He particularly took aim at provisions in the bill allowing one of those attesting to the patent's desire to commit suicide to be an heir of the patient's estate.

"If people are worried about using up the family money, or if children or heirs are worried about not receiving inheritance, it sets up dangerous situations where financial motives could easily come into play," Kelly said.

The proposed law does not require witnesses to the death itself in cases of assisted suicide.

"There are people who abuse their parents, or caregivers who abuse elderly people," he said.

"Because there is no witness required at the death, any statement about requiring self-administration is empty and toothless," he said.

Death certificates of people who end their own lives with the help of a physician will list the cause of death as whatever condition the patient faced before choosing to end their lives. He called that practice misleading.

"It's another part of a law that trades in euphemisms and inaccuracies. Falsifying the death certificate is commensurate with the rest of the bill," he said.

He said the ballot question proposes a dangerous mix between cultural perceptions of disabilities and cost-cutting healthcare focuses.

"The proponents see 'death with dignity' as an adjunct to palliative care, as part of palliative care. It is not. It is crossing the line and getting doctors, insurers and the state into the death business," he said.

"This bill creates a 'medical benefit' out of death, a death that would cost about $50 or $100 in pills, so it should be clear that when you combine thick social prejudice and financial pressures that finance will exert pressure," he said.

He also said a prognosis of six months or fewer to live is far from certain.

"This terminal diagnosis thing is a guess based on population studies and it becomes close to meaningless at the individual level. People live months and years after their six-month terminal diagnosis ends," he said.

He called the bill a "bait and switch," and called for treatment for people including pain relief when they face disability and terminal illness.

"The bill is dangerous. It's unnecessary. Let's work on improving what we know works," he said.