's heir, who will benefit financially from the death, to assist in signing the person up for the lethal dose.<sup>3</sup> There are also no witnesses required at the death.<sup>4</sup> Without disinterested witnesses, the opportunity is created for someone else to administer the lethal dose to the person without his consent.</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Assisted-Suicide Report</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Statistical Information</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Department of Health report focuses on statistical information. This information states that lethal doses were dispensed to 87 people during 2010. Of these 87 people, 51 are reported to have died after ingesting a lethal dose.<sup>5</sup></span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Physician Reports</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The report also includes information about the circumstances of the deaths. For example, the report provides statistics regarding how long it took people to die after ingesting the lethal dose.<sup>6</sup></span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">According to the report, the data for these statistics were obtained from an "After Death Reporting Form" completed by the prescribing physician after each death.<sup>7</sup> According to the report, however, the prescribing physician is rarely present at the death.<sup>8</sup> If that is the case, he or she is necessarily relying on other persons for the data reported.</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Patient "Concerns"</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The report seeks to document the "concerns" of the people who died, which led to their requesting the lethal dose.<sup>9</sup> The data for these concerns come from the "After Death Reporting Form," which lists seven questions to be checked off by the prescribing doctor.<sup>10</sup> These choices do not include the possibility of abuse by an heir.<sup>11</sup></span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The report also provides no information as to whether the people who died consented when the lethal dose was administered. In other words, there is no information regarding whether the deaths were truly voluntary.<sup>12</sup></span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>Margaret K. Dore is an elder law/appellate attorney in Washington. She is a former law clerk to the Washington Supreme Court and a former chair of the Elder Law Committee of the American Bar Association Family Law Section. Her publications include "'Death with Dignity': A Recipe for Elder Abuse and Homicide (Albeit not by Name)," Marquette Elder's Advisor, Vol. 11, No. 2, Spring 2010, available at </em></span><a href="http://www.margaretdore.com/pdf/Recipe_for_Elder_Abuse.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>http://www.margaretdore.com/pdf/Recipe_for_Elder_Abuse.pdf</em></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>. For more information, see </em></span><a href="http://www.margaretdore.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>www.margaretdore.com</em></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>.</em></span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1 Washington State Department of Health 2010 Death with Dignity Act Report ("Report"), issued March 10, 2011, available at <a href="http://www.doh.wa.gov/dwda/forms/DWDA2010.pdf"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">http://www.doh.wa.gov/dwda/forms/DWDA2010.pdf</span></a>. </span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2 Washington's assisted-suicide law was passed as Initiative 1000 on November 4, 2008, and went into effect on March 5, 2009. See RCW 70.245.903.</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3 RCW 70.245.030 and .220 state that one of two required witnesses to the lethal dose request form cannot be the patient's heir or other person who will benefit from the patient's death; the other witness may be an heir or other person who will benefit from the death.</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4 See Washington's act in its entirety at RCW 70.245.010 et. seq.</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5 Report, Executive Summary, at 1.</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6 Report at 9, Table 5 ("Circumstances and complications relating to ingestion of medication prescribed under the Death with Dignity Act of the participants who have died").</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7 Id. ("Data are collected from the After Death Reporting form"). A blank "After Death Reporting Form" can be viewed at <a href="http://www.doh.wa.gov/dwda/forms/AfterDeathReportingForm.pdf"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">http://www.doh.wa.gov/dwda/forms/AfterDeathReportingForm.pdf</span></a> (last viewed March 10, 2011).</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">8 According to the Report, the prescribing physician was present when the lethal dose was ingested in just 4% of the deaths occurring in 2010; the prescribing physician was present at 8% of such deaths in 2009. See Report at 9, Table 5.</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">9 Report at 7, Table 3.</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">10 See After Death Reporting Form, supra note 7, Question 7.</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">11 Id.</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">12 The act provides for self-administration of the lethal dose. "Self-administer" is, however, a specially defined term that allows someone else to administer the lethal dose to the person at issue. For more information, see Margaret K. Dore, "Death with Dignity: What Do We Tell Our Clients?", Washington State Bar Association, Bar News, July 2009</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. (no longer on line).</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839508826935445986.post-6502884796914721762011-05-17T15:33:00.001-07:002011-08-04T14:00:21.232-07:00Physician-Assisted Suicide in Washington State<div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By Margaret Dore</span></div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Washington's physician-assisted suicide law was enacted via <a href="http://wei.secstate.wa.gov/osos/en/Documents/I1000-Text%20for%20web.pdf"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Initiative 1000</span></a> on November 4, 2008. The law has since been codified as the Washington Death with Dignity Act, Chapter <a href="http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=70.245"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">70.245 RCW</span></a>. It went into effect on March 5, 2009.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Regulations can be viewed <a href="http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=246-978"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">here</span></a>. Official forms for the law can be viewed <a href="http://www.doh.wa.gov/dwda/forms/"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">here</span></a>. Other official state information can be viewed <a href="http://www.doh.wa.gov/dwda/default.htm"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">here</span></a>.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For legal <a href="http://choiceillusionwashington.blogspot.com/p/legal-analysis.html"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">analysis</span></a> of the Washington and Oregon Acts, go <a href="http://choiceillusionwashington.blogspot.com/p/legal-analysis.html"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">here</span></a>.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com