[From August 28, 2023] Assisted suicide in NY a poor idea To the Editor: It’s ironic that Joel Freedman’s Aug. 14 essay promoting assisted suicide laws opens by noting the need to “strengthen the rights of nursing home residents and other care-dependent people.” People are too often dumped into nursing facilities by hospitals and sometimes, […]
[Author’s note: Readers may wonder why it’s taken a month for me to post my response to the federal district court ruling in the Shavelson case. I was hoping to be able to post it after it appeared as an op-ed in one of the California newspaper outlets I pitch it to, but, alas, NDY’s […]
According to a 2013 Pew Research Center study, 65% of the Latino community is against assisted suicide. That’s more than half of the Latino community. We understand how dangerous these practices are. But I would like to see the entire community against assisted suicide. Have you heard of the Disability perspective? I am going to […]
COVID-19 continues to rage through America, but not many of us outside the media and disability rights and justice groups are talking about an overlooked population – residents of nursing facilities and institutions for disabled people, who are dying of COVID-19. To date, more than 51,000 residents and employees of nursing homes and long-term care […]
Thanks to the Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies for alerting disability advocates to proposed federal rule changes that would make it easier to put disabled people of all ages into nursing “homes” and other facilities, as well as make it harder for them to move back out to the community. The deadline for comments is […]
One of the issues that we have with The Conversation Project is that the online materials suggest that a nursing facility is the only alternative to being “independent”. (The notion seems to be to ask, “If you had to go to a nursing facility, wouldn’t you rather have an advance directive that declines life-sustaining treatment?”) […]
There’s a really disturbing story out of Iowa that could be the tip of the iceberg in terms of what could be playing out nationally in the current economic and political climate. Clark Kauffman, of the Des Moines Register, writes that Group says Branstad actions cause nursing home deaths: An organization that advocates for disabled […]
Once in awhile, something comes along that really surprises me. This is one of those times. The January issue of Nursing2009 not only has an article harshly critical of organ harvesting regulations and protocols, it has made the article available online. In Speaking up for organ donors (link to html version, with additional link to […]
Back in April, this blog featured two posts analyzing the disturbing and distorted coverage of an investigation of suspicious deaths at a nursing home in Woodstock, IL. The analysis can be accessed here (part 1) and here (part 2). The story in brief: After a long investigation into suspicious deaths at a nursing home in […]
Yesterday, I discussed coverage from late 2006 and early 2007 involving an investigation into suspicious deaths at a nursing home in Woodstock, IL. Last week, two ex-employees of the Woodstock Residence nursing home were indicted on multiple charges. More on those charges later. The first news I had of this was via an email message […]
