For Immediate Release Contacts: Anita Cameron 720-413-9064
April 23, 2018 Diane Coleman 708-420-0539
(Albany, NY) Disability rights advocates will testify at a New York Assembly Health Committee hearing today in opposition to a proposed bill (A.2383-A) legalizing doctor assisted suicide.
Kathryn Carroll, an attorney and policy analyst with the Center for Disability Rights (cdrnys.org), and Mel Tanzman, executive director of Westchester Disabled on the Move (wdom.org) and Chair of the Health Committee of the New York Association on Independent Living (ilny.org) were invited by the Assembly Health Committee to testify at Monday’s hearing.Not Dead Yet has been invited to testify at the New York City hearing on the bill scheduled on May 3rd.
“The mere suggestion that disability acquired as the result of illness is cause enough to end one’s life is a devaluation of disabled peoples’ lives, and it’s offensive,” says Kathryn Carroll. “Our focus should be on expanding access to services and supports that allow people to live with dignity, rather than assisting their suicide.”
Tanzman agrees. His testimony on behalf of over forty organizations serving New Yorkers with disabilities states, “Fears of becoming disabled and facing functional loss, whether the cause is injury or illness, are often reported by doctors as reasons patients request assisted suicide in states where it is legal. Oregon released data from 2017 which showed that the top three end-of-life concerns cited by Oregon patients requesting suicide pills had nothing to do with physical pain and suffering. These concerns were: decreasing ability to participate in enjoyable activities; loss of autonomy; and loss of dignity. The disability community strongly opposes the belief that requiring the assistance of another individual for activities of daily living, such as dressing, bathing and toileting, is undignified or a legitimate reason for New York State to legalize physician assisted suicide.”
Disability advocates also experience the real life impact of cost-cutting pressures in healthcare. “You cannot argue that there is not an economic incentive—on the part of insurance companies or families and caregivers—to contemplate or even encourage someone committing assisted suicide,” Carroll stated. “As long these external influences exist, the promise of a choice to end one’s life is a lie.”
The disability organizations testifying against the bill are part of the New York Alliance Against Assisted Suicide (nosuicideny.org), an informal association of many diverse organizations committed to preventing the legalization of assisted suicide in the state.
Kathryn Carroll’s testimony for CDR is online in PDF and HTML formats.
Mel Tanzman’s testimony for NYAIL is online in PDF and HTML formats.