Thursday, March 29, 2012

Georgia State Senate passes bill to prohibit assisted suicide.

John Celmer
The Jurist is reporting that the Georgia Senate has approved legislation that would prohibit assisted suicide. The Georgia assisted suicide law was passed in response to the court decision in relation to the Final Exit Network and their direct involvement in the death of John Celmer, a man who was depressed, but recovering from cancer.

The Jurist stated:
The Georgia Senate [official website] approves legislation on Tuesday that would make it a felony to assist in another person's suicide. HB 1114 [materials] was approved after the Georgia Supreme Court in early February struck down [JURIST report] a 1994 law that banned publicly advertising suicide assistance. Under the new law any person with knowledge of a possible suicide must take action: "Any person with actual knowledge that a person intends to commit suicide who knowingly and willfully assists such person in the commission of such person's suicide shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment." The weight of the sentence varies from 1-10 years imprisonment. The bill protects those who are trying to ease the pain of the patient but do not intend to take the patient's life. The legislation also does not apply to those acting within the parameters of a will or seeking to terminate care for a patient who is unresponsive. The bill passed through the House earlier this month by a vote of 124-45, but it must now go back to the House for approval on several amendments.
The Final Exit Network (FEN) is an organization that aids and counsels suicide.

1 comment:

Ironsides said...

"The legislation also does not apply to those acting within the parameters of a will or seeking to terminate care for a patient who is unresponsive."

Being honest with you, when I bled to death at a hospital in 1993, I wanted to die there so my roommates would not have to fill-out police reports.

Only when I eventually woke up alive did I learn what was going on. Believe me, they got no response from me for hours.

Only after long-distance phone-calls from family did they learn that I had a collapsed-lung one time.

After the doctor moved the tube around in different positions, did my lungs beging to respond.

For I don't know how many days, I was unconscious. When I first started coming out of it, the first memory I have is how hard I had to fight to try and breathe. My right lung felt like it was not even there any more.

It was so hard to see anything, and when I did I tried to yell. I couldn't even hear anything. No sound came out. The first thing I began to see were bags or bottles of stuff going into my veins.

Before anybody noticed I was waking up, I grabbed the plugs in my left arm, and began ripping them out. Before I knew it, I was jumped by two or three people, alarms were blowing my ear-drums apart, and whenever I woke up again, I was strapped-down in a straight-jacket.

As I was in-and-out of consciousness, I heard one night a conversation between the doctor and my roommates.

He told them that, if I ever survived to come out of this, it would take at least eight months to get me off a respirator or ventilator.

When I went in, it was Easter Sunday 1993; and I walked-out in June sometime.

Concerning Bill HB 1114, I believe that acting in the parameters of a Will is understandable, but I think that "unresponsive" is another issue.

My reasoning is this:

When your central nervous-system sustains severe trauma, a human body needs a certain amount of time to allow healing-processes to take place.

This guy in Georgia could be living a pretty regular life right now.

In my situation, since that doctor at Hull, Quebec was unrepentent in saving my life, it gave me time to learn what a gullible-sucker I was for the Duty-to-Die network.