'Death with Dignity' Imperils the Poor

Reprint from 2004

http://realchangenews.org/index.php/site/archives/9122

Last week’s article by an assisted suicide/euthanasia advocate struck me as a bizarre article  

for Real Change, which advocates for the dignity and self-determination of the poor. (“Terminally ill patients face shortage of right-to-die drug amid controversy over capital punishment,” Real Change, June 18, 2014)

Oregon: Jury awards$3 million to fired nurse who complained of 'rushing patients through' to save money

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2015/09/jury_awards_3_million_to_legac.html

By Aimee Green

A Portland jury on Friday awared a nurse more than $3 million -- agreeing that she was wrongfully terminated by
Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center after she complained to management that cost cutting measures were jeopardizing patient care. Registered nurse Linda Boly said Saturday that she felt vindicated by the verdict. She hopes it sends a "big message" to Legacy Health System that "rushing patients through" the process endangers them. . . .

To read the rest of the article, click here.

The ADA: A Gift From the Disability Community to the Non-Disabled, Improving Access for All

http://www.npr.org/2015/07/24/423230927/-a-gift-to-the-non-disabled-at-25-the-ada-improves-access-for-all

"This elevator is a gift from the disability
 community and the ADA to the nondisabled
 people of New York," said civil rights
lawyer,  Sid Wolinsky. 

From NPR's Joseph Shapiro, published last year.

When the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law 25 years ago, "everybody was thinking about the iconic person in a wheelchair," says civil rights lawyer Sid Wolinsky. Or that the ADA — which bans discrimination based on disability — was for someone who is deaf, or blind.

But take a tour of New York City with Wolinsky — and the places he sued there — and you will see how the ADA has helped not just people with those significant disabilities, but also people with minor disabilities, and people with no disability at all.

Press Release: Bill Will Allow "the Perfect Crime," Encourage People "to Throw Away Their Lives"

For print version, click here.

Salt Lake City, UT -- Attorney Margaret Dore, president of Choice is an Illusion, which has fought assisted suicide legalization efforts in many states, and now Utah, made the following statement in connection with a bill pending before the Utah Legislature.  (HB 264).

"The bill has an application process to obtain the lethal dose," said Dore. "The process includes a written lethal dose request form with two required witnesses.  One of the witnesses is allowed to be the patient's heir who will financially benefit from the patient's death."

Utah: Testimony of Kenneth Stevens MD Opposing Assisted Suicide

To view testimony as a pdf, click here.

1.  I strongly urge you to Vote No on HB 264, which seeks to legalize physician assisted suicide in Utah

Photo of me and my patient Jeanette Hall, 15 years after
I talked her out of assisted suicide in Oregon
Photo credit - Daily Signal

I am a cancer doctor in Oregon, where physician-assisted suicide is legal. I was also raised in Logan, graduated from USU, and received my MD from the University of Utah Medical School 50 years ago. I am Professor Emeritus and former chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Oregon Health and Science University. I regularly visit Utah. I continue to practice in my cancer medical specialty.

New Mexico Overturns District Court Decision Allowing Assisted Suicide

Today, the New Mexico Supreme Court upheld a criminal statute prohibiting "assisting suicide" as constitutional when applied to "physician aid in dying," meaning physician-assisted suicide. The 5-0 decision states in part:

[W]e agree with the legitimate concern that recognizing a right to physician aid in dying will lead to voluntary or involuntary euthanasia because if it is a right, it must be made available to everyone, even when a duly appointed surrogate makes the decision, and even when the patient is unable to self-administer the life-ending medication. . . .

[The] statute is neither unconstitutional or its face nor as it is applied to Petitioners. . . . [W]e reverse the district court's contrary conclusion and remand to the district court for proceedings consistent with this opinion.  (Emphasis added). [pp. 31 & 57]