On February 11, 2015, SB 202, seeking to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia, was tabled in committee. The bill is now presumed dead.
Under the bill, young adults with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, would have been "eligible" for assisted suicide and euthanasia. The bill, if passed, would have created the following problems:
- The encouragement of people with decades to live to throw away their lives.
- The creation of new paths of elder abuse, especially for people with money (in the inheritance context).
- The empowerment of health care systems to steer patients to suicide, which is well documented in Oregon, one of the few states where assisted suicide is legal.
- An increase in other "conventional" suicides, including violent suicides by firearms, which is the case in Oregon.
To view documentation regarding these problems, and other problems with legalization, please click here for the text; click here for the attachments
Thank you to everyone for your help to make the defeat of SB 202 possible.