…e least of people’s concerns. Doctors report people requesting the lethal drugs because of psychosocial suffering about becoming disabled through their illness. It’s mental distress about becoming dependent on other people (“losing autonomy” 92%), losing abilities (“less able to engage in activities making life enjoyable” 90%), shame and perceived/actual loss of social status (“loss of dignity” 79%), needing help with incontinence (“losing control…
…of efforts to challenge the Texas law, including a recent appellate court ruling in another Texas case involving Tinslee Lewis, previously covered in this blog. The new July 24 court ruling has found the dispute resolution provisions in the Texas Advance Directives Act to be sorely lacking in constitutional due process protections, stating that a hospital: “. . . [I]n invoking and following Section 166.046’s committee review process, failed to pr…
…r communities. These messages are displayed in a ten second video and will run once an hour, 18 hours a day for the next three months. The first message avows that life, with or without disabilities, is worth living. Many misguided individuals have promulgated so-called “assisted-suicide” and euthanasia laws throughout the world that discriminate against elderly and disabled people by creating a state supported path to death. An all too common bel…
…cted in the superficial media coverage in the immediate aftermath of such gruesome crimes. By the time the truth of the matter has been uncovered, the media spotlight has moved on, and the public is left with the same false impression; “he did it for love.” There has been almost no discussion in the francophone media of the disability and human rights problems with the narrative of Amour, and little in the Anglophone press either. No critics quest…
…anitarian” award. I was hooked, because Not Dead Yet understands the first rule of protesting, which is to have fun. Elaine Kolb came up from Connecticut and we sang songs and tried to infiltrate the award banquet. Then I joined the national action in my hometown of Boston in 2000, when the World Federation of Right to Die Societies held a convention. We protested all day in the rain (our classic chant: “We’re here, We’re wet, We’re Not Dead Yet!”…
