I have one short wrap-up question if it's okay with the panel.
You are the first people who have raised the issue of changing “reasonable but mistaken belief” to “honest but mistaken belief”, so I have a question. I'd appreciate your perspective.
I'd like to ask a question, and I'll give you a concrete example. Dr. X has a friend, Mr. Y. Mr. Y comes to Dr. X after this law is adopted and tells Dr. X that the law says only doctors are allowed to perform medically assisted suicide, and his wife has requested medically assisted suicide. He says she is lying in their bed in their home, very sick, and suffering interminably. The wife is lying there, sedated, and Dr. X is told that there is no other requirement in the law other than the one that a doctor perform this act. Dr. X goes ahead and performs this act at the request of Mr. Y.
Dr. X never looked to see what the law said, and he made no effort to be reasonable and understand what the provisions of the law were, but he had an honest but mistaken belief, based on his relationship with Mr. Y, that this was perfectly okay. Based on what I understand, although I have to research what the common law actually says with respect to honest but mistaken belief, this doctor could have had an honest mistaken belief, based on what his friend told him, while doing no investigation whatsoever, and factually, she was out. He was grossly negligent, but he may have been honest. Do you believe that type of person should not be charged with murder or homicide?