…heard of 14-year-old Jerika Bolen’s plans to die, which received extensive news coverage over the summer. Disability advocates may have wondered why the story didn’t appear in the NDY blog sooner. The short answer is that, behind the scenes, we were trying to push for better health care, especially expert quality pain relief to address the primary reason Jerika stated for wanting to die. We were trying to respond to her comments about her life. On…
…lanned for, during disasters. Individuals with cognitive impairments may struggle with public safety instructions when disaster occurs. People who are blind, Deaf, etc. may have difficulty communicating during the emergency – especially when sign language interpretation is lacking or inadequate. All of these factors persist and they compound and increase the degree of risk in disaster situations for people with disabilities. Despite the necessary…
…o health care provider was present at the time of ingestion of the lethal drugs or at the time of death. So there is no independent witness to self-administration of the lethal drugs nor to consent at that time. Failure of “Safeguards” Terminal Illness Prognosis Many people are misdiagnosed. “Terminal” predictions are unreliable. Oregon model bills define “terminal” as “incurable” and “irreversible” even if that is based on non-treatment due to la…
Good news! Following intervention by attorneys, the Minnesota hospital that we previously reported had planned to stop providing oxygen to a woman with lung cancer decided to follow her wishes to continue treatment. This goes to show, as so many people with disabilities have experienced, that when there’s a power imbalance operating against you, get legal/advocate help to tip the scales and, hopefully, secure compliance with the law. Below is the…
…6, and currently resides in North Carolina. ** Additional stories: The Texan https://thetexan.news/austin-hospital-withheld-treatment-from-disabled-man-who-contracted-coronavirus/ Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8487119/Quadriplegic-coronavirus-patient-dies-Texas-hospital-stops-treating-him.html New York Post https://nypost.com/2020/07/03/quadriplegic-dies-of-covid-19-after-hospital-refuses-treatment-family/…
