Sunday, March 10, 2024

Bill Seeks to Legalize Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

On December 8, 2023, Senate Bill 739 was introduced, read for the first time and then referred to the Committee on Health. The bill's text can be read here.

Monday, June 1, 2020

Bills Fail

On April 1, 2020, pending assisted suicide/ euthanasia bills, SB 499 and AB 552, failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1.

For more information, see bill histories here and here.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia Bills Filed in Senate and Assembly

On October 10, 2019 a bill seeking to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia, SB 499, was introduced and referred to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. To view the text of the bill, click here.  To view the bill's ongoing history, click here.

On October 18, 2019, a companion bill, AB 552, was introduced to the assembly and referred to the Committee for Health and Human Services. To view the bill click here. To view the bill's ongoing legislative history, click here.

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

AB 216: "Do or Refer" Doctors Not Allowed to Use Their Best Judgment for Individual Patients (No More Jeanette Halls)

Jeanette Hall with her son
Margaret Dore Esq., MBA*

Yesterday, a doctor asked me about "do or refer" provisions in some of the newer bills seeking to legalize assisted suicide in the United States. For this reason, I now address the subject in the context of a 2018 Wisconsin bill, which did not pass.

The bill, AB 216, required the patient's attending physician to "fulfill the request for medication or refer," i.e. to write a lethal prescription for the purpose of killing the patient, or to make an effective referral to another physician, who would do it.

The bill also said that the attending physician's failure to comply would be "unprofessional conduct" such that the physician would be subject to discipline. The bill states: