Senator Carl Perry (R-3/Aberdeen) apparently isn’t very good at writing legislation. Upset that an Aberdeen man killed himself last spring and that a woman watched and didn’t call an ambulance or tell anyone else for five hours, Senator Perry filed Senate Bill 122 to make failure to intervene in a suicide attempt a Class 2 misdemeanor. But Perry’s original language didn’t mention suicide. His original SB 122 fired a legal blunderbuss at anyone at the scene of an “emergency” who doesn’t “obtain[…] or attempt[…] to obtain aid from law enforcement or medical personnel.”
So, Senator Perry was trying to prevent suicide, and instead he obligates everyone driving by a car wreck or everyone who sees a truck go through the ice on Lake Herman to call 911. You might even have an obligation to call the cops if you see me hiking to the grocery store during a cold snap that the Governor has declared a state of emergency.
Members of Senate Judiciary had the same concern about Senator Perry’s broad and misdirected language and brought SB 122 into focus with a hoghouse amendment to make the bill do what Senator Perry said he intended, “establish a crime of failure to summon aid for a suicide attempt and provide a penalty therefor.” As approved by Senate Judiciary and passed by the Senate Monday on a 24–9 vote, SB 122 now makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor (a stiffer penalty than originally proposed) to be physically present at a suicide attempt and not summon aid:
A person commits the offense of failure to summon aid for a suicide attempt if the person:
(1) Is physically present at the scene of the attempt;
(2) Knows that another individual is attempting suicide or has inflicted self-harm that creates an imminent risk of serious bodily injury; and
(3) Intentionally fails to promptly summon assistance by contacting law enforcement, medical personnel, or another person reasonably likely to secure immediate emergency assistance [2026 Senate Bill 122, excerpt from Section 1, as amended by Senate Judiciary, 2026.02.05].
With Perry’s poor law-writing skills out of the way, we can ask some questions.
One silly question: are we now criminally liable if we watch daredevils jumping motorcycles at Sturgis and take videos instead of calling 911?
One serious question: could SB 122 snare family members, doctors, and nurses present when (1) a patient directs the doctors to stop providing care that is keeping the patient alive or (2) when family members order health care providers to carry out the wishes expressed by an incapacitated patient in a living will? Does someone—a devout Catholic nurse, a dissenting cousin—have an obligation to find a health care provider or policeman who will intervene and perform CPR or plug the ventilator back in?
One more serious question: Do we really want to make it a crime for loved ones to be present at a suicide?
I’m not keen on suicide, but suppose we’re all consenting adults capable of reason. Suppose a woman diagnosed with some debilitating incurable disease decides she does not want to subject her family to her lingering suffering and medical bills. She and her loved ones discuss the matter, choosing their words carefully to avoid any implication that any one “advises, encourages, abets, or assists” the woman’s decision to take her own life, which would put them in prison under SDCL 22-16-37. The people closest to the woman accept her decision to end her life on her terms, but they insist on being present when she takes the pills or the shot that will end her life painlessly and swiftly. They want to be there in case she changes her mind so they can call 911. But more importantly, no one wants her to die alone. They will be at her side, and the last thing she will feel is her loved one’s hands on hers.
What crime is committed in that scenario? According to Senator Perry and his reworked SB 122, a Class 2 misdemeanor—up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine for offering a loved one with no hope for survival some final company and consolation.
SB 122 awaits the keen legal and moral attention of House Judiciary.
New Mexico’s Democratic governor and unpaid legislators passed the law making a death with dignity legal for people with terminal illnesses. Under the statute a patient must be expected to die within six months and be able to self-administer the lethal injection.