…I have on a yellow turtleneck sweater. On December 19th, we got some great news. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that people do not have a constitutional right to assisted suicide. This ruling came out of Kligler v Healy, a case initially filed in 2016 in which Dr. Robert Kligler, a cancer patient, and Dr. Allen Steinbach, a physician, argued that assisted suicide could not be prosecuted as involuntary manslaughter and that doctors…
…her a different diagnosis. She got out of the hospital, she recovered, and today she’s working again and doing fine. Now, Tischer is one of the named plaintiffs on a California lawsuit filed this week that challenges the legality of the state’s 7-year-old End of Life Option Act. MICHAEL BIEN: The law discriminates against people in a very dangerous way and steers and normalizes suicide for a particularly vulnerable part of the population. SHAPIRO:…
…opping with the individual to find a physician who will provide the fatal drug, such as in the case of Kate Chaney. There is nothing in the proposed legislation that would prevent an abusive caregiver or family member from steering the individual toward physician assisted suicide, witnessing the request form, picking up the lethal dose, and even administering the drug. Because no independent witness is required at the death, there is no assurance…
…igns opposing the NY assisted suicide bill at a press conference conducted today by proponents of the bill. They spoke with several members of the press about the dangers the bill poses for people with disabilities (see written statement below). The first coverage appeared on WXXI News: Opponents, including some advocacy groups for people with disabilities, said they fear the measure could be abused. Alex Thompson with the New York Association of…
…Association’s annual conference held at the Hyatt Regency at Capitol Hill today. “For the first time, this organization has formally begun to narrow its mission – accomplished by declaring the suicides of some people to not be suicides at all.” The leaflets were distributed as Association members arrived for a moderated debate about the statement. The flyer asks, “Shouldn’t this debate have happened last year?” and raised several issues for psych…
