Posted on 10/24/2010 9:40:08 AM PDT by wagglebee
Victor Lieberman, who claims that aid in dying is not euthanasia needs a dictionary or a history lesson.
In the 1980's law students in Iowa drafted a model euthanasia act called the “Model Aid-in-Dying Act.” The act, was published in the Iowa Law Review.
The foreward to the Model Aid-in-Dying Act contains a discussion of euthanasia and how the act was written. Moreover, it defines “aid-in-dying” as euthanasia. It states that “aid-in-dying means ... the administration of a qualified drug for the purpose of inducing death.”
In 1991, there was an aid-in-dying initiative in Washington State. If passed, it would have legalized euthanasia in the state of Washington.
More recently, the Montana Supreme Court gave doctors who participate in aid in dying a potential defense to criminal prosecution. When doing so, the Court described aid in dying in terms of a doctor providing the means for a patient’s death, but not directly participating in the death. This is physician-assisted suicide, not euthanasia. But how long will that distinction be remembered? The term “aid in dying” also means euthanasia.
Lieberman also claims that aid in dying is legal in Montana, which is not the case. The Supreme Court’s opinion is limited to giving a doctor, and only a doctor, a potential defense against a homicide charge. The opinion offers no protection against civil liability.
Aid in dying is, regardless, a recipe for elder abuse. For that reason, it should be prohibited in Montana. I hope the readers will support my bill to do just that.
The culture of death consistently targets the most vulnerable.
Yes the elderly, the disabled....we are useless to them.
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Dr. Harold Shipman was a physician in England. It was perfect cover for his hobby as a serial killer. He officially killed some 218 persons, likely many more, most of whom were not at risk of dying before he murdered them. Because of his professional status, questions that would have been raised for anyone else were not asked.
Dr. H.H. Holmes. Estimated 200 murdered.
Dr. Michael Swango. Perhaps 60 murders.
Dr. John Bodkins Adams. Charged with 21 murders.
Dr. Francis E. Sweeney. Perhaps 13 murders.
Dr. Thomas Neill Cream. Perhaps 12 murders.
Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard, osteopath. Perhaps 12 murders.
Donald Harvey, medical orderly. Said to have killed 87 people.
Kristen Gilbert, nurse. Killed four people.
Beverley Allitt, nurse. Killed four children.
Genene Ann Jones, vocational nurse. Possibly 46 children.
Waltraud Wagner, Maria Gruber, Ilene Leidolf, Stephanija Mayer, nurses. Possibly in the hundreds of victims.
Lenora Perez, Filipina Narciso, Susan Nelles, nurses. Perhaps 43 children, but no criminal convictions.
Amy Archer-Gilligan, unlicensed nurse. 50 victims.
Anna Marie Hahn, unlicensed nurse. 3 dead. Executed by electric chair.
Kristen Gilbert, nurse. 4 or more dead.
Gwedolyn Gail Graham, Catherine May Wood, nurses aides. Perhaps 40 dead.
Vickie Dawn Jackson, nurse. Perhaps 50 dead.
Christine Malèvre, nurse. Perhaps 30 dead.
“Martha U”, nurse. Name unknown. Perhaps 9 dead.
It’s a sad truth that is often ignored.
Just today:
Nurse caught on camera turning off paralyzed patients life support.
That is heartbreaking.
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