“Celebrate Life” Blasts Two Opponents of Assisted Suicide

advocacy, american life league, assisted suicide, ira byock, Our News & Commentary Blog, reality check

Celebrate Life is the magazine of the American Life League. I think this is the first time this blog has linked to anything from the publication.  The magazine has just published a short article by John Mallon that has been emailed to me from three different sources – all of them apparently thinking it’s a great article.

It isn’t.  It contains smears of two medical professionals who have been two of the most consistent and reliable opponents of legalized assisted suicide that NDY has ever worked with.

Mallon’s article, “Palliative Care: The new stealth Euthanasia,” (pdf) is a superficial patchwork of  cherry-picked factoids and mischaracterizations – with the result being a polemic piece masquerading as research.

By pairing individuals who are committed to better care for dying and seriously ill people with advocates of assisted suicide, he works to eliminate any distinctions between these.  Judging from my mailbox, he has apparently been successful with some people in that goal.

His first target in this regard is Dr. Kathleen Foley, who was director of the Soros-funded Project on Death in America.  Mallon admits Foley opposes assisted suicide, but then dismisses that opposition since it’s not (according to Mallon) based in the belief that “it is inherently wrong.”  As evidence, he quotes Foley’s 2005 testimony before the British House of Lords.  In a nutshell, Foley recounts a list of the failures of the medical system and the growing economic pressures on medical providers who want to provide decent care.  She says that after the decades it might take to fix the problems in the current medical system, it might be appropriate to examine assisted suicide at that point.

Mallon obviously doesn’t like the argument.  But people who won’t care about Mallon’s beliefs listen to Foley.  This wasn’t a one-shot deal for Foley, either.

Dr. Foley co-edited the 2002 book The case against assisted suicide: For the right to end-of-life care, which included a chapter written by NDY founder and president Diane Coleman.   Dr. Foley has also aided coalitions working to oppose legalization of assisted suicide in several states, including Hawaii and California.

Mallon also takes aim at another medical ally in the fight against assisted suicide.  That target is Dr. Ira Byock, the Director of the Palliative Care Program at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

In the interest of full disclosure, I first met Ira Byock in 1997 at a small group meeting of medical and disability advocates opposed to legalized assisted suicide.  Since sometime around 2000 or so, we’ve corresponded several times a year.  At the times we find ourselves at the same event, we have always found time to talk – and generally have a lot to talk about.  I have come to respect Ira more and more over the years for his commitment to principles and his willingness to engage people who disagree with him.  And he’s willing to take flak for taking stands that might not be popular with others in his profession, or people who are generally more in sync politically.

More than that, everything I know about Ira Byock supports the belief that his entire career has been devoted to better patient care – most of it at people’s bedsides.  If I – or someone close to me – was seriously ill, I would love for him to be in charge of the care for me or a loved one.

BTW, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t points of disagreement between NDY and both Ira and Foley.  There are, and they are both people who are open to discussion on those points.

Mallon describes Ira as “nominally opposed to assisted suicide” and puts it in the past tense.  I don’t know if Mallon was being sloppy or deliberately dishonest, but Ira Byock has been consistent in his opposition to legalization of assisted suicide.  In fact, he submitted written testimony in February of this year to the New Hampshire legislature when a bill was being considered, which can be read here.

Ira’s intended audience was the more liberal members of the legislature.  It’s a pretty good bet that most of them don’t bother to pay much attention to submissions from representatives of Conservative pro-life groups.

So what is the “reward” for medical professionals like Ira Byock and Kathleen Foley.  Well, their stances and their actions in opposing assisted suicide don’t win them any friends among “liberals” who support euthanasia and assisted suicide.  And they get to enjoy attacks from the right-wing for not being opposed for the right reasons or not meeting some sort of ideological criteria.

The reality we live in is one in which fewer of our allies in the medical field are willing to be vocal.  And with the animosity resistance to legalized assisted suicide can generate from some on the left, coupled with crap like this from the right, we can’t exactly expect to see any more medical people want to step out and speak in opposition, with their consciences alone motivating them to do so.

We need people like Ira Byock and Kathleen Foley.  They are crucial to efforts to defeat the advocacy of assisted suicide organizations.

If you want to win, you do your best to invite allies in.  You don’t chase them away.

Maybe John Mallon and the American Life League don’t care if we win or not.  –Stephen Drake

Final Exit Network in the News – Reframing Themselves and Erasing the Past

Arizona, assisted suicide, final exit network, homicide, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, reality check

(Note – please read to the end. The main point of this story is that the Final Exit Network seems to have taken some pains to eliminate traces of a November ’08 press release that might interfere with current efforts to improve their public image. –Stephen)

Unfortunately, there’s been a small rash of elderly men killing – or attempting to kill – their ill wives in the past couple weeks.  One, in Tucson, Arizona, involves a middle-aged man who allegedly killed his wife, who has been struggling with Huntington’s disease – a progressive neurological condition that affects the motor and cognitive abilities.

From the latest story in the Arizona Daily Star:

A Tucson man who told police he killed his wife because she was terminally ill likely did so because he felt he could no longer care for her and had no other options, members of a local support group say.
Sanford Garfinkel, 51, is in the Pima County Jail, booked on suspicion of first-degree murder in the death of 56-year-old Mary Garfinkel, his wife of 19 years.
This isn’t the first time the Arizona Daily Star has covered the issue of assisted suicide – and it isn’t the first time they’ve featured the Final Exit Network either.
Unsurprisingly, the portrayal of the Final Exit Network and its agenda is misrepresented in the interview included in this recent press coverage:
Without a law allowing assisted suicide, groups such as Final Exit Network have stepped in to provide access to volunteers who give what they say is “guidance, education and support” to people who intend to take their own lives, said Robert Rivas, an attorney for the New Jersey-based nonprofit organization.
“Final Exit Network would rather never do what they do,” Rivas said. “If assisted-suicide laws were in existence in every state we’d be happy to completely be phased out.”
What assisted laws would those be, I wondered.  As we’ve mentioned before here, the organization issued a press release in November 2008 that stated the assisted suicide laws in Oregon and Washington didn’t go “far enough” and they would be assisting “suffering” people everywhere until there were more expansive laws.
Yesterday, I did what I did in previous instances of this kind of misleading spin – went to the Final Exit Network website to access the press release issued in November 2008.
It’s not there anymore.  The site has been revised and for whatever reason (use your imagination) it has been removed.
Next, I went to The Internet Archive, which accesses the files on websites across the net and archives them.  The site contains the files and material from websites that don’t even exist any more.  The site is that extensive and that good.
(The paragraph below has been corrected to report the appropriate cut-off of archiving of the FEN website)

The press release isn’t there, either.  In fact, the last archive of site files occurred in August 2008.  That is very unusual – I won’t even hazard a guess as to why there aren’t archives for the site from that point on.  That means, of course, that the November ’08 press release isn’t there at all.
Luckily, though, I printed out several copies of the press release some months ago.  In case there is any lingering confusion in anyone’s mind, it is the clear statement by the Final Exit Network that the types of assisted suicide laws in Oregon and Washington State don’t go “far enough” and that they’ll keep facilitating suicides for people until the laws become expansive enough to satisfy them.
Since it’s a pdf of a scanned document, it won’t be accessible to people with vision-related disabilities.  In the interest of full accessibility, the full text of the press release is included below (minus contact info):

FINAL EXIT NETWORK
Contacts:
Ted Goodwin, President                                                 Marietta, GA
Jerry Dincin, PhD, Vice President
News For Immediate Release
Washington State Passes I-1000!
November 5, 2008
Olympia, WA
Although the supporters of Initiative I-1000 are delighted that Washington becomes the second state to pass a “Death with Dignity Act”, there is much more work to be done.
Ted Goodwin, President of Final Exit Network, said, “We congratulate all those who worked so hard to achieve this important right for Washington’s citizens, and we applaud the citizens of Washington State for making the right choice.  “Final Exit Network and its members supported passage of this landmark initiative by donating to the advocacy effort spearheaded by Washington Death with Dignity and former Governor Booth Gardner.  However, the job is not finished”.
Although, like Oregon’s “Death with Dignity Act,” I-1000 gives doctors the authority to prescribe a lethal dose of medications to terminally ill individuals under strict controls, it condemns to continued suffering as many as 40% of those who desperately want to end their life because of intolerable suffering but cannot under the law because their illness is not diagnosed as “terminal”.
“Unfortunately, “ said Goodwin, “many patients do not meet I-1000’s strict criteria.  Individuals with neurological illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and Alzheimer’s disease often lose the reason and will to live long before their disease qualifies as ‘terminal’.”  Goodwin adds, “For these individuals, neither I-1000 nor the Oregon law go far enough.  “That is why Final Exit Network pledges, until laws protect the right of every adult to a peaceful, dignified death, Final Exit Network will be there to support those who need relief from their suffering today!”
“The Network’s Exit Guide Program is available nationwide,” Goodwin said.  “With the Network’s compassionate guidance and support, physically and emotionally competent adults in all fifty states are free to exercise their last human right – the right to a peaceful, dignified death.  “Final Exit Network is the only organization in the United States that will support individuals who are not “terminally ill” – 6 months or less to live – to hasten their deaths.  No other organization in the US makes this commitment,” said Goodwin.
Final Exit Network is a four-year-old volunteer-run nonprofit that is committed to serve many move other organizations turn away!  More information is available from (contact information omitted).
*** 

Please feel free to share this.  And if anyone from the Final Exit Network is reading this:

If you’re proud of what you’ve done and what you stand for, why do you have to hide documents like this and lie about what your real goals are?  –Stephen Drake

UK: Disability Coalition Blasts Plan to Relax Prosecution of Suicide “Assistance”

assisted suicide, jane campbell, Our News & Commentary Blog, policy, United Kingdom

From The Telegraph:

In a submission to a consultation on relaxing the rules on assisted suicide – which ends today – a coaliton of five disabled groups, said that “to see suicide as the right solution is to abandon hope. Severely ill and terminally ill people do no deserve society to give up on them.”

The group, which is lead by Baroness Campbell, accused others who were pushing for the change as “seeking to change the law by the back door by creating the impression that those who assist in a suicide will be immune from prosecution”.

(Note on article – the headline is misleading, making the claim that the “disabled should not be able to kill themselves.”  The actual statement is about the actions of family members and friends who facilitate and encourage the suicides of people with disabilities.  People who are intent on killing themselves will find a way to do so.  Many thousands do so each year – in the US alone.)

Hopefully, the submission document will be available in the near future – either as a document that can be posted here or linked to wherever site it is posted to.  –Stephen Drake

Hawaii – Robert Yagi Dead, and Assisted Suicide Advocates Continue to Exploit the Tragedy

"end of life", assisted suicide, final exit network, hawaii, Homicide / 'Mercy Killing', media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, suicide

While no one could have predicted Robert Yagi’s suicide, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise.  Yagi was the 71-year-old-man charged with attempting to kill his wife with a flare gun loaded with a shotgun shell.  According to police, he planned to kill himself after killing her.  Friday’s blog entry described how that half-baked plan resulted in his wife – who was in the hospital – receiving only minor injuries.  The “plan” (or whatever you want to call this rather bizarre and frantic attempt) also resulted in Yagi’s arrest on attempted second-degree murder charges.

The Honolulu Advertiser reports:

Robert Yagi, the 71-year-old man charged with second-degree attempted murder after allegedly shooting his wife in her hospital bed, has died, the city Medical Examiner’s office confirmed this morning.

 The Associated Press says that Yagi “apparently committed suicide by hanging.”

Yagi was released last week on $50,000 bail.  The police believed that he originally planned to kill himself.  The hospital, naturally, banned Yagi from the hospital.  Didn’t any of the professionals – legal or medical – involved with the Yagis see this as a possibility?  Did Robert Yagi seem calm, reasonable and rational?

I think it’s important to ask questions about how professionals handled Robert Yagi in light of the continued efforts of assisted suicide/euthanasia advocates to exploit this case.  Shortly before the news of Yagi’s suspected suicide became public, the Honolulu Advertiser published an article which focused on a debate in which some individuals see this case as highlighting a need for more services and support for families facing serious illness.

On the other side of the debate are advocates of legalized assisted suicide and the major spokesperson is an interesting choice in regard to a discussion about “end of life” issues:

Andi van der Voort, board member of the national Final Exit Network and a longtime local advocate of physician-assisted suicide, said Yagi may not have resorted to violence if his wife had the option of taking a prescribed lethal dose of medication.

“If you are terminally ill and you want to terminate your life, I think it’s awful that someone has to shoot you,” she said.

Van der Voort added that she isn’t hopeful a physician-assisted suicide bill will be passed in Hawai’i anytime soon.

Readers of this blog should recognize the name of the Final Exit Network.  It is an organization that believes in encouraging and supporting the suicides of any old, ill or disabled person.

Van der Voort, if I recall correctly, used to blast anyone who accused the pro-assisted suicide advocates in Hawaii of having a broader agenda than allowing assisted suicide for “terminally ill” people.  But that was a few years ago when she was wearing a different organizational hat.  Good to have her affiliation clearly identified now.

I’m really stumped as to how some kind of “right to die” law would be relevant here.  There is no evidence that Yagi’s wife wanted to be killed or to kill herself.  If she didn’t initiate a discussion with her doctor about committing suicide, then how would it come up?  Do van der Voort and others want a law in which doctors themselves bring up the issue of suicide?

Or maybe they’re thinking of a protective element in an assisted suicide statute – requiring doctors to interview patients privately to ask if the person is requesting suicide help is doing it because his or her partner is the one who wants it to be over.  Seriously, I doubt that’s it.  Van der Voort et al are just piling on to see what they can get out of it.

I doubt they want the public to really think what legalization would mean.  It would mean that we’d be counting on the same professionals that failed the Yagis to somehow make sure that patients were protected in a system that now includes lethal medications.

The system – and the professionals within it – failed the Yagis.  I fail to understand how the system and the professionals will suddenly become competent by passage of an assisted suicide bill.  –Stephen Drake

More Men in the News – Killing Ailing Wives and Calling it “Mercy”

hawaii, Homicide / 'Mercy Killing', media coverage, murder, Our News & Commentary Blog, reality check

Here are a few recent killings that have made news around the country –

New Rochelle man charged with murder in ‘mercy killing’ (NY):

Paul Weinstein told police that an argument with his wife ”set him off“ and that he shot her dead in their New Rochelle home after he failed to suffocate her with a pillow.

Later in the article, he says his wife was “losing it” and that he’d promised to help her kill herself rather than put her in a nursing home or other facility.  He has no proof of that, though.

Police cite claim of mercy killing (AZ):

A 56-year-old woman was killed by her husband early Thursday in what police say was intended to be a murder-suicide.
Police received a 911 call at 4:43 a.m. from a 51-year-old man who said he had just killed his wife and then had taken pills in an attempt to take his own life, said Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.

While the article is unclear, it appears that he shot his wife and attempted to kill himself through a drug overdose, but called 911 when he apparently changed his mind about killing himself.

Man accused in shooting described as caring (HI)

(Happily, this is a case in which the murder attempt did not succeed)

Seventy-one-year-old Robert Yagi had tended daily to his terminally ill wife’s needs and kept her company since she was hospitalized in October.

Now he faces a charge of attempted murder after allegedly firing a plastic flare gun at her Tuesday night.

A police affidavit filed with the court to support the charge says Yagi “may have tried to end his life at the same time using another loaded orange flare gun” loaded with 12-gauge buckshot.

His wife, Leatrice, suffered only minor injuries when she was shot as she lay in her hospital bed at Castle Medical Center.

This is fairly typical of the cases of successful or attempted murder/suicides seen in elderly people.  The perpetrators are men.  The women have have significant health issues.  There is no evidence that the wives in question wanted to die.

Nevertheless, that didn’t stop a spokesperson for the Hawaii Death with Dignity Society from attempting to exploit this last case of domestic violence to promote his own organization’s agenda:

Scott Foster, spokesman for the Hawaii Death with Dignity Society, believes Yagi was trying to end his wife’s suffering.

“When I saw it (on the news), I knew exactly what I was hearing,” he said. “We hear it all the time all over the world, rich people, poor people, people in pain, people suffering.”
He said Hawaii came close in 2002 to passing a law to allow assisted suicide. The so-called Death with Dignity bill died when three state senators changed their votes at the last minute following intense lobbying by opponents.

 So how, exactly does this relate to any legalization of assisted suicide?   There is no indication that Yagi’s wife wanted or wants to be killed.  Or does Mr. Foster believe there should be some sort of law allowing caregivers to order the euthanasia of their spouse or child?

In fact, Foster is just doing what many representatives of pro-euthanasia groups have been doing for years – exploiting cases of domestic violence in which the victim is an elderly, disabled, ill woman by framing them as acts of compassion.

For more information on the research on these types of domestic violence, please read this previous blog entry, in which the research of Professor Donna Cohen is discussed.  Interestingly, she gave a presentation at a Compassion and Choices Symposium in October.  I cannot think of any excuse for the continued exploitation of these tragedies by assisted suicide/euthanasia advocates after that.  –Stephen Drake