Category: access to health care

From Senator Lankford’s Office: Lankford Leads Bipartisan, Bicameral Lawmakers Urging HHS and CMS to Monitor Dangers of Physician-Assisted Suicide WASHINGTON, DC — US Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) sent a bipartisan, bicameral letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. urging HHS and the Centers for Medicare & […]

Time Ran Out. But the Fight Didn’t. By NDY UK’s Convenor Phil Friend. April 25, 2026, as it appeared on NDY UK’s website HERE. Picture: Members of NDY UK and parliamentary allies in March last year, including Baroness Grey-Thompson (front row, second from right) Yesterday, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill fell. Not […]

Eileen Mihich deserved better. Aging With Dignity has put out a powerful, short film that further dispels the disingenuous claims by ableist proponents of assisted suicide laws that there has never been a single instance in which safeguards have failed. To the assisted suicide proponent question: Where is the evidence of abuse, coercion and error? […]

The Illinois State Senate, just passed an assisted suicide bill, dressed as a food preparation bill, to make it easier for disabled people to die, not to live. In this worst possible national moment, Illinois proponents decided in the interest of vulnerable Illinoisans that now was the time to sneak an assisted suicide bill amendment […]

    To the best of my knowledge, one of the last tasks Founder, President and CEO of Not Dead Yet (NDY), Diane Coleman completed, days before her sudden passing last November, was to watch Reid Davenport’s Life After. Diane intended to write a fulsome review. And although she could not publish her thoughts in […]

By Lisa Blumberg Lisa Blumberg   The traditional strategy of groups promoting assisted suicide for initially passing a law legalizing the practice is by touting a few minimal requirements as inviolable safeguards. Assisted suicide, they assert, will be a rarely used option for a small, well-vetted cohort of people who are dying, suffering and with […]

Introduction Assisted suicide is often presented as a compassionate choice for those experiencing unbearable suffering. However, as someone who has navigated life’s challenges as a disability rights advocate and someone who was once confined to a nursing home, I see a troubling oversight in this narrative. It fails to consider the systemic barriers that prevent […]

Trisomy 18 is a genetic condition that usually results in physical health problems and cognitive limitations. Life expectancy is currently shorter than typical but people can live into their 20’s and 30’s and one American with trisomy 18, Megan Hayes, celebrated her fortieth birthday with fanfare. Unfortunately, it seems that this information has been slow […]

By Lisa Blumberg, JD In late 2023, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), designated people with disabilities as a population with health disparities for research supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This means that NIMHD now recognizes that people with disabilities as a group experience significant disparities in their rates of […]

Cathy Ludlum PUBLIC HEALTH COMMITTEE Testimony Opposing SB 88 An Act Concerning Aid in Dying for Terminally Ill Patients February 23, 2022 Co-chairs and members of the Public Health Committee: My name is Cathy Ludlum, and I am one of the leaders of Second Thoughts Connecticut, a group of disabled people and allies who are […]