A bill that would allow the terminally ill to medically take their own lives successfully passed two state House committees Wednesday.
A bill that would allow the terminally ill to medically take their own lives successfully passed two state House committees Wednesday.
House Bill 2739, also known as “Our Care, Our Choice,” was approved by the House committees on Health and Human Services and Judiciary. The bill now awaits a second reading before the full House.
“Our Care, Our Choice” would, if passed, allow qualified patients diagnosed with a terminal illness and less than six months to live to obtain a prescription for medication that would end their lives.
A statement by the House said the bill would provide “the most rigorous safeguards of any state in the nation to protect terminally ill patients.”
The bill passed the Health and Human Services Committee 4-1, with the only vote in opposition cast by Rep. Andria Tupola, R-Honolulu. The Judiciary Committee voted 7-1, with Rep. Bob McDermott, R-Honolulu, casting the sole opposing vote.
After a second and third reading before the full House, the House will vote on the bill. If successful, the bill will then be passed to the state Senate.
This is very discouraging. Why do our democrat representatives here in Hawaii want to promote the culture of death? Not only do they want to murder babies before they are born, now they want doctors and nurses to murder sick people. The United States of America’s Declaration of Independence needs to be read again by us all:
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and
to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station
to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent
respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the
causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
— That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That
whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is
the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new
Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their
Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments
long established should not be changed for light and transient causes;
and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed
to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by
abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train
of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a
design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it
is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards
for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of
these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to
alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present
King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations,
all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny
over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid
world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing
importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should
be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend
to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large
districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of
Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and
formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual,
uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records,
for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his
measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause
others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of
Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise;
the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of
invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for
that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners;
refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and
raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign
to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent
to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders
which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring
Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging
its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument
for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries
to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun
with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the
most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized
nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas
to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their
friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured
to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian
Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction
of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in
the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only
by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every
act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free
people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We
have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to
extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of
the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have
appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured
them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations,
which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence.
They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We
must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our
Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in
War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America,
in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the
world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by
Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and
declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free
and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to
the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and
the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and
that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War,
conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all
other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And
for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the
protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our
Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Hawaii 2018 H.B.NO. 2739
This bill leads and uses double speak through out. Countering the first statement it should say that over 20 states have rejected this in 2017-18.
Allowing an heir to be one of the witnesses in the sign up process eviscerates flaunted safeguards.
“These rigorous safeguards…” are unenforceable.
“The lie of Self administered” is mentioned 11 times is used to deflect normal scrutiny while the provision to have an ordinary witness to the administration is missing.
Specifically active euthanasia is allowed (page 30 line 16 and page 33 line 8&9) which makes this the most unsafe and subject to abuse of all the states, counter to the author’s claim.
Again like previous offerings this process can start and end in death in 16 days, all before the rest of the family learns. Immunity for predatory corporations, heirs, strangers, guardians, care givers…. is immediate and records are prohibited to be used in investigations.
Reject this hollow state sanctioned suicide and euthanasia bill.
Bradley Williams
President MTaas org
I hate to say it, but irrational is my perception of your arguments. You seem to be fear mongering and not looking at the facts of the safeguards of this bill:
1. Diagnosed terminally ill person by a TWO doctors.
2. TWO oral request by a terminally ill person 15 days apart.
3. One WRITTEN request.
4. TWO witnesses + attending physician certifying the person has a sound state of mind and is informed.
5. 48-hour waiting period.
6. FINAL choice by terminally ill person
I do believe that you are just against individual choice and dignity and dying. I think your opposition to this is cruel, heartless and based on an belief that you have moral superiority and can thus tell other people how to die. I am 100% in favor of choice, the choice to make or not to make this choice. Either is fine with me–I would never be so arrogant–as long as I can have the choice for myself.
Do we want to make our choices, or should the government, the medical establishment or people like Mr. Williams make them for you?
What you list would make a better bill but there is more language that simply works against your bill that you list. We did not start this. They have bullying Montana for 10 years. After their record lobbying we beat them back. The abandoned their legislative effort last session 2017. We celebrate saving lives every day. Come visit Montana!
Who are they?
Name some names, please!
“They” should only be used when you have defined who “they” are. You need to be very specific when making claims like this, or people will think you’re a bit…well..I’ll leave it at that.
You’ve posted elsewhere about some conspiracy of organ-harvesting corporations that circumvent the law by falsifying death records. Sounds very far-fetched to me, but those are things you’ve claimed would happen in Hawaii.
The euthanasia monopoly, Death w Dignity Washington State, the Hemlock Society’s new name Compassion and Choices they have the same support as other eugenic organizations.
None of those have given testimony in Hawaii to my knowledge.
So, you use “monopoly” and “eugenic”.
A monopoly implies total control, dominance or a give business or economic system. The Hawaii bill is just the opposite; it gives choices and options to people, to individuals. One could reasonably argue that the current system of hospitals, drug companies and long-term care facilities as having a monopoly–prolong life at any cost. Indeed, the Hawaii bill is given agency and choice to people–a good thing.
Eugenic is a dated, loaded term and not applicable to any of them. Look it up. You should know better.
What you say sounds good enough to change the subject but it does not jive with the text of the bill. They do share managers and board members with the original negro project but like you say that is outdated.
The subject is choice.
Who decides how a person with six-months to live due to a terminal illness dies?
After six months of pain, suffering and agony in a hospital, hospice or assisted care facility?
Or, if it is the person’s choice, in a period of less than six months in the comfort of their own home and in a manner that is certain and painless?
The end is the same, but one affirms choice, agency, individual dignity and the other (your position) puts the state, the health care system and self-righteous zealots in charge. It’s that simple
HB2739 ensures the choice of the medical complex. Due to omissions your and my individual choice is not assured even as it is sold that way. We agree on whose choice it should be and this is not the bill.
You know, I just don’t see the big medical-complex-euthanasia-monopoly conspiracy theory you do. To be honest, you’ve done a horrible job of explaining what it is and how it works. I think it would make for a great “X-files” episode, but in the real world, it just doesn’t make sense.
I guess 75% of people in Hawaii (you’re in Montana) agree that this a a good bill and good step forward for those who value choice in their last days and weeks.
The polls were about concepts and did not poll reality. Hopefully your legislators will read the bill thankfully ours did in 2011 2013 2015.
This is very discouraging. Why do our democrat representatives here in
Hawaii want to promote the culture of death? Not only do they want to
murder babies before they are born, now they want doctors and nurses to
murder sick people. The United States of America’s Declaration of
Independence needs to be read again by us all.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..”
That seems 100% in congruence with the idea that individuals should be able to choose (or not) to end their inevitable pain and suffering. This bill gives terminally ill people the choice to seek help to end their suffering a bit early (by statue they must have 6 months or less to live) in a calm, peaceful way in their own home at the time of their choosing.