24 Years Ago, Jeanette Hall Had Terminal Cancer and Wanted Assisted Suicide.

By Alex Schadenberg , material contributed by Margaret Dore

I was speaking this weekend in Oregon and Dr Kenneth Stevens gave us an incredible gift by bring Jeanette Hall to the event.

(Picture: Alex Schadenberg, Jeanette Hall, Kenneth Stevens, Wesley Smith)

Oregon's assisted suicide law came into effect in 1998. In 2000, Jeanette Hall had cancer and she was give six to 12 months to live. Jeanette made a settled decision to use Oregon's assisted suicide law in lieu of being treated for cancer. Her doctor, Kenneth Stevens, who opposed assisted suicide, thought that her chances with treatment were good. Over several weeks, he stalled her request for assisted suicide and finally convinced her to be treated for cancer.

Declaration of Jeanette Hall

Reformatted for this site 

I, JEANETTE HALL, declare as follows:

1. I live in Oregon where assisted suicide is legal. Our law was enacted in 1997 via a ballot measure that I voted for.

2. In 2000, I was diagnosed with cancer and told that I had 6 months to a year to live. I knew that our law had passed, but I didn’t know exactly how to go about doing it. I tried to ask my doctor, Kenneth Stevens MD, but he didn’t really answer me. In hindsight, he was stalling me.

3. I did not want to suffer. I wanted to do our law and I wanted Dr. Stevens to help me. Instead, he encouraged me to not give up and ultimately I decided to fight the cancer. I had both chemotherapy and radiation. I am happy to be alive!

Twenty-Three Years Later: Oregon's Death with Dignity Act

By Margaret Dore, Esq.

This article is based on a legal analysis I wrote for a case in South Africa. I hope that you find it helpful. To read my original analysis, please click here, here and here.

I.   OVERVIEW

Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act was passed by a ballot measure in 1994 and went into effect in 1997.[1] The Act had been and is also currently promoted as a type of voluntary physician-assisted suicide.[2] The Act, in fact, also allows euthanasia, on both a voluntary and involuntary basis. 

Oregon Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia Law Applies to Diabetes

The article below leaves out that "diabetes mellitus" (diabetes) is listed in Oregon's annual reports as an "underlying illness" sufficient for death under Oregon's assisted suicide/euthanasia law.

Click here to view a declaration by Oregon doctor, William Toffler, explaining why this is true. Click here to view the report by Fabian Stahle, quoted below.

Diabetics Eligible For Assisted Suicide &  in Oregon, State Official Say 

By Bradford Richardson - The Washington Times - January 11, 2018

Police consider charging mother in Bend suicide

Law enforcement officials are investigating a mother’s role in the 2016 suicide of her daughter in a Bend motel room. Police believe probable cause exists to charge Linda Jonsson with second-degree manslaughter.

Sonja Mae Jonsson, 42, of Depoe Bay, committed suicide Aug. 25, swallowing a large quantity of prescription medication. Her mother, Linda Jonsson, 67, had been staying in the room with her and called authorities after her daughter died.

Reporter: 541-633-2162, mhawryluk@bendbulletin.com

See more at: http://www.bendbulletin.com/newsroomstafflist/5356986-151/police-consider-charging-mother-in-bend-suicide#sthash.Xq9XS5M8.dpuf

Nancy Valko on Oregon: What hides in the dark?

"No other area of medical practice-even lethal injection-is allowed such secrecy and immunity." Nancy Valko, RN

"What hides in
 the dark?"

Edited by Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

Note two provisions in Oregon's law:

“The Health Services shall make rules to facilitate the collection of information regarding compliance with ORS 127.800 to 127.897. Except as otherwise required by law, the information collected shall not be a public record and may not be made available for inspection by the public.” (Only an “an annual statistical report of information” is made public.) (Emphasis added.)

And 

“No person shall be subject to civil or criminal liability or professional disciplinary action for participating in good faith compliance with ORS 127.800 to 127.897. ” (Emphasis added.)

There is also no requirement that the doctor or anyone else witness or even be present at the lethal overdose.


But why are the activists and  lawyers who write these laws not challenged when they purposely omit  the stringent documentation and oversight required for any other medical intervention by relying on doctors’ self-reporting the process while also granting these doctors virtual immunity from any legal, civil or professional liability for coercion, complications, abuse etc.?

One answer is that this allows the media and even doctors like Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel (one of the architects of Obamacare) to declare:

Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are increasingly being legalized, remain relatively rare, and primarily involve patients with cancer. Existing data do not indicate widespread abuse of these practices. (Emphasis added).[1]

The second answer is that these provisions allow assisted suicide doctors  (who obviously have more in common with the infamous Dr. Jack Kevorkian than the iconic Marcus Welby, MD of the 1970s)  to privatize the death and thus prevent any real investigation, followup or even serious medical research as well as allowing the coverup of any problems.

Apparently, nothing can be allowed to interfere with the carefully manufactured image of a kindly doctor helping a patient in excruciating pain to have a quick painless demise.

No other area of medical practice-even lethal injection execution-is allowed such secrecy and immunity.

Nancy Valko, RN

Legislatures and the public need to know and challenge these outrageous provisions as well as being informed about the personal and societal dangers of assisted suicide itself. We must demand truth, transparency and accountability, especially when life and death are at stake.

https://nancyvalko.com/2016/10/05/why-should-physician-assisted-suicide-laws-grant-special-privileges/

Media Advisory: Disability Groups Respond to Compassion and Choices’ Advocacy for Assisted Suicide Legislation in Connection With Brittany Maynard’s Tragic Illness

http://www.notdeadyet.org/2014/10/media-advisory-disability-groups-respond-to-compassion-and-choices-advocacy-for-assisted-suicide-legislation-in-connection-with-brittany-maynards-tragic-illness.html

[Editor's Note: A PDF formatted version of this Media Advisory is available on PRWeb here, along with an attached flyer developed by a coalition of groups that oppose legalization of assisted suicide.]

Response from Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, Not Dead Yet and Second Thoughts:

“Once again, Compassion & Choices, formerly the Hemlock Society, is pushing legalization of assisted suicide by exploiting an individual terminal prognosis. Disability advocates are deeply sympathetic to Brittany Maynard, and all people suffering a terminal, serious or chronic illness. Legalization of assisted suicide often looks acceptable when the focus is solely on an individual.

Barbara Coombs Lee Renews Plea to Eliminate Oregon Reporting Consistent with Elder Abuse

Barbara Coombs Lee, President of Compassion & Choices, has published a blog on Huffington Post arguing that reporting for Oregon's assisted suicide act is no longer needed.[1]  This is the same claim that Compassion & Choices made in Montana before its proposed bill to legalize assisted suicide was defeated last February.

The reporting in question is consistent with elder abuse, i.e., of people with money.  This quote is from my memo against Compassion & Choices' bill, SB 167:

"Doctor reporting is . . . eliminated.¹  The former Hemlock Society, Compassion & Choices, claims that this is because Oregon’s reporting system has “demonstrated the safety of the practice.”²  To the contrary, Oregon’s reports support that the claimed safety is speculative.  The reported statistics are also consistent with elder abuse.  No wonder Compassion & Choices wants the reporting system gone."

To view the entire memo, click here. 

* * *

[1]  Barbara Coombs Lee, "What We Know From Oregon's 'Death with Dignity' Experiment," Huffington Post, September 10, 2011 ("Bureaucratic paperwork has provided important data demonstrating the safety of aid in dying [assisted suicide] . . .").  To view her post, click here.