Stephen Mendelsohn, a disability activist and advocate with Second Thoughts Connecticut, sent this long list of media and some commentary. I’m very grateful for this and this really deserves a post of its own. Everything below was compiled and written by Stephen Mendelsohn – we’re all thankful to him for all his work and his testimony (see below) at the Hearing:
CT Mirror: http://www.ctmirror.org/story/19490/end-life-bill-brings-comfort-some-fears-vulnerability-others Fair and balanced, yet the comparison Arielle Levin Becker makes between Sara Myers and Cathy Ludlum is highly revealing (note my comment below the story).
New Haven Register (my heads-up e-mailing got us this one, after an earlier story falsely claimed that HB 6645 was full of safeguards): http://nhregister.com/articles/2013/03/19/news/doc51491e71b3e4e463179788.txt HB 6645 as currently written has no waiting period and only one doctor if the “terminal illness” is deemed “sufficiently advanced,” meaning that someone can get a terminal diagnosis, pick up the lethal medication, and be dead within hours.
WTNH-TV Channel 8: http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/politics/weighing-in-on-assisted-suicide#.UVAfWDcsDRp
CT News Junkie: http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/right-to-die_or_assisted_suicide/
Picture from Second Thoughts Connecticut press conference, on the website of Senator Joe Markley: http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8509/8574564003_4797be77d7_b.jpg (I am standing on the left, and next to Cathy in the second video above) (Editor – Stephen Mendelsohn on left and next to Cathy Ludlum in the second video above)
Testimony on the bill: http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/menu/CommDocTmyBillAllComm.asp?bill=HB-06645&doc_year=2013
Video of 15-hour hearing: http://www.ctn.state.ct.us/CTNplayer.asp?odID=8816 John Kelly’s excellent testimony is at just past clip position 2:00; Professor Stephen Mikochik (must see) followed by Claude Holcomb at 5:22; Stephen Mendelsohn at roughly 11:48
Those are some really powerful comments, Stephen. Thank you for sharing.
Latest news—Governor Dannel Malloy undecided about assisted suicide bill, HB 6645: http://connecticut.cbslocal.com/2013/03/27/malloy-undecided-on-assisted-suicide/ Phone calls to the Governor urgently needed. C&C is using George Soros’ $$$ and Betty Gallo’s lobbying machine to push him to support the bill.
Contact Governor Malloy:
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
STATE CAPITOL
210 CAPITOL AVENUE
HARTFORD, CT 06106
TEL: (860) 566-4840
TOLL-FREE: (800) 406-1527
TDD: (860) 524-7397
FAX: (860) 524-7395
To e-mail Governor Malloy, use this webform: http://www.governor.ct.gov/malloy/cwp/view.asp?a=3998&q=479082
Background material—Governor Malloy’s record on disability issues does not give us comfort:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2011/11/23/conn_disabled_community_upset_with_malloy_message/
http://ctmirror.org/story/13608/malloy-workforce-executive-order
http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/malloy_receives_crit/
http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/disabilities_advocates_crash_meeting/
Malloy also tried unsuccessfully to gut the Office of Protection and Advocacy last year by merging it into the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities: http://www.change.org/petitions/the-human-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities-in-ct-are-jeopardized-due-to-a-misguided-proposal-from-the-governors-office This year he tried to cut all state funding for Centers for Independent Living: http://www.newenglandada.org/sites/default/files/newsletterdocs/feb2013special/Feb2013Special.htm It took him an entire year to appoint an ADA coordinator. This from someone who has a learning disability himself, and who does not hide that fact. He has one last chance to redeem himself with us by opposing the legalization of assisted suicide.