Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Reject Legislation Seeking to Legalize Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia (HF 1885 & SF 1572)

Golden Quadriga,
By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

To view as a pdf, click here: indexmemo and appendix. For a handout, click here.

I.   INTRODUCTION

I am an attorney in Washington State where assisted suicide is legal,[1] Our law is based on a similar law in Oregon. Both laws are similar to HF 1885 and SF 1572, which seek to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia as those terms are traditionally defined.[2]

The bills are sold as a promotion of patient choice and control, which is not true: The bills are stacked against the patient and a recipe for elder abuse.

The bills also apply to persons with years or decades to live. Passage will encourage such persons to throw away their lives. I urge you to reject HF 1885 and SF 1572.