Here are some more great testimonies shared with the New York Assembly Health Committee on May 3.
Jose Hernandez shared his mother’s story in a powerful and moving letter:
My mother was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer in 1988 when she was just 28 years old in Puerto Rico. They had given her 6 months to live. My mother and my father made the decision to get her to the United States immediately for treatment. . . .
My mother survived 13 years. Yes, there was pain, yes there was depression, however despite all of the pain and depression, there were moments of joy: 13 Thanksgivings, 13 Christmases, 13 New Year’s, close to 39 birthdays (not including hers), and all of the precious memories I have of my mother doing simple things like turning on the Spanish music every Saturday and dancing with the mop while she cleaned the house.
To read Jose’s whole letter and see his family photos, go here (PDF) or here (HTML).
Sharon Shapiro-Lacks testified before the Committee on behalf of Yad HaChazakah-The Jewish Disability Empowerment Center:
We . . . proclaim that doctors and mental health professionals, who are members of the broader society, are too tainted by centuries old fears of disability in order to determine who is rational and who has good reason to die.
We oppose giving the medical establishment, with the input of mental health professionals, the ability to prescribe life-ending drugs months or weeks before one’s projected time of natural death. Their evaluations will be based upon their predominant ableist attitudes about what constitutes “quality of life”. We are opposed to giving insurance companies, Medicare, and Medicaid a convenient way to save on health care and hospice costs. If this bill is passed into law, disabled folks and seniors living on fixed incomes who are sentenced with 6 months or less to live will too easily be granted deadly doses.
To read Sharon’s whole testimony, go here (PDF) or here (HTML).