ASSISTED
SUICIDE
REVISE AND/OR REPLACE ALL LAWS AGAINST
CHOOSING
A VOLUNTARY DEATH OR A MERCIFUL DEATH
REVISE
AND/OR REPLACE ALL LAWS RESTRICTING THE RIGHT-TO-DIE
REVISE OR REPLACE ALL LAWS THAT MIGHT BE APPLIED BY MISTAKE
TO END-OF-LIFE MEDICAL DECISIONS
This portal gathers information and suggestions
concerning assisted-suicide laws everywhere in the world.
Derek Humphry has collected information about the
laws in several countries:
http://www.assistedsuicide.org/suicide_laws.html
BACKGROUND
From ancient times up thru the middle of the 20th
century,
'suicide' was prohibited and punished.
Alongside such laws against
committing suicide
there was often another section of law prohibiting assisting a suicide.
During the 20th century,
almost all laws against
committing suicide
were repealed.
The reason for this change of law
was that people who want to kill themselves
are suffering from personal problems
that call for compassion
and perhaps treatment
rather than punishment.
Counseling and problem-solving are more
appropriate than prison.
And if suicidal people become a serious danger to themselves,
civil commitment was
thought to be a better approach
than using the criminal
justice system
to prevent or punish the self-harming behavior.
In many places on the Earth,
the laws against assisting a
suicide
have not been examined for many
decades.
Some have been on the books for over 100 years, unchanged.
They remain on the books even tho they are seldom applied.
However, with the advent of modern medicine,
new situations at the
end-of-life arose.
We now make important medical choices about the best time to die.
Should bedside decisions in the hospital
ever be considered 'assisting suicide'?
Thus, new legislation is needed
to permit wise end-of-life
medical
decisions
while at the same time
continuing
to prohibit and punish assisting an irrational suicide.
Here is an op-ed piece briefly presenting the
issues:
Replacing
Laws
Against 'Assisting Suicide'
This article presents 20 stories of friends and relatives
helping someone to kill themselves for foolish reasons.
Such behavior should continue to be outlawed.
Assisting an irrational suicide harms the victim.
This article also presents 20 stories of friends and relatives
helping dying patients to make life-ending decisions.
Such behavior should never be considered 'assisting suicide'.
And, of course, supporting wise end-of-life medical choices
should never be prohibited or punished.
DEFINITIONS AND DISTINCTIONS
In order for laws to be revised, we need to make
clear
what behavior is prohibited
and what behavior is
permitted.
ASSISTING AN IRRATIONAL SUICIDE
SHOULD CONTINUE TO BE AGAINST THE LAW
Irrational suicide means harming oneself by causing
one's own death.
Even when self-harming is not itself prohibited,
assisting others to harm
themselves should continue to be outlawed.
To clarify our own minds about the differences
between the negative
behavior we want to discourage
and the positive behavior we
want to encourage,
we can ask about the proposed death:
Will it be: harmful, irrational, capricious, & regrettable?
If "yes", it is an irrational
suicide.
If "no", it is a voluntary
death.
See the following on-line essay:
Will
this
Death be an "Irrational Suicide" or a "Voluntary Death"?
And here is a set of safeguards
for separating irrational suicide from voluntary death:
26
Recommended
Safeguards (A-Z).
PROPOSALS FOR CHANGE & LAWS
ALREADY REVISED
A. Gentle-Poison Laws and Proposals
The right-to-die movement has focused mainly on
creating new laws
that grant permission
for doctors to prescribe life-ending chemicals,
which qualified patients will then administer to themselves.
In the USA, Oregon and Washington states have the first such laws.
The
Oregon
Death with Dignity Act
This presentation of the text of the Oregon law
highlights the safeguards embodied in the law
and links them to further explanation of those safeguards.
Washington
State Death with Dignity Act
Very similar to the Oregon law,
this Washington State law also has
its safeguards highlighted and linked to further explanation.
The
California Compassionate Choices Bill
Even tho this bill did not pass in 2007,
it contains significant improvements over the Oregon model.
More
laws and proposals will be found here.
B. Proposals for Changing Laws against Assisting
Suicide
Proposed
Model Law against Causing Premature Death
Section V of this draft-legislation lists 26 safeguards
for choosing a wise, ethical, & timely death.
Careful end-of-life medical decisions will easily be separated
from all forms of causing premature death
if most of the recommended safeguards are fulfilled.
C. Discussion of the Differences between these
Approaches
Advantages
of the Premature-Death Approach to the Right-to-Die
This link leads to 12 advantages of this approach
in contrast to the laws that allow giving lethal chemicals.
Two
Approaches
to Right-to-Die Laws:
Granting Permission & Banning Harms
This essay shows how putting the right-to-die within homicide laws
has several legal advantages
over health-care laws
permitting
gentle
poisons.
STATE-BY-STATE CHANGES
IN THE LAWS AGAINST ASSISTING SUICIDE
Minnesota law has already been revised
to permit doctors to help
patients die:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/aws-website-jamesleonardpark---freelibrary-3puxk/MN-SUIC.html
{Please submit links for any and all specific changes proposed.}
MEDICAL PRACTICES
THAT SHOULD NOT
BE CONSIDERED ASSISTING A SUICIDE
Interpreting
Laws Against 'Assisting Suicide'.
What were such laws trying to prevent?
Pulling
the
Plug:
A Paradigm for Life-Ending Decisions.
This essay shows that disconnecting life-supports
has not been considered a method of committing suicide.
Losing
the
Marks of Personhood:
Discussing Degrees of Mental Decline.
Relatives and formal proxies for the patient
might use specific questions to help them explore
just how far the patient has declined mentally and/or emotionally.
Medical practice should evaluate the quality-of-life of the
patient.
Will
this
Death be a "Mercy-Killing" or a "Merciful Death"?
The same four distinctions that separate
irrational suicide from
voluntary death
also define the differences between mercy-killing and merciful death.
VDD:
Why
Giving Up
Water is Better than other Means of Voluntary Death.
When
a patient chooses to die by giving up water and food,
this is usually not
an irrational suicide.
Voluntary
Death by Dehydration:
Safeguards to Make Sure it is a Wise Choice
This
Choosing this method of dying has built-in safeguards.
SUICIDE PREVENTION
Depressed?
Don't
Kill
Yourself!
This essay directly addresses several questionable 'reasons'
that lead some people toward irrational suicide.
FURTHER READING
Best
Books on Voluntary Death
Books on Helping Patients to Die
Books
Supporting
the Right-to-Die
Books
Opposing
the Right-to-Die
Created
March 18, 2009; Revised 3-21-2009; 3-22-2009; 4-2-2010; 5-12-2010;
5-21-2011; 3-14-2012; 4-19-2013; 3-27-2015; 1-4-2019; 5-3-2019;