Not Dead Yet’s Public Comment to U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services on Affordable Care Act’s Nondiscrimination Regulations

…ty life. In fact, there are times, as this report will describe where physicians recommend and family or other surrogate decision makers decide to not provide a needed transplant, to withhold medical treatment including hydration and nutrition of individuals without a terminal condition, or to sterilize people all on the basis of their disabilities. Applied in these ways, medical decision making and procedures are discriminatory and deny basic con…

NDY Public Comment on CDC Draft Updated Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids

…e-not-the-cause/ Schatman, M. et al., U.S. Chronic Pain Practitioners and Scientists Comment on Oregon Forced Taper Proposal (National Pain Report,July 31, 2018) http://nationalpainreport.com/u-s-chronic-pain-practitioners-and-scientists-comment-on-oregon-forced-taper-proposal-8836865.html https://advocacymonitor.com/summary-of-the-draft-updated-guideline/ https://uploads.documents.cimpress.io/v1/uploads/e5010620-826f-4089-904d-cc801f268277~110/or…

Testimony of Diane Coleman, Not Dead Yet, Opposing New Hampshire HB 1659

…ty of terminal predictions by doctors, as well as the risks of assisted suicide laws for people who use breathing support or otherwise depend on ongoing treatments for serious chronic conditions. My Personal Story of Mistaken Prognosis At the age of six I was diagnosed as having muscular dystrophy and my parents were told that I would die by the age of 12. A few years later I was re-diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a progressive neuro…

Oregon Data Substantiates Critics’ Concerns

…s. One of the most frequently repeated claims by proponents of assisted suicide laws is that there is “no evidence or data” to support any claim that these laws are subject to abuse. These claims are demonstrably false. Regarding documented problem cases, please refer to a compilation of individual cases and source materials pulled together by the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund entitled Oregon and Washington State Abuses and Complica…

Disability Rights Toolkit for Advocacy Against Legalization of Assisted Suicide

…the issue, an article in an organizational newsletter can be a good start. Feel free to use “Why Do Disability Rights Organizations Oppose Assisted Suicide Laws?” or contact Not Dead Yet about reprinting one of the published op-eds linked on our website. The handouts listed in Section 1 above are also excellent educational resources. In addition, a leaflet summarizing the key arguments above is available. Well-informed disability advocates are imp…