Thursday, May 3, 2018

Margaret Dore Testifies Against New York Bill


Margaret Dore, testifying against Bill A.2383-A, seeking to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in New York State. Click photo to view video.

Monday, October 30, 2017

Margaret Dore Featured by Hope Australia

Margaret Dore, an experienced attorney specialising in elder law in Washington State, where assisted suicide is legal, has urged Victorian MPs “to reject the proposed bill seeking to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia.”

Her analysis of the purported "Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2017," which would legalise euthanasia as well as assisted suicide, can be read in full here.

Monday, October 9, 2017

Margaret Dore on Russian English Language Radio

Early this morning, Margaret Dore, President of Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia, spoke with Sputnik News Radio (Russian govt. owned) about Canada's new euthanasia law, as well as the current situation in the US.

To hear the interview, click here

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Hawaii: Thank You Representative Oshiro!

Hawaii Representative Marcus Oshiro (in green)
This is a belated thank you to Representative Marcus Oshiro, one of the many people instrumental to the defeat of SB 1129, which had sought to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in Hawaii.

Representative Oshiro took the lead to make stopping the bill one of his main goals for the legislative session. From my viewpoint, he was a major reason we won in what was also a great team effort. Choice is an Illusion got him a plaque in appreciation.

Thursday, June 1, 2017

Minnesota: An Open Letter to Mitchell Hamline School of Law: "Losing Your Freedom Is Like Losing Your Hair"

Mitchell Hamline Panel, 04 27 17
In April, I was honored to be one of four speakers at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law. The event was a panel discussion regarding legislation seeking to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in Minnesota.  

I arrived at the event with a legal analysis and other materials addressing problems with the legislation. For example and contrary to backers’ claims, patient voluntariness is not assured. 

I started to hand out my materials. Proponents of the legislation, however, objected and a law student organizer backed them up to prevent distribution. 

Friday, April 28, 2017

Minnesota: Margaret Dore Beats the Odds

Hamline Mitchell panel
Dore at left
Click here to watch video
With the odds stack against her, Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA did an admirable job educating attendee's at an "End of Life Options Discussion Panel" sponsored by Hamline Mitchell Law School's Health Law Society in Saint Paul, Minnesota on Thursday evening. [4/27/17]

The panel was comprised of three supporters of the Minnesota End of Life Options Act, including Thaddeus Pope, and Ms. Dore, who alone stood to expose the language of the bill and the reality of what that language has allowed in Washington State, where Ms. Dore is an attorney and president of Choice is an Illusion. Not only was she outnumbered 3 to one on the panel, but pro-assisted death representatives had a fit when Ms. Dore attempted to share documentation for her talk and blocked her from handing it out.

Ms. Dore hammered home points that are often glossed over. When panel members insisted that this bill pertained to "terminal patients with less than 6 months to live," Ms. Dore shared a real encounter she had. "Doctors can be wrong about life expectancy, sometimes way wrong," said Dore. "This is due to actual mistakes and the fact that predicting life expectancy is not an exact science. A few years ago, I was met at the airport by a man who at age 18 had been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and given 3 to 5 years to live, at which time he was to die by paralysis. His diagnosis had been confirmed by the Mayo Clinic. When he met me at the airport, he was 74 years old. The disease progression had stopped on its own."

She also shared, "The Act is stacked against the patient and a recipe for elder abuse." Dore elaborated, "The patient's heir, who will financially benefit from the patient's death, is allowed to actively participate in requesting the lethal dose. After that, no doctor, not even a witness, is required to be present at the death. Even if the patient struggled, who would know?"

"But, it gets worse," said Dore, "the death certificate is required to list a medical condition as the cause of death, which prevents prosecution." Dore explained, "The official cause of death is a medical condition (not murder) as a matter of law. For perpetrators, the death certificate is a 'stay out of jail free card.'"

Thank you to Ms. Dore for her tireless fight to stop assisted suicide.

* * * 

Ann Olson