Updates on Advancement of Assisted Suicide Laws
Update on Extreme Bill introduced in New Mexico
By Alex Schadenberg 2019 (Euthanasia Prevention Coalition)
New Mexico’s assisted suicide House Bill (HB) 90, is the most extreme assisted suicide bill that I have ever seen. After reading HB 90 I asked the question: Is the assisted suicide lobby behind HB 90 or is the author of the bill, Deborah Armstrong (Dem), more radical than the rest of the suicide lobby?
The leading suicide lobby group published a guideline on January 1, 2019 calling on fewer restrictions and wider definitions for assisted suicide laws in the US. In her article, “End-of-Life option laws should avoid needless red tape,” Kim Callinan, CEO of the suicide lobby group, Compassion & Choices (formerly known as the Hemlock Society), argues that assisted suicide laws require fewer regulations.
Callinan writes: If lawmakers want to improve medical aid in dying laws, then let’s address the real problem: There are too many regulatory roadblocks already! I am not suggesting changing the eligibility requirements, as our opposition will suggest. I am merely suggesting that we drop some of the regulations that put unnecessary roadblocks in place.
Callinan continues her article by arguing that waiting periods for assisted suicide should be eliminated and claims that there have been no problems with assisted suicide laws.
The New Mexico assisted suicide bill was recently amended to remove assisted suicide by telemedicine but it continues to be very radical.
House Bill 90:
1. Allows nurses and physician assistants to participate in assisted suicide by defining “health care provider” to include: a licensed physician, a licensed osteopathic physician, a licensed nurse, and a licensed physician assistant.
2. Does not require the person to “self-administer.” The bill states “may self-administer” meaning that euthanasia is possible.
3. Reduces waiting period to 48 hours to receive the lethal drugs.
4. Allows people with mental health disorders to die by assisted suicide by enabling licensed psychiatrist, psychologist, master social worker, psychiatric nurse practitioner or professional clinical mental health counselor to approve assisted suicide for people with mental health disorders.
5. Requires health care providers to falsify the death certificate.
6. Removes conscience rights for health care providers who object to assisted suicide by requiring them to refer patients to a health care provider who is willing to prescribe assisted suicide.
7. Bases decisions on a “good faith compliance.” It is impossible to prove that someone who participated in the act did not do so in “good faith.” Years ago I stated that the suicide lobby would expand the parameters for prescribing lethal drugs in the future. Callinan is saying in her article that she believes the future is now.
The decision to expand assisted suicide is evident in the new assisted suicide bills. Delaware defines assisted suicide as palliative care, which is part of a long-term goal of normalizing it. Oregon has a few bills to expand assisted suicide laws and New Mexico has the most extreme bill that I have ever seen in the US. Most of the bills attack conscience rights for medical professionals by forcing doctors who object to assisted suicide to refer their patients to a pro-assisted-suicide doctor.
Two thousand nineteen is a watershed year for assisted suicide legislation in the US.
By Alex Schadenberg 2019 (Euthanasia Prevention Coalition)
New Mexico’s assisted suicide House Bill (HB) 90, is the most extreme assisted suicide bill that I have ever seen. After reading HB 90 I asked the question: Is the assisted suicide lobby behind HB 90 or is the author of the bill, Deborah Armstrong (Dem), more radical than the rest of the suicide lobby?
The leading suicide lobby group published a guideline on January 1, 2019 calling on fewer restrictions and wider definitions for assisted suicide laws in the US. In her article, “End-of-Life option laws should avoid needless red tape,” Kim Callinan, CEO of the suicide lobby group, Compassion & Choices (formerly known as the Hemlock Society), argues that assisted suicide laws require fewer regulations.
Callinan writes: If lawmakers want to improve medical aid in dying laws, then let’s address the real problem: There are too many regulatory roadblocks already! I am not suggesting changing the eligibility requirements, as our opposition will suggest. I am merely suggesting that we drop some of the regulations that put unnecessary roadblocks in place.
Callinan continues her article by arguing that waiting periods for assisted suicide should be eliminated and claims that there have been no problems with assisted suicide laws.
The New Mexico assisted suicide bill was recently amended to remove assisted suicide by telemedicine but it continues to be very radical.
House Bill 90:
1. Allows nurses and physician assistants to participate in assisted suicide by defining “health care provider” to include: a licensed physician, a licensed osteopathic physician, a licensed nurse, and a licensed physician assistant.
2. Does not require the person to “self-administer.” The bill states “may self-administer” meaning that euthanasia is possible.
3. Reduces waiting period to 48 hours to receive the lethal drugs.
4. Allows people with mental health disorders to die by assisted suicide by enabling licensed psychiatrist, psychologist, master social worker, psychiatric nurse practitioner or professional clinical mental health counselor to approve assisted suicide for people with mental health disorders.
5. Requires health care providers to falsify the death certificate.
6. Removes conscience rights for health care providers who object to assisted suicide by requiring them to refer patients to a health care provider who is willing to prescribe assisted suicide.
7. Bases decisions on a “good faith compliance.” It is impossible to prove that someone who participated in the act did not do so in “good faith.” Years ago I stated that the suicide lobby would expand the parameters for prescribing lethal drugs in the future. Callinan is saying in her article that she believes the future is now.
The decision to expand assisted suicide is evident in the new assisted suicide bills. Delaware defines assisted suicide as palliative care, which is part of a long-term goal of normalizing it. Oregon has a few bills to expand assisted suicide laws and New Mexico has the most extreme bill that I have ever seen in the US. Most of the bills attack conscience rights for medical professionals by forcing doctors who object to assisted suicide to refer their patients to a pro-assisted-suicide doctor.
Two thousand nineteen is a watershed year for assisted suicide legislation in the US.