Not Dead Yet Comment on HPNA’s Statement on “Medical Aid in Dying” July 5, 2024 Not Dead Yet is a national disability rights organization focused on combatting disability based healthcare discrimination, particularly in the context of advanced or terminal illness. We are extremely disappointed that HPNA [Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association] would consider adopting a […]
Canada has the broadest euthanasia law in the world. Both people who are ill and people who have disabilities deemed to cause them to suffer may request that a doctor or nurse practitioner provide them with a drug induced death. (1) Alan Nichols, a 61-year-old man with a history of depression was euthanized, over the […]
An article in the Altamont Enterprise included some great quotes by disability rights activist Stephanie Woodward. Stephanie Woodward, director of advocacy at the Center for Disability Rights, said that “assisted suicide has a discriminatory, disparate impact on disabled people that is deadly and can’t be reversed.” Data from the state of Oregon, where medical aid-in-dying […]
Until last week, I’d never heard of Thomas Young. But on March 13, Bill Peace published a disturbing post on his Bad Cripple Blog, titled “Thomas Young and Suicide: All the Wrong Questions Asked.“: I have not thought about Thomas Young in quite some time. He was featured in the 2007 documentary Body of War […]
Right-Wing politics often leave me at a loss for words. The attacks aimed at Ezekiel Emanuel before and after the passage of what is commonly called “Obamacare” is one of the most bizarre examples. At the time, Emanuel was Special Advisor for Health Policy to Peter Orszag, acting director of OMB. Emanuel struck me as […]
Ira Byock is a friend and someone whose work is widely respected. Unlike many people writing on assisted suicide, Ira has spent decades working intimately with patients and their families, giving aid, comfort and treatment to all affected during the final chapter in that patient’s life. Bio blurb from The Nation: Ira Byock is director of […]
On January 7, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published an op-ed by Wendell Stephenson, current president of the Final Exit Network (FEN). “Ensuring death with dignity” is no longer freely available at the AJC site, but the same essay was published in December last year in the Metrowest Daily News and can still be read here. It’s […]
Remember George Exoo? Check out the link above for a reminder. He’s the founder of the “Compassionate Chaplaincy” and claims to have aided in over 100 suicides. According to the documentary by Jon Ronson, “Reverend Death,” Exoo’s phone number was given out by other so-called “right to die” groups – if the caller was someone […]
Late last Saturday night (January 16, 2010), Judi Chamberlin died at home, with family at her side. This was not unexpected. Judi has been receiving hospice services for over a year as a chronic lung condition worsened to the point where she decided to enroll in hospice services. She shared her thoughts and experiences as […]
Today, the New York Times published a long story on hospice and palliative care, and how doctors struggle with balancing the transition from active treatment to palliative care in the final stages of terminal illnesses. Some of it is worked within the context of the current “debate” around advance directives in the health care reform […]
