Press Release: Disability Opposition to Assisted Suicide Bills Helped Secure Third Defeat In New England States This Session

March 31, 2014assisted suicide, Our News & Commentary Blog, press releaseassisted suicide, press releaseDiane Coleman

[Editor’s note: For the PRWeb online version of this release in pdf format, go here.] On Friday, it became official: for the second consecutive year, the Connecticut legislature rejected assisted suicide legislation. Disability advocates celebrated as the state’s Public Health Committee, like the Massachusetts Joint Committee On Public Health a week earlier, let its assisted suicide bill die in committee. Earlier this spring, New Hampshire overwh…

NDY quoted in article on New Mexico assisted suicide case

July 17, 2012aid in dying, assisted suicide, Compassion & Choices, Connecticut, court decisions, diane coleman, Montana, New Mexico, Our News & Commentary BlogDiane Coleman

On July 11, the online publication Solutions, “a project of the Buechner Institute for Governance at the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver,” included an article by Diane Carman entitled “Doctors, patient challenge New Mexico’s assisted suicide ban.” The New Mexico court case was brought by Compassion and Choices attorney Kathryn Tucker on behalf of two doctors and a woman with cancer and, according to the article, asks…

Dialogue Begins About Feeding Tubes and Breathing Devices With Respecting Choices Program

April 1, 2014Our News & Commentary BlogDiane Coleman

…osted your letter on our website. We are gratified that you have suspended online sales of these two documents, pending the results of our efforts, but we’re disappointed that you haven’t issued a “recall” of the documents. We understand that you consider the documents to be fine if used as intended, but we consider some of the information to be factually incorrect no matter how the documents are used. We have also been made aware of a “Dear Colle…

ADAPT Wins Meeting with Leadership Conference on Civil Rights to Address Disconnect Between Disability Rights and Broader Civil Rights Movement

May 6, 2014ADAPT, Our News & Commentary BlogADAPTDiane Coleman

…ities are provided suicide assistance.” The full release is not yet posted online, but came to ADAPT advocates via email. It’s public, so I’m sharing it with you below. ADAPT has long opposed legalization of assisted suicide. Pew researchers also found that people of color tend to oppose it, so there’s every reason to think that we can find common ground on this. But it probably came as a surprise to the Leadership Conference to see it brought up…

Would You Rather Die Than Go To A Nursing Facility? Time For the Community Integration Act!

July 1, 2014ADAPT, Community Integration Act, long term care, nursing homes, Our News & Commentary BlogADAPT, Community Integration ActDiane Coleman

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?”) It’s very disturbing that they don’t seem to have heard about Olmstead and home and community based services. Why don’…