Disability Rights Leadership Institute on Bioethics: Advancing the Disability Rights Perspective on Bioethics Issues

May 2, 2014Amy Hasbrouck, ari ne'eman, ASAN, Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, bill peace, bioethics, Bob Kafka, dredf, Liz Carr, national council on independent living, NDRN, Norm Kunc, Our News & Commentary Blog, Toujours Vivant-Not Dead YetAutistic Self Advocacy Network, bioethics, Diane Coleman, Disability Rights Leadership Institute on Bioethics, Dredf, Liz Carr, Marilyn GoldenDiane Coleman

…k our generous supporters: Aging With Dignity, Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living, Yoshiko Dart, Gail Ludwig and Clarissa Kripke, Michigan Disability Rights Coalition, Montanans Against Assisted Suicide, Patients’ Rights Action Fund and United Spinal. I also want to thank the Center for Disability Rights for designing and printing our conference programs and sending their extraordinary executive administrative assistant Linda Tay…

Organ Donation by Death Row Inmates – Get Ready to Start Hearing More About How it’s “Good” for Everyone

March 11, 2011Art Caplan, Ben Goldhirsh, bioethics, crime and punishment, death penalty, Dylan Ratigan, Eric Meslin, good magazine, Graeme Wood, Kevorkian, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, reality check, Wesley SmithStephen Drake

…tocol”—a term derived from the ancient Mayan practice of vivisecting their human sacrifices—the removal of organs would itself be the method of execution. If this sounds inhumane, compare it to current practices: botched hangings, painfully long gassings, and messy electrocutions. Removal of the heart, lungs, and kidneys (under anesthesia, of course) would kill every time, without an instant of pain. So far, the organs of all criminals executed in…

Assisted Suicide Is A Deadly Mix With Our Profit-Driven Healthcare System

March 23, 2014"death with dignity", assisted suicide, Connecticut, Deadly Mix, dredf, ira byock, life-sustaining treatment, Malpractice, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, storiesassisted suicide, Connecticut, Dredf, media coverageDiane Coleman

…sonal story of a friend of hers, Joan Cavanagh, identified as “a life-long human rights and anti-war activist.” The New Haven Register published her op-ed describing her experience fighting for her mother’s life: I had a painful and frightening time for many years trying to get my Mom life-sustaining treatment. The health care system had no use for her because she was old, suffering from dementia, and poor. . . . I had been her primary caregiver f…

Chicago NDY Visits Final Exit Network’s Annual Meeting

June 9, 2009activism, assisted suicide, crime and punishment, devaluation, discrimination, final exit network, Our News & Commentary Blog, reality checkStephen Drake

…tally competent adults in all fifty states are free to exercise their last human right — the right to a peaceful, dignified death. “Final Exit Network is the only organization in the United States that will support individuals who are not “terminally ill” – 6 months or less to live – to hasten their deaths. No other organization in the US makes this commitment,” said Goodwin. Please note – that statement says very clearly that they will help, anyo…

Request to remove life-support from 6-Month-Old in Texas Withdrawn for Now – Texas NDY

January 21, 2009abuse, crime and punishment, david coronado, futile care, haleigh poutre, Our News & Commentary Blog, Surrogate Decisions & Guardianship, texasStephen Drake

…t should. This is even milder language than that used by the Department of Human Services in Massachusetts to justify the removal of life-support from Haleigh Poutre, who was also apparently abused and written off as “virtually brain-dead.” As anyone familiar with the case knows, the accused abuser challenged the removal of life-support, delaying the action long enough so that by the time Poutre was “granted” the “right” to die with “dignity” she…