NJ opens door to murder-by-third-party scenarios

A pro-life group is spreading the news that New Jersey is no place to be for ill people who can’t speak up for themselves.  

New Jersey's assisted suicide legislation is now law, and Marie Tasy of New Jersey Right to Life says legislative sponsors claim it gives terminally ill people autonomy to make their own decisions.

But it does nothing of the sort, she says, because third parties can request life-ending medication if they say they are familiar with a patient’s wishes.

“This is especially dangerous for people who have conditions like Alzheimer’s and dementia,” Tasy warns, “and also individuals that have disabilities where they are not actually able to speak except through a mechanical device.”

Third parties can also pick up the lethal drugs and there is no way to know if the life-ending medication was forced on the patient.

“It also says that the medical examiner should not place, on the death certificate, that the person died by ingesting the lethal drugs but that the diagnosis of death should be the medical condition they had,” she points out. “And it should say natural causes, which clearly it is not.”

So the medical examiner is required by the new state law to lie.

Tasy says there is also concern that insurance companies won't cover treatments for ailing people who want to extend their lives but will pay for the drugs to terminate them.