W. Carol Cleigh letter: Hasty Re-Opening Will “Sacrifice the Weak for the Wealthy”

May 6, 2020COVID-19, eugenics, letters to the editor, lifeboat ethics, Our News & Commentary BlogCOVID-19, Letter to the Editor, W. Carol CleighDiane Coleman

…e House estimates put the cost of premature reopening at more than 230,000 human beings. Not all of whom will be old, ill and/or disabled. Many will be health care workers. Some will be young. Some will have been healthy before becoming ill. Georgia has already had a surge in cases. Perhaps most importantly in all of this is the question of who we want to be as a people. I’ve even seen advocates for this trying to dress up their devil’s bargain in…

Disability Advocates Oppose City Council’s Proposed Assisted Suicide Resolution

February 4, 2020"death with dignity", aid in dying, assisted suicide, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blogaid in dying, assisted suicide, city council, death with dignityDiane Coleman

…would be heard before the Council’s Human Services Committee on Monday, February 3rd. (h/t to Stephen Mendelsohn of Second Thoughts Connecticut for alerting us.) The disability advocates at Progress Center for Independent Living, including Evanston resident Larry Biondi, showed up to ensure that the disability opposition to the resolution was clearly heard. News coverage of the Committee meeting included a photo of Biondi making the case that assi…

Federal study finds QALYs restrict access to lifesaving healthcare for people with disabilities

November 17, 2019bioethics, devaluation, healthcare rationing, medical discrimination, national council on disability, Our News & Commentary Blog, qaly, Quality Adjusted Life Yearsbioethics, National Council on Disability, QALYsDiane Coleman

…epartment of Education in 1978, NCD became an independent federal agency in 1984. In 1986, NCD recommended enactment of an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and drafted the first version of the bill which was introduced in the House and Senate in 1988. Since enactment of the ADA in 1990, NCD has continued to play a leading role in crafting disability policy, and advising the President, Congress and other federal agencies on disability policie…

Two Disability Statements Issued After the Election of President-Elect Trump

November 10, 2016ADAPT, assisted suicide, national disability leadership alliance, Our News & Commentary BlogADAPT, assisted suicide, National Disability Leadership AllianceDiane Coleman

…d unity is essential to our cause. ADAPT’s Open Letter to President-Elect Trump President-Elect Trump, The Disability Community is a diverse community made up of people from different races, faiths, political beliefs, and backgrounds. Our community is the only inevitable minority: if a person lives long enough, they will eventually become disabled. Therefore, our interests are not partisan, but human; not political, but practical. We want all peop…

Sarah Cavar: Germany Grapples With Assisted Suicide In Courts and Parliament

July 9, 2018"death with dignity", aid in dying, assisted suicide, Germany, Our News & Commentary Blogaid in dying, assisted suicide, GermanyDiane Coleman

…In 2012, after a years-long legal battle, her surviving husband received a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights. Although it did not rule broadly on individuals’ rights to assisted suicide, the Court did state that “German courts were negligent in refusing to hear [his wife’s] case,” sending it back to the German courts. According to DW.com, a German news outlet, the European Court of Human Rights — “decided not to issue a ruling on the…