Attorney General Rejects Claim That Assisted Suicide is "Already Legal"

The Attorney General of Hawaii has issued a formal opinion rejecting Compassion & Choices' claim that physician-assisted suicide, termed "aid in dying," is legal in Hawaii.

A press release issued by the Alliance Defense Fund describes that Senator Josh Green, MD had requested the opinion from Attorney General David Louie.[1]  The press release states:

"[T]he attorney general's legal opinion states that state law "does not authorize physicians to assist terminally ill patients with dying" and "a physician who provided assistance with death could be charged under Hawaii's manslaughter statute."

The press release also quotes Honolulu attorney Jim Hochberg:  "[N]o one should believe the recent falsehoods that pro-death proponents have spread about [Hawaii] law."

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[1]  To view the ADF Press Release, click here 

Help Needed: Hawaii Physicians' Rally Against Assisted Suicide December 8, 2011

http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/5587/Hawaii-Physicians-Rally-Against-Assisted-Suicide.aspx
Hawaii Free PressFriday, December 02, 2011
by Jackie Mishler, Hawaii Physicians for Compassionate Care

We need your help in opposing Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) at the upcoming session of the Legislature. The Senate Health Committee heard a PAS bill at the 2011 session and voted not to send the bill any further. That should have ended consideration of the issue for 2012 also, but indications are that advocates of PAS may engage in unusual maneuvering to have PAS heard again in the 2012 session.

There is little advance notice of a PAS hearing, so we urge you to prepare your testimony now. The Public Access Room at the Capitol, available at http://hawaii.gov/lrb/par is set up and staffed to be your resource for preparing and submitting testimony.

There will be a panel presentation on the current status of PAS in Hawaii at the Capitol auditorium on December 8th from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. There is no charge. The event is hosted by Senator Mike Gabbard, moderated by Allen Cardines of Hawaii Family Forum, and sponsored by HPACC (Hawaii Partnership for Appropriate and Compassionate Care). Details are available at http://www.hpacc.org/.

If you are seeking additional information, we provide below a summary of recent events involving PAS in Hawaii and points that can be used in preparing testimony.

In Hawaii:

• Death with Dignity (DWD), the pro-PAS group, brought over their Mainland attorney to keynote presentations on the issue. Their attorney announced that euthanasia and assisted suicide are already legal in Hawaii, this based on her interpretation of a 1909 law about medical practice definitions concerning Hansen’s disease treatment.
• DWD then issued nationwide press releases stating PAS was legal in Hawaii. This conforms to a strategy DWD has tried in other states, where they have attempted to jump over any actual consideration of the issue and just pronounce PAS legal through their attorney’s declaration.
• The Star-Advertiser carried a front page story about a retired physician who wants to assist someone to die so he can prove that PAS is legal in Hawaii. He stated that he doesn’t care if he is prosecuted for doing this and has asked for people to come forward who would like the lethal dosage of medication. DWD is handling email for him.
• A local resident who would have wanted his wife to die using Physician Assisted Suicide has written a Death-with-Dignity book promoting legalization.
• In the last decade there have been at least four bills to legalize PAS introduced at the Hawaii Legislature and on which hearings have been held. None have passed. 

NO legislature in the United States has passed an Assisted Suicide bill into law and many have specifically outlawed PAS. Oregon and Washington legalized PAS through heavily funded voter initiatives. In Montana DWD is attempting to have PAS declared legal through the court system, but there has been no resolution to date. DWD has made Hawaii one of their priority states, apparently because they consider our legislature one of their easier targets.

There are websites that have more details of the legislative history of PAS in Hawaii: PatientsRightsCouncil.org and ChoiceIllusion.org are two of them.

Points to consider:
In spite of an almost complete lack of administrative transparency in Oregon, where PAS is legal, reports of a variety of problems have leaked out. There have been some highly publicized instances where patients were denied treatment coverage by the Oregon Health Plan and were offered suicide drugs instead.

There will be unintended consequences and new victims if we legalize PAS. This was recognized by the New York Governor’s Task Force on PAS, still one of the most thorough public policy reviews of the issue. Their report, When Death is Sought: Assisted Suicide from a Medical Perspective, is available on line.

Major studies show that changing public policy in this area could not adequately address the potential abuse problems.

Polls used by proponents that claim that 73% -75% favor PAS are unreliable and methodologically suspect. In fact, people have become increasingly concerned about the potential for abuse since the push for legalization began.

Doctor-assisted suicide emerges as the most controversial cultural issue in Gallup’s 2011 Values and Beliefs poll, with Americans divided 48% (morally wrong) vs. 45% (morally acceptable). The number of people favoring doctor-assisted suicide has fallen from a high of 53% in 2004 to a low of 45% in 2011. Individuals who are 55 and over are the least likely to favor doctor-assisted suicide.

The close division of opinion over PAS makes it is even more important for those who understand and appreciate the dangers of legalization to become involved.

Elder Caregiver: We need Aloha, not “Death by Prescription”

From Hawaii Free Press 
Letters to the Editor, October 25, 2011 

Dear Editor, 

I am an experienced caregiver to elderly, disabled, and seriously/terminally ill patients.

Suicide activist and physician Robert Nathanson is preying on the very people who need us most. By participating in and instigating suicide among the vulnerable, Nathanson is committing acts that are illegal, unethical, and disgraceful to the medical profession. Physician assisted suicide constitutes the worst form of medical abandonment and is a recipe for abuse of the elderly, handicapped, and helpless. Read more

Not Dead Yet Applauds PBS Documentary "Lives Worth Living"

Not Dead Yet, a national disability organization that opposes legalization of assisted suicide, applauds the documentary “Lives Worth Living” which begins airing October 27 on PBS. Produced and directed by Eric Neudel, “Lives Worth Living” combines rare historical footage with interviews of individuals with disabilities who led the development of the disability rights movement. Read more

Mainland Suicide Activists Push Agenda on Hawaii

Hawaii Free Press 

Hawaii is under attack! Once again, suicide activists from the mainland are here to push their deadly agenda using smoke and mirrors. Read more

Pro-Assisted Suicide Advocates Falsely Advertise Suicide as Legal in Hawaii

Hawaii Free Press
October 21, 2011

by Jennifer Popik, JD, Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics

Earlier this month, Hawaii Death With Dignity, a group which promotes doctor-prescribed death, held a meeting at their state capital announcing Hawaii was the 4th state to legalize assisted suicide. This is flat-out incorrect on several grounds.

First, assisted suicide has been specifically legalized in only two states– Oregon and Washington. In addition, due to a 2010 court decision in Montana, a physician there who aided in a suicide would, at a criminal or civil trial, be allowed to try to claim that the victim consented.

Second, despite well over one hundred legislative efforts, pro-assisted suicide forces have yet to be successful in any state legislature. They have come close to victory many times, even in Hawaii, but have thus far only been successful using two ballot initiative campaigns. So why would Hawaii Death With Dignity announce the state had suddenly legalized doctor prescribed death?

Surely the group was not referring to its huge loss in 2011. A Hawaii legislative panel unanimously voted down a bill that would have legalized physician-assisted following 4½ hours of testimony overwhelmingly against the proposal – mainly from disability rights advocates. Further, if physician assisted suicide is “already legal” in Hawaii, why have suicide law proponents been trying to pass this kind of legislation in the state for well over a decade? There was no legislative victory; there was no ballot initiative. What they relied on was an over 100-year-old arcane statute dealing with pain relief options. Read more

Compassion & Choices Embraces Derek Humphry

Just in from Washington State:

Compassion & Choices of Washington has announced that Derek Humphry will be the keynote speaker at its 2011 annual meeting.[1]

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:

"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]

With the choice of Humphry as its keynote speaker, Compassion & Choices shows its true colors?

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[1]  See current newsletter for Compassion & Choices of Washington, stating :  "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:  http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/derek.pdf
[2]  See e.g., Jack Moran, "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, "  The Register-Guard, September 21, 2011.