“Dignity” Bill in in New Jersey OKs Starving Dementia Patients to Death

New Jersey lawmakers have introduced Senate Bill 4186, the “Dementia Dignity and Advance Care Planning Act.” It is wrong on many, many grounds.

Wesley J. Smith wrote about this legislation in National Review Online on May 18^th. He warns that “moves are afoot in bioethics” that could allow dementia advance directives to be used either to authorize euthanasia where legal or to require withholding food and water from patients who can no longer provide current consent, even when they may still appear willing to eat or drink.

Supporters frame the bill around autonomy, quality of life, and reducing emotional and financial burdens. They argue that it allows individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias to create “Dementia Specific Advance Directives” (DSADs) while they still have “decisional capacity.”

No one disputes the devastation of dementia. Many of us have watched helplessly as memory, speech, and independence faded in someone we loved. Legislators invoke that suffering to justify this bill.

What they do not advertise is that this creates a potential dangerous structure in which withdrawal of artificial nutrition and hydration becomes routine in certain cases.

Compassion and Choices Suffers Damaging Court Loss in New Jersey

By Ian McIntosh 

For some it may be unthinkable at any time of the year, let alone during the holiday season, that there is a cadre of relentless professional assisted suicide advocacy organizations seeking more efficient ways for people with disabilities to kill themselves during this national moment when Medicare, SNAP, and “streamlined” federal departments (i.e. HUD ) poised to present increased difficulties to for our country’s most vulnerable population to live as 2026 looms.

Against this harrowing backdrop, some great news: Our co-plaintiff’s sister organization, the Patients Rights Action Fund (PRAF), provided the following encouraging update:

 “A federal appeals court has delivered a damaging blow to the Compassion and Choices lawsuit seeking to eliminate New Jersey’s requirement that only residents have ability to request lethal drugs under its assisted suicide law. The denial of this request upholds the decision by a district court judge earlier this year to maintain New Jersey’s residency requirement.

New Jersey Doctors can't provide Assisted Suicide to out-of-state patients

PHILADELPHIA (CN) — A New Jersey doctor can’t offer suicide services to terminally ill patients living outside the Garden State, a Third Circuit appeals panel ruled on Friday.

The decision comes after New Jersey physician Dr. Paul Bryman carried on a fight to offer the practice to out-of-state patients.

In a news release Friday, Bryman lamented the court’s decision.

“I am deeply disappointed by today’s ruling,” Bryman said. “Terminal patients outside New Jersey should have the option of medical aid in dying without having to travel long distances.”

In 2019, New Jersey enacted the Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act, legalizing physician-assisted suicide via pills for terminally ill patients.

The law contains several stipulations. The patient must have a prognosis of six months or fewer to live, and they must live in New Jersey.

New Jersey AG Investigates Group Accused of Trying to Harvest Organs from Patient Showing Signs of Life

Candace Hathaway, 12/03/25

'We're never really giving patients a chance.'

The New Jersey attorney general's office confirmed to Blaze News that it has launched an investigation into the NJ Sharing Network, an organ procurement organization, after nearly a dozen whistleblowers accused the group of numerous offenses, including allegedly covering up an attempted organ recovery from a patient who showed signs of life.

The NJ Sharing Network, a tax-exempt organization, was also accused of fraudulently billing Medicare, skipping hundreds of patients on the wait list, harvesting organs without appropriate consent, operating a fraudulent taxpayer-funded research program, and creating a culture of fear and retaliation.

'The only way patients will be protected is when law enforcement gets involved and prosecutes criminal activity.'

Town Reverses Course after Residents Rage Against Ban on Constitution and US Flag at Hearings

Officials apologized for a 'misunderstanding,' but critics say their intent was clear.

Officials of a New Jersey town now say that a ban on "props" at public comments during hearings does not apply to the Constitution and U.S. flags after the issue led to nationwide outrage and controversy.

As Blaze Media previously reported, Edison Township made national headlines when a man was escorted by police out of a hearing for carrying a small American flag while arguing against the decorum ban. While the ban doesn't mention the Constitution or flags, township officials claimed that both fell under the designation of "props" banned during comments made at council hearings.

'We are all proud Americans who believe in the principles, morals, and values the American flag represents.'

Man Thrown Out of Town Council Meeting for Waving American Flag to Protest New Ban

By Emily Crane, NY Post, Dec. 2, 2024:

A New Jersey lawyer was tossed out of a town council meeting by cops last week for waving an American flag to protest a “stupid” new rule that bans so-called “props” from being used during the meetings.

Joel Bassoff, a local resident and attorney, was ordered to be removed from the Edison Township Council meeting after he pulled out the star-spangled banner while addressing council members on Nov. 25, footage obtained by New Brunswick Today shows.

Bassoff was among the slew of furious locals who were voicing their objections over the township’s new ordinance that prohibits them from using any props — including the flag and even the US Constitution — during the public comment section of town meetings.

Joel Bassoff, a local resident and attorney, was ordered to be removed from the Edison Township Council meeting after he pulled out the US flag while addressing council members on Nov. 25.Joel Bassoff, a local resident and attorney, was ordered to be removed from the Edison Township Council meeting after he pulled out the US flag while addressing council members on Nov. 25. NB Today/YouTube

Town Bans American Flag From Council Meetings

Todd Starnes November 27, 2024

The Edison Township Council in New Jersey has banned citizens from having American flags, copies of the U.S. Constitution or “other props” at meetings.

A citizen who objected to the new rules was told by council president Nishith Patel that he was in violation ordered police to remove the man from the council chamber.

“To consider the American flag and the Constitution a prop when someone raises it is an insult to what the flag is, what the flag stands for and what this country is,” resident Maryann Hennessey told MyCentralJersey.com. “For you to consider the use of the American flag a prop is disgusting.”

Patel told the Edison Reporter that “any props will be considered not conducive to good order and as the President I am making that call.”