RIGHT-TO-DIE
MINNESOTA
LEGISLATION
COMMITTEE
The RTD-MN-LC
is an ad-hoc collection of people
interested in right-to-die legislation
in the state of Minnesota,
in the United States of America.
This committee began to form in early 2007.
Who should join
the Right-to-Die Minnesota Legislation Committee?
It is primarily an electronic committee,
without face-to-face meetings and without paperwork.
The primary function of this cyber-committee
is to think about the
right-to-die in the state of Minnesota.
This thinking will be done at the computer screens of the members.
The Legislation Committee will communicate by means of e-mail.
For this purpose a electronic group has been established.
And this website will preserve all of the important discussions
and any documents the committee might create:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/RTD-MN.html
FOUR KINDS OF CHANGE IN
MINNESOTA LAW
{The following change has already been incorporated into Minnesota law.
See the link at the bottom of this section.}
A. a law defining and
describing the legal ways to draw life to a close
in Minnesota
This law does not create any new rights.
It merely clarifies and codifies the legal means of choosing death
already available within medical practice in Minnesota:
1. increasing pain medication.
2. terminal sedation.
3. withdrawing life-supports systems.
4. voluntary death by dehydration.
This new law assures all laypersons and medical
personnel
that using any of these means of bringing a gentle death
will not result in any civil or criminal procedures.
A cyber-sermon explains these choices:
"Four Legal Means to Choose a Voluntary Death or a Merciful Death":
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/CY-L-END.html
And
another cyber-sermon explores the choice of terminal dehydration:
"Voluntary Death by Dehydration":
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/CY-VD-H2.html
Here
is the recent modification of the Minnesota law against assisting a
suicide,
which includes these recommended changes:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/MN-SUIC.html
B. a new law permitting
physicians to prescribe life-ending chemicals
This law would be similar to the Oregon Death with
Dignity Act
and other proposals that began with that model,
such as the California Compassionate Choices bill.
The following website presents the texts
of several laws and proposals:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/SG-LAWS.html
Another
website presents more than 30 possible safeguards
that might be incorporated into any right-to-die legislation:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/SG-CAT.html
And
from these 26 recommended safeguards have been selected:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/SG-A-Z.html
{The
following change has already been incorporated into Minnesota law.
See the link at the bottom of this section.}
C. a revision of the law against
assisting suicide
This reform would define the difference between
assisting an irrational
suicide,
(which would remain a crime)
and assisting a voluntary
death
(which would not be a crime).
A cyber-sermon explains the differences:
"Four Differences between Irrational Suicide and Voluntary Death":
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/CY-IS-VD.html
Here
is the recent modification of the Minnesota law against assisting a
suicide,
which implicitly includes these recommended changes:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/MN-SUIC.html
D. a new law prohibiting
causing premature death
This law would further clarify the present law
against
assisting a suicide.
Causing premature death would be a punishable offense.
But the law would also define which chosen deaths are NOT premature.
Several safeguards would separate the crime of causing premature death
from the non-crime (benefit to the patient) of voluntary death with assistance.
And the same safeguards would separate the crime of mercy killing
from the non-crime (benefit to the patient) of merciful
death.
A draft of such a model law against causing
premature death
will be found here:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/PREM-DTH.html
THE
RIGHT-TO-DIE MINNESOTA ELECTRONIC DISCUSSION GROUP
RTD-MN@googlegroups.com
Anyone can join this list by sending an e-mail to:
RTD-MN-subscribe@googlegroups.com
You will be asked to establish a (free) Google
Account,
which only requires you to provide
your preferred e-mail address and a password.