The US State of Vermont is considering a bill to expand assisted suicide by allowing it occur by ‘telemedicine’, which permits a doctor to prescribe lethal drugs without ever meeting the person.

It is another example of the assisted suicide lobby’s focus on expanding access to the process in states where it is already legal.

Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, says that for several years, the assisted suicide lobby has promoted the use of telemedicine for approving and prescribing lethal assisted suicide drugs.

He warns that the process eliminates the chance to discover that the person asking for it was misdiagnosed as, “If the doctor does not examine the person who requests assisted suicide then they are basing their assisted suicide approval solely on the person’s medical record”.

He adds: “Permitting assisted suicide by telemedicine in states where assisted suicide is legal may enable doctors to approve and prescribe out-of-state assisted suicides. Telemedicine approvals enables the assisted suicide lobby to set-up a national assisted suicide approval and prescribing center to permit assisted suicide nationally”.