Robin Williams and the Hypocrisy of Suicide Prevention Organizations

August 24, 2014american foundation for suicide prevention, assisted suicide, International Association of Suicide Prevention, Our News & Commentary Blog, suicide, suicide preventionAmerican Association for Suicide Prevention, American Association of Suicidology, assisted suicide, Final Exit Network, International Association of Suicide Prevention, Robin Williams, suicide, suicide preventionStephen Drake

…ed both the news and entertainment industries to avoid. “The potential for online reports, photos/videos and stories to go viral makes it vital that online coverage of suicide follow site or industry safety recommendations,” one media guide reads. But in the hours since @TheAcademy’s tweet went viral, professionals like Moutier have become concerned that it doesn’t, in fact, follow established safety recommendations. The starry sky from Disney’s A…

Last Day to Submit Input to IOM Committee on Approaching Death – Personal Story

November 1, 2013dredf, Institute of Medicine, medical discrimination, Our News & Commentary Blog, public commentDiane Coleman

…ut to the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Approaching Death via their online survey, the subject of a previous blog. Yesterday I took the opportunity to submit the following personal story involving some disturbing communications from medical professionals a couple years ago when I had some acute respiratory problems. Question 1: If you are an individual living with a serious progressive illness or condition, or a loved one of an individual p…

NPR’s Morning Edition Covers the Organ Procurement Debate

June 24, 2013bioethics, donation after cardiac death, national catholic partnership on disability, OPTN, Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, organ transplants, Our News & Commentary Blog, Rob Stein, Stephen MikochikDiane Coleman

…gan donation before a decision to withdraw life-support has been made. The online NPR article quoted Not Dead Yet, although the audio broadcast did not: The proposal is raising concerns among advocates for the disabled. “Pressure could be brought to bear on people to give up on saving their lives and give away their organs,” says Diane Coleman of the group Not Dead Yet, which seeks to protect rights of the disabled. The online article and audio br…

Press Release: Disability Group Urges Institute of Medicine (IOM) to Remedy “Glaring Omission” in Membership on End-of-Life Committee

January 30, 2013end-of-life care, Institute of Medicine, ira byock, Kelly Buckland, national council on independent living, Our News & Commentary Blog, press releaseStephen Drake

…n its 1997 report Approaching Death: Improving Care at the End of Life. An online description of the project describes its mission and rationale as follows: “While the 1997 IOM Report made important and wide sweeping recommendations, progress in implementing them has been slow. . . .Given the importance of death and dying to our citizens and our nation, the IOM plans to examine the current state of end-of-life care with respect to delivery of medi…

UK: ‘Locked-In’ Tony Nicklinson Loses Court Bid for Euthanasia; Second Thoughts and NDY in Coverage

August 17, 2012court decisions, diane coleman, euthanasia, john kelly, media, Our News & Commentary Blog, Second ThoughtsStephen Drake

…ing or transcript, but CNN isn’t very good about doing either of those for online content, at least in a consistent way. Later today – Friday, August 17th – there will be a Huffington Post live video online chat about the Nicklinson case that Diane Coleman will be doing with (we think) 3 other people on Huffpost Live for 20 minutes or so, around 3 pm ET. You can join the chat at this address: http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/502cf96f78c90a…