…o make the request, serve as a witness along with a “friend,” pick up the drugs and, because no disinterested witness is required at the death, administer the drugs themselves. The law grants immunity to anyone who assists in the death who say they acted “in good faith.” Deadly abuse goes unpunished and unnoticed. Third, terminal prognoses are notoriously inaccurate. NPR reported a few years ago that nearly one in five people who enter hospice sur…
…he Autistic Self Advocacy Network and others. The proposed amendments to Rule 1557 can lay the foundation for a healthcare system that affirms the inherent value of all human lives and focuses on protecting vulnerable populations from discriminatory practices. Not Dead Yet strongly recommends that organizational policies and procedures to comply with Rule 1557 include training from disabled-led organizations on healthcare disparities and disabil…
…an impending euthanasia, but missing is any suggestion that if the child truly thinks the person is being bullied or steered, they should take their concerns to someone on the outside like a trusted teacher. It would, of course, be wrong to place on a six-year-old the responsibility to talk an adult down from dying by euthanasia. Yet kids can be told that some people get quite sad when they are very worried about how to manage things in their dai…
…uman Services Office for Civil Rights recently issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/09/14/2023-19149/discrimination-on-the-basis-of-disability-in-health-and-human-service-programs-or-activities#p-156) detailing massive healthcare discrimination impacting people with disabilities including older adults. The NPRM section on Denial of Treatment reported on systemic pressures to forego life sus…
…e. Due to the stereotype of Black patients’ noncompliance with doctors instructions and orders, we are not afforded the state of the art medical care that white patients routinely get, especially when they have the money. Much of what was learned about medicine in America was learned on the backs of Black enslaved people and poor Blacks. One example is the infamous Tuskegee Experiment, where poor blacks, mostly men, were not treated for syphilis,…
