Clickhole: Terminally Ill Woman Chooses Dignified Death/Eaten by Wolves (satire)

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Clickhole is part of The Onion and parodies sites that post items that go viral. Today, Clickhole featured a “story” obviously inspired by the viral story of Brittany Maynard, who, along with a great deal of technical assistance from Compassion and Choices, shared her wish to kill herself using Oregon’s assisted suicide law. Part of her pitch was to demand that all 50 states in the USA legalize assisted suicide.  Below is one of the photos from today’s story – and an excerpt.  It’s Friday, we needed a laugh, and we were gifted with this:

Meet The Terminally Ill Woman Who Is Choosing To End Her Life With Dignity, At The Snapping Jaws Of 20 Hungry Wolves

 

 

Henrietta Green is brave. In fact, the only thing the 61-year-old from Yarmouth, ME fears is dying without dignity. That’s why, when doctors diagnosed her with leukemia two months ago, she made a decision: She would not die slowly and pathetically in a hospital bed. She would go out proudly, being torn apart and eaten by wolves.

Henrietta’s family supports her choice. Her son Charles is even helping her enact her plan.

***

Right-to-die activists all over the country have released statements of support for Henrietta and others like her, including Alan Davis, 92, who passed away being peacefully drowned by a killer whale at Sea World, and Mark Jenkins, 87, who, surrounded by loved ones, pulled a gun on a group of police officers.

If you are sickeningly familiar with the repetetive format of articles using an individual to pitch a change in public policy. The only part of the Maynard story not included here is the “pretty white girl” aspect of the viral story. It’s a well-known phenomenon that stories about *any* tragedy get more attention if the victims are young, pretty and white – attention from the press and the public.  Older, nonattractive (by white male-dominated standards) don’t get the kind of viral attention Maynard got and continues to get after her death.

Please read the rest of this great parody here.

DREDF’s Marilyn Golden Speaks Out Against CA Assisted Suicide Bill Introduced Today

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An bill to legalize assisted suicide is being introduced in California today.  Fortunately, Marilyn Golden, Senior Policy Analyst for the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, is already working to ensure that the disability rights opposition to this bill is being heard.

The Los Angeles Times published an article in advance of the bill introduction, and included quotes and paraphrases from Marilyn:

And some disability rights advocates are vehemently opposed. Marilyn Golden, senior policy analyst with the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, warns that heirs and caregivers would have opportunities for abuse, and that legislative safeguards for people suffering from depression and other mental disorders are hollow.

Golden also told me the marriage of a profit-driven healthcare system and legalized aid in dying sets up dangerous possibilities. She warned of a scenario in which insurers might deny or delay life-sustaining treatments and a patient “is steered toward assisted suicide.”

The inclusion of Marilyn Golden and DREDF is important and obviously columnist Steven Lopez is well aware of the opposition of disability groups. Yet, two days ago, the LA Times Editorial board issued their support for legalization and failed to mention – or chose to omit – any reference to disability groups. This is what the editorial had to say about opponents of assisted suicide:  “The Roman Catholic Church and other groups will almost certainly have strong objections to such a law, but their moral codes should not be imposed on those with different beliefs.”  But Marilyn was clearly not talking about “moral codes” and “beliefs.”

The former  attorney for the bill’s proponents, Kathryn Tucker, was also quoted in the article, stating misleadingly that:

. . . there’s actually “strong support for expanding end-of-life choices” among many people with disabilities.

Neither she nor the reporter mention that all of the major national disability organizations that have taken a position on the issue oppose legalizing assisted suicide.  Her further comment is equally misleading or, more accurately, outright false.

“We now have a great abundance of data from Oregon and Washington that makes clear there is no harm to persons with disabilities when aid in dying is available,” Tucker said.

The Oregon data, limited though it is, shows serious harm to people with disabilities in at least two ways:

  • Every year, people who are not terminal, who outlive a terminal prognosis but are both seriously ill and (in virtually all cases) disabled, receive lethal prescriptions (the data conceals how many, but hospice data tells us that 15% of people outlive a 6-month terminal prognosis); and
  • The top five reasons that people request assisted suicide are related to disability, not being terminal, showing both that they are disabled and that their disability related concerns that could be addressed are not being addressed.

Two of those reasons are feelings of “loss of autonomy” and “being a burden” on family and loved ones.  Earlier today, I found myself explaining to a lobby group something very familiar to those of us who use consumer directed home care services, like myself.  The disability rights movement is in a decades long fight for these services, step by incremental step in state after state, led by ADAPT, and supported by federal policy initiatives and the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Olmstead.

But how many people know about these services and how to access them?  Assisted suicide laws don’t require any disclosure of these consumer directed home care options for addressing the reasons people want assisted suicide, much less requiring that these services are provided to those who need them.  That would be a form of suicide prevention that could really make a difference.  Instead, assisted suicide laws effectively say, who cares, just throw them under the bus.

There’s another key danger that Marilyn Golden obviously pointed to, based on the brief snippet the LA Times reporter included, saying that she “warns that heirs and caregivers would have opportunities for abuse.”  The Oregon assisted suicide law does not require an independent witness at the death.  Most who die under the Oregon law are age 65-84, in a society where one in ten elders are abused according to federal figures.  The abusers are usually family members.  About half the people reported to use assisted suicide in Oregon did not have a health provider present at the time of death.  With no independent witness required, there is no evidence that they self-administered the lethal drugs, or even that they consented at the time of death.

These policy proposals have to be considered in light of the sad reality that not all seriously ill people have loving family.  These laws grant blanket immunity and effectively foreclose investigation of wrongdoing.  As one elder law attorney, Margaret Dore, put it, they are a “recipe for abuse.”

NDY advocates will be working with DREDF and Californians Against Assisted Suicide to defeat this bill, and any similar bills that may be introduced in any state in the U.S.  As Marilyn so effectively summarizes, “If this bill passes, some people’s lives will be ended without their consent, through mistakes and abuse. No safeguards have ever been enacted or proposed that can prevent this outcome, which can never be undone.”

NDY Is Not Working in Coalition with the Family Research Council – And Here’s Why

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On January 12, last Monday, the Executive Director of the National Council on Independent Living emailed me that he would not be able to attend a gathering of a new coalition to oppose assisted suicide bills to be held on Jan. 21st at the offices of the Family Research Council.  The announcement said that disability advocates were involved, so naturally he figured that included Not Dead Yet.  It was complete news to me and I did not receive an invitation. But later that day, I learned that Second Thoughts Director John Kelly, who is also NDY’s New England Regional Director in Boston, received one, as did Marilyn Golden of the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund in California.

John, Marilyn and I do work in coalition with other groups on the assisted suicide issue, mainly by participating in conference calls to share useful information with groups that we tend to disagree with on other issues.  I’m stating that mildly.  We’ve had a lot of practice, them and us, leaving our disagreements at the door.  We agree that legalizing assisted suicide is extremely dangerous public policy for old, ill and disabled people, including the general public in ways people often don’t recognize.

But this invitation from the Family Research Council (FRC) is different.  There was no advance contact with the most active disability groups on the issue.  In contrast, new coalitions were already forming in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Colorado, but those groups came together through careful outreach, preparation and mutually agreed ground rules.  Face to face meetings, if any, should be held in a neutral setting such as a hotel.  None of this happened with FRC, yet our disability rights colleagues who received this invitation would have no way of knowing that.

DREDF and NDY decided that we needed to communicate our concerns to those we knew who had received an invitation:

We have heard from a few folks in the disability community who have received the invitation below from the Family Research Council (FRC).  FRC did not engage in any preliminary planning with NDY or DREDF, nor even notify us of this effort.  Sending the message from FRC and holding the proposed meeting at FRC’s offices indicates a serious failure to recognize how it undermines the real coalitions that already exist or are forming, and threatens to paint opposition to assisted suicide laws as connected with the other policy positions that FRC is known for.  We hope that disability advocates will not RSVP and will instead put energy into the genuine broad-based coalitions that are working to oppose assisted suicide bills in the states where they are being introduced. We would be glad to help you connect with them.

I received a grateful response from the head of a national disability rights organization, stating that FRC was “a bridge too far” for them.  Then on Friday evening, Jan. 16, I received a forward and query from that same leader, asking if John Kelly was speaking at this gathering?  John was listed in the agenda that had been sent out that evening to invitees:

2:10-2:30         Disability Rights and the Case Against Assisted Suicide- John Kelly (TBD-Skype) (Second Thoughts MA and New England Regional Director, Not Dead Yet)

An asterisk appeared beside the names of seven confirmed speakers, and there was no asterisk by John’s name or one other listed speaker.   Later Friday evening, John received a call from one of the confirmed speakers, inviting him to speak at the gathering via Skype.  Needless to say, John declined, and notified the individual who sent the invitations to remove his name from the agenda and send out the correction.

FRC’s behavior is a good example of bad coalition work.  It’s so bad on so many levels that I felt the need to share this information publicly with other disability rights advocates who may have received an invitation from FRC.  I also want to be clear with other groups that oppose legalization of assisted suicide that perhaps the best way to initiate communication and coordination with the disability rights community to help form a coalition in your state is to contact NDY or DREDF and let us help initiate those connections.

BTW, one reason that I’m particularly concerned about FRC’s approach is the false message that Compassion and Choices (C&C) is giving the media about their opposition.  It’s been a few years since reporters have seriously questioned the existence of disability rights opposition to legalizing assisted suicide.  Every major national disability group that has taken a position on assisted suicide opposes these laws due to the dangers of mistake, coercion and abuse.  But C&C is out there claiming that their only real opposition comes from the religious right, and promoting opinion pieces from two disabled individuals who agree with them.  One reporter even pressed upon one of NDY’s LGBT Board members that she must be a closet conservative.  Enough already.

Disability organizations, like policy makers, have a duty to consider the risks that proposed laws pose to everyone, not just a few.  Collectively, disability rights advocates have first hand experience with medical mistakes, medical devaluation of our lives, daily violation of our existing legal rights, social stigma and oppression, crushing financial pressures, and abuse at two to four times the rate of non-disabled peers.  All of these mean that we cannot sit by silently while assisted suicide bills are falsely marketed as a progressive social cause.  We’re willing to work with medical, palliative care, hospice, religious and pro-life organizations in broad coalition to defeat these bills, but coalition presumes equity, good faith and an ability for all members to keep their eyes on the prize.  Sadly, we don’t see that in FRC.

 

Media Advisory: Disability Advocates Prepared To Oppose Flurry of State Assisted Suicide Bills Being Introduced in 2015

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[Editor’s Note:  For the PRWeb version of this media advisory in pdf format, with a photo of Marilyn Golden and pull out quote, please go here.]

Summary:  Disability rights advocates are preparing to work in broad coalition with medical and other groups that oppose legalization of assisted suicide, as proponents announce plans to introduce bills in several states in the wake of Brittany Maynard’s tragic death.  Representatives of Not Dead Yet, the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund and Second Thoughts are available for interviews.

Brittany Maynard’s personal story has ignited the debate around assisted suicide legalization.  Most recently, Maynard’s husband appeared in an interview alongside the president of Compassion & Choices, formerly the Hemlock Society, to push legalization.

Disability advocates are deeply sympathetic to all people with a terminal illness, facing the difficulties that lie ahead.  Legalization of assisted suicide can look acceptable and safe when the focus is solely on one individual. However, a closer examination of the issue reveals the immense harm legalization poses to vulnerable people, the elderly and society as a whole.

“If these bills pass, some people’s lives will be ended without their consent, through mistakes and abuse,” said Marilyn Golden, senior policy analyst with the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund. “No safeguards have ever been enacted or proposed that can prevent this outcome, which can never be undone.”

Assisted suicide legislation was defeated last year in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts by a broad coalition of disability rights organizations, medical associations and professionals, palliative care specialists, hospice workers and right to life groups.  Similar coalitions are forming in many states in 2015 to oppose assisted suicide bills.

The following individuals are disability rights advocates who are experts and active on the issue of assisted suicide and able to speak on the record.

Marilyn Golden
Senior Policy Analyst
Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF)
Berkeley, CA
(510) 703-0696

John B. Kelly
Director
Second Thoughts
Boston, MA
(617) 536-5140

Diane Coleman
President/CEO
Not Dead Yet
Rochester, NY
(708) 420-0539

For more information, see “Who’s Really Hurt by Assisted Suicide?”  CNN, November 4, 2014.

UK House of Lords Debating “Assisted Dying” Bill on January 16th – Join the “Thunderclap” to Voice Your Opposition

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On January 16th, the House of Lords in the UK will be debating Lord Falconer’s “Assisted Dying” bill yet again. (We all know that the term “assisted dying” is crock; and is only being pushed by advocates of assisted suicide because the public reacts more favorably to the term than anything using the word “suicide.”) Members of Not Dead Yet UK are organizing a protest outside while the debate ensues. Here’s the message from NDY UK about the protest:

Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill is debated in the House of Lords for the 2nd time on Friday 16th of January 2015. Led by members of Not Dead yet UK, disabled people will be protesting outside the House of Lords. They will be bearing images of 80 disabled individuals who are unable to travel to Central London and sit for any length of time in the cold, but whose opinions should be heard and valued equally with those of celebrities who support the opposing view. Each image will carry a message from that individual summing up their fears about the legalisation of Assisted Dying.

Disabled people are opposed to any change in the law on Assisted Suicide because they fear it will put their lives at risk. They do not accept that the safeguards proposed in the Bill are adequate.

Not Dead Yet UK believes that when people ask to be assisted to die, this is often in isolation and before everything possible has been done to alleviate their situation in terms of medical, social and emotional support. Fears for the future are the most common reasons for a person to request assisted suicide.

Not Dead Yet UK firmly believes that terminally ill and disabled people need the full protection of the law, especially at times when they, their families and friends may be fearful of the future. That is why we oppose the Assisted Dying Bill.

Obviously, there are many people with disabilities who support the protest but can’t make it there themselves.  NDY UK is requesting that as many as people sign up for a “Thunderclap” to help spread the message of our (disability activists) opposition to the legalization of assisted suicide – no matter what you call it.

Just click on this link.

Thunderclap allows easy enrollment for this one and only action – allowing you to customize a message opposing this legislation, as well as participate for as long as you wish. A message will be sent out over twitter, facebook or tumblr on the day of the action (Jan 16) – it’s up to you which platform(s) you want to use to participate.

Here’s a little info about Thunderclap:

Social media is an easy way to say something, but it’s a difficult way to be heard. Thunderclap is the first-ever crowdspeaking platform that helps people be heard by saying something together. It allows a single message to be mass-shared, flash mob-style, so it rises above the noise of your social networks. By boosting the signal at the same time, Thunderclap helps a single person create action and change like never before.

That’s it – please join in this Thunderclap and help our brothers and sisters in the UK voice our opposition and resistance to “better dead than disabled” legislation.