My name is Kate Blisard. I thank you for the opportunity to speak today concerning S1072 the “Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act.” I have been a disability advocate for 30+ years. During that time, I have fought for a better life in the community for hundreds of people who were committed to state institutions and nursing facilities. Those I have served are, in many ways, the most vulnerable members both of our disability community and of soc…
I am honored to speak to you today on behalf of DAWN Center for Independent Living opposing this legislation concerning physician – assisted suicide as a means of “death with dignity.” Although I am here representing DAWNcil I am also speaking personally. DAWN is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities residing in the three counties that we serve, Morris, Sussex and Warren have the right to choose how they live. As an individual with…
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…he most blatant forms of discrimination based on disability in our society today. Does it make sense to tell a person who is battling cancer to consider suicide? Should we not be doing everything we can to support these people in having the best possible health care and home care so they have quality of life for however long they have? With the experience of the laws in Oregon as a guide, the question of assisted suicide becomes, quite frankly, in…
…t: “[C]urtailed opioid prescribing has not correlated with a reduction in drug-overdose deaths. Although prescribing has dropped every year since 2012, drug overdose deaths during the same period have skyrocketed as the crisis has evolved to feature heroin and illicitly manufactured fentanyl and its analogs.” Disability advocates also “noted that alternative therapies to treat pain are often not covered by insurance and may be unavailable to peopl…
