Viewing Not Dead Yet – and Other Blogs – on Facebook

blog recommendations, dick sobsey, facebook, icad, Our News & Commentary Blog

Confession: the instructions below have been only slightly modified from an original set of instructions written by Dick Sobsey at the ICAD blog. I’ve already suggested that people who check this blog regularly should bookmark the ICAD blog. Similarly, substitute “ICAD” for “Not Dead Yet” in the instructions below and you can view ICAD easily on Facebook.

Ripped off and slightly edited instructions below:

Facebook users may want to follow Not Dead Yet and any other blogs of interest through the Facebook NetworkedBlogs application. It is an easy and efficient way to keep up with the various blogs you follow. If you are interested and use Facebook here is how to get started (If you are interested but don’t use Facebook, you will need to register for Facebook first). Just follow the six easy (honest!) steps below:

1.Click here on NetworkedBlogs. The application page will open in a new browser window. (You may be asked to sign in to facebook if you are not already signed in or haven’t enabled automatic sign in).

2. On the NewtworkedBlogs page, click on “Go To Application,” which is near the top right-hand corner.

3. You will probably asked for permission for the application to access your profile. You need to tell the application that this is okay.

4. You will now see a page with lots and lots of blogs on it that you can add to the blogs you want to follow. You simply click on “add this” to add any blog to your list.

5. In the search box below the blue facebook bar at the top and directly to the right of NetworkedBlogs logo, type Not Dead Yet and click the Go button. (hint: if you put a space after “Not Dead Yet” or type in Not Dead Yet News, it will help eliminate some false hits and insure that the NDY blog is the first choice).

6. The Not Dead Yet News & Commentary blog will come up at or near the top of the list. Simply click on follow. In a second or two, the word follow will change to following and you are signed up.

==============

There are three more optional things that you may want to do. You can do any or all of them now, or you can decide whether to do them later on.

First, at the very bottom of the page, you can click on bookmark NetworkedBlogs. This will add a small circular symbol in your bookmarks at the bottom of the page that you can use to take you to your blogs instantly anytime that you are using facebook.

Second, find and add any other blogs that you would like to follow on facebook and add them to your blog list.

Third, You can add a blogs tab on your profile page, if you wish. Just go to your Facebook Profile Page. Under your name, you will see tabs for Wall, Info, and any others you’ve added. The final tab on the right is a + sign. Simply click on it. to reveal a menu and click on Blogs under teh menu to add a blogs tab to the page. This is another way of making your blogs quickly accessible through facebook.

Arizona Daily Star Allows Final Exit Network Activist Free Rein in Terms of “Spin” and Outright Lies

assisted suicide, final exit network, media issues, Our News & Commentary Blog, reality check

The Arizona Daily Star may just win the “lowest editorial standards of the year” for this year. I hope so, anyway. I’d hate to see what it would take to beat the combination of unconcern for factual accuracy and the apparent ignorance of criminal investigations in their own state. That is the only way to explain the free hand they gave to Earl Wettstein, former president of the Final Exit Network, in spinning and outright lying about his organization and its activities.

On March 19th, the AZ Daily Star published Wettstein’s essay “Final Exit Network helps people die with their dignity intact.”

In the course of the op-ed, Wettstein engages in the following outright lies:

  • Describes John Celmer (Georgia “client”) was terminally ill.
  • States that the people they “help” are “terminally ill from an incurable disease.”
  • States that Celmer would have been able to get assisted suicide legally if he lived in Oregon.

In fact, John Celmer was found to be free of cancer, according to the coroner’s autopsy report. John Celmer was not “terminally ill” by any recognized definition of the term.

All of this means, of course, that John Celmer would not – in theory – have qualified for getting physician “assistance” in Oregon. Unless Wettstein knows something about doctors breaking or bending the laws there that the authorities don’t, that is.

But I have no doubt Wettstein knows this is false (that’s a polite way of saying he’s lying). As mentioned in yesterday’s blog entry, FEN issued a press release last year that stated the laws in Oregon and Washington didn’t go far enough and that FEN would “help” those who weren’t eligible for legal “assistance” in those states.

The Arizona Daily Star should have known the “terminally ill” claim was a load of crap if they followed the news in their own state. Considering they are supposed to cover the news Arizona, that would seem to be a minimum standard.

See, Wettstein carefully avoided mentioning the death of Jana van Voorhis, who committed suicide with the assistance of FEN members in 2007. Voorhis had minor physical ailments, but had struggled for years with emotional and psychiatric issues. Her death has been under investigation since August 2007, and that investigation is now part of the multi-state effort to examine FEN and its activities.

But the Arizona Daily Star never covered the story – I guess that, as far as they’re concerned, if its news from another paper, it doesn’t exist.

The involvement of FEN members is not in dispute. Two members admitted to being present at the time. More recently, Ted Goodwin admitted they were a little sloppy back then, but (trust him!), they are much better now:

Goodwin says the vetting process was tightened in 2007, after questions about Van Voorhis’ death.

Goodwin defended the group’s involvement, saying Van Voorhis suffered from other illnesses, but people who sought help after her were asked to detail their complete mental history.

Obviously, op-eds are submitted to looser editorial standards than basic news stories, but there is a difference between “loose” and “nonexistent.” The editorial staff at the AZ Daily Star found that line and crossed it with ease. –Stephen Drake

Timothy Quill on the Final Exit Network – Is He Lying Deliberately or Just Incompetent?

assisted suicide, final exit network, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, reality check, Timothy Quill

It’s been dizzying trying to keep up with the onslaught of one-sided, sloppy, careless, misleading coverage of the Final Exit Network. It gets hard to know what to pick and where to begin.

Today, though, one article jumped out through the pile of slush masquerading as journalism. It isn’t the worst example of coverage, but it contains what is possibly the most blatantly false claim about the Final Exit Network (FEN) “activities” and how the laws in Oregon and Washington State affect those activities.

“Doctor faces assisted-suicide charge in Georgia” by Kevin B. O’Reilly shares several flaws common in much of the coverage of FEN. First, his information on the state of assisted suicide legislation isn’t current. Contrary to the information in the article, the bills in New Hampshire and Hawaii are dead for this year.

Second, he allows the FEN members to describe, unchallenged, what “assistance” consists of when they serve as “exit guides”:

Dr. Egbert, a retired Baltimore anesthesiologist, would not speak about the Georgia case. But he said the network advises its members on how to die peacefully using a helium gas tank and a plastic hood, both of which are easily accessible to nonphysicians. Volunteers, called “exit guides,” are present, but Dr. Egbert said the people seeking death must initiate the death procedure and can change their minds at any time.

There is no mention in O’Reilly’s article about the allegations made by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that the “assistance” of FEN “exit guides” goes alarmingly beyond what Egbert claims. In fact, the undercover agent has alleged that he was told, while posing as a potential ‘client,’ that part of the “assistance” would entail having the “exit guide” hold his hands down to prevent him from tearing off the bag (which would be filled with helium). This allegation means that even if a person changed their mind, they would still end up dead.

But the real “prize” in this article isn’t something that Kevin O’Reilly wrote, but what assisted suicide advocate Timothy Quill had to say:

The Georgia investigation is “good for the [aid-in-dying] movement, in a strange way, because it’s symptomatic of how desperate people are, and we just have to say there’s got to be a better way to deal with these cases,” said Timothy E. Quill, MD, director of the University of Rochester Medical Center’s palliative care program in New York. “Where don’t you need the Final Exit Network? Oregon and Washington, because they have a forthright system.” (emphasis added.)

That’s a ludicrous statement. But don’t take my word for it. The Final Exit Network issued a press release on Nov. 5, 2008 celebrating the passage of legalized assisted suicide in Washington State. But the press release carried a strong caveat (note – per our standing policy, we will not link to the FEN website. We have ethical concerns about suicidal people finding information and “support” to kill themselves so easily. A concern that is obviously not shared by the editors of AMNews – a publication of the American Medical Association, since they do provide a link for readers.)

From the Final Exit Network press release:

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 mentally 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.

As the November press release by FEN makes clear, they are not satisfied at all with the limits – such as they are – in the legislation in Oregon and Washington State. They made it clear – in November – that passage of the law in Washington wouldn’t deter them from being active there and they strongly imply they have been active in Oregon.

This makes Tim Quill’s statement pure BS. There are only two possible explanations for the blatant misrepresentation of facts. Quill, a respected leader in the “right to die” movement, doesn’t bother to keep track of what different organizations such as FEN are doing and advocating. If that’s true, it certainly calls his “expertise” into question.

The other explanation is that he’s deliberately misleading the public by misstating the facts. That doesn’t speak well of him either.

So – we’re left with two possibilities to explain the statements by Timothy Quill. He’s either sloppy and/or incompetent – or he’s a liar.

I know which explanation I lean toward, since several fellow board members of his on the Death with Dignity National Center board of directors have a rich history in advocating expansive “eligibility” criteria for suicide assistance very similar to FEN’s. I’ll write about that another time. –Stephen Drake

Georgia NDY/Disability Activist on Fox5 Coverage in Atlanta – Final Exit Network

advocacy, assisted suicide, final exit network, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, suicide

Yesterday (March 18), Fox5 in Atlanta, GA aired a long (over 6 minutes) piece on the Final Exit Network on the 6:00 p.m. news. A similar piece, but edited to give more in-depth coverage of the FEN activists themselves, was aired at 11:00 p.m.

Although there are serious problems with the reporting overall, we’re happy to say that the NDY/disability rights perspective was well-represented by Rebecca Ramage-Tuttle. Rebecca is a long-time organizer/activist in both ADAPT and NDY. She is also the president and CEO of disABILITY LINK in Decatur, GA.

Below is a link to the page on Fox5 that carries the text version of the story. There are also video links on the page, along with a link to a poll asking “is assisted suicide unethical?” Please take the time to answer “yes.”

Fox 5 Special: Inside Final Exit Network

(Rebecca Ramage-Tuttle’s quotes highlighted in story text)

ATLANTA (MyFOX ATLANTA) – Some call assisted suicide an act of compassion, others call it criminal. Four members of the Georgia-based Final Exit Network were arrested in February for assisted suicide in the death of a Cumming cancer patient.

The Final Exit Network is a right to die advocacy group. The group’s president said members will only support certain people with incurable or intolerable conditions, but insisted it wasn’t assisted suicide.

At 26-years-old, one Chicago man suffers from an incurable neurological disorder known as Charcot Marie Tooth or CMT. Patients who suffer from the disorder slowly lose the use of their legs and feet. The patient’s nerves and muscles in the hands slowly degenerate causing fingers to contract permanently. CMT sufferers also undergo excruciating pain.

“Sometimes it’s a burning neurological pain like boiling hot water is running through my nerves,” Kurt, who asked that only his first name be used.

CMT is not fatal, but Kurt suffers from a rare form of the disease that causes severe respiratory problems which can make breathing feel more like suffocating.

Kurt said he didn’t want to grow old with the disease and that is why he made the decision to take his own life before CMT could leave him helpless and struggling to breathe.

In 2006, Kurt sought help from Final Exit Network and met retired geriatric scientist Rosalie Guttman. Guttman reviewed Kurt’s case and became his, what the organization called an exit guide.

“I tried to discourage him from ending his life anytime soon, because I perceived him to be, well, he’s young,” Guttman said.

Guttman said she told Kurt that medical advancements could help him in the future, but as his exit guide promised to be by his side when he chooses to end his life.

The Final Exit Network’s recommended method involves inhaling helium gas, while wearing a plastic hood called an exit mask.

“This is extremely quick, this is like 10 seconds and you’re unconscious,” said Dr. Jerry Dincin.

Dr. Dincin is a retired clinical psychologist and the president of the Final Exit Network.

“People who are in these extreme circumstances have the right, the human right, to end their lives when they feel they need to do it,” said Dr. Dincin.

The person who wishes to end their life is required by the organization to perform all of the tasks on their own, such has buying the helium, turning on the tank and applying the mask without assistance.

“After they repeatedly say to us, ‘I can’t stand living,’ we will be with them in their last moments. It’s only a compassionate act of love,” said Dr. Dincin.

Dr. Dincin said the Final Exit Network limits its services only to those with terminal, irreversible or intolerable health problems. The group’s president insisted exit guides only offered clients information and emotional support.

Dincin said what Guttman will one day offer Kurt is not assisted suicide.

“That’s all we want to do is be there with a person so they don’t die alone. Its swift, it’s painless, you do not feel asphyxiated,” Dr. Dincin said.

“How can putting a plastic bag over your head with no air not be a horrible way to die? I don’t buy it,” said Becky Rumage Tuttle.

Tuttle is a member of an advocacy group for people with disabilities, called Not Dead Yet.

Tuttle said groups like Final Exit Network do a disservice to disabled people who could benefit from therapy, medical advances or support groups.

“You’re not just standing back and saying, ‘I understand how you feel, it must be really tough right now,’ they’re saying, ‘Here’s a way out,'” said Tuttle.

Tuttle applauded the arrest of four Final Exit Network members in February on assisted suicide charges. The members are accused of helping 58-year-old John Celmer of Cumming take his own life in 2008.

“What options are they giving them if the sole purpose of their organization is to give the resources to end your life,” asked Tuttle.

“We ask them 10 times, we ask them 20 times, ‘Are you absolutely sure that you want to do this today ‘ and most of the time the people will say, ‘Shut up and let’s get to it,'” said Dr. Dincin.

Kurt said he wasn’t sure when he will end his life. The Chicago man said his mobility has gotten worse, which meant he may have to end his life before his respiratory troubles become intolerable. Kurt said the decision was his and his alone to make. Kurt also insisted his exit guide’s role has been clearly defined.

“To hold my hand, not to hold down my hand, but to hold my hand in comfort and support so that when I die, I don’t feel like I’m alone,” Kurt said.

Agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Final Exit Network members did much more than hold hands.

Legal documents from Celmer’s case allege group members helped write suicide notes before patients’ deaths and threw the helium tanks away after they died.

Final Exit Network members said they were only following wishes of the dying.

With a little trepidation (I’m not really good at this) here’s my attempt to provide a link to the video story, with filmed interview of Rebecca as the only voice opposed to FEN:

The Wreckage Suicide “Helpers” Leave Behind – A letter from a bereaved family member

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As I mentioned in my interview on Bax & O’Brien, there is no way in a free society to control information – and with rare obvious exceptions (think “how to make an atom bomb”), there shouldn’t be.

Most people are blissfully unaware, though, of just how many people out there are willing to provide the kind of pushes, prods and advice that will push someone who is considering suicide into someone who actually commits the act – and succeeds, thanks to that advice.

A little over a week ago, I was contacted by a woman whose sister committed suicide with the advice and encouragement of online “friends.” Part of her information and “encouragement” came from ASH – alt-suicide-holiday, a newsgroup that is notorious for urging suicidal people standing on a ledge to jump. She also bought her copy of “Final Exit” through the web – no doubt through Derek Humphry’s ERGO site or through the Final Exit Network.

It’s impossible to know just how many people she emailed or talked to – part of the detailed preparations she learned involved erasing all her emails and phone logs. All that was left were some references in a handwritten journal.

That’s enough intro. Below is a letter from Karen, which tells the story much better than I can. Anyone who is interested in talking to her can contact me for information on how to reach her. I won’t pass her contact info without her explicit permission and she’s understandably more comfortable with verifiable media inquiries. Hate mail is a reality for those who choose to engage in the public arena – and it’s an experience Karen would like to avoid. –Stephen Drake

On February 11, 2007, I was on my own at my new job for the first time. This should have been an exciting night for me. At about 7pm we had a flood emergency! If I thought that wasn’t exciting enough, at approximately 9pm I got a call from security! They asked me to come up to the emergency room. Working for a big hospital, I didn’t think anything of it. I guess I assumed they needed me for something. I was in for the shock of my life! There was a Lancaster Police Officer standing there. He introduced himself to me, and asked if my name was Karen (last name omitted). Right then and there I thought I was going to fall over! I asked if something happened to my daughter. I was shaking terribly. The officer asked me what my daughter’s name was. I told him “Bonnie (last name omitted)”. He shook his head “no”. My heart sank as I asked him if something happened to my little sister. Again, he asked her name. I replied “Lisa Bernstein”. He then changed my life forever by replying with a yes! He told me to sit down. I asked if my sister was alive. He said “no, she committed suicide in her apartment in Duchess County, New York! I’m so sorry Ms. (last name omitted)”! With that, a Pastor walked over to me. I don’t remember too much else from that night, except calling my older brother and sister to tell them.

Lisa was put up for adoption at birth, so I didn’t know her most of our lives. Growing up, I always dreamt about finding her, and how we would live happily ever after. We spent many years looking for her. We never dreamed we would find her, and lose her the way we did! My older sister, Beth, got a call on a Saturday. It was the day before Easter Sunday, 2003. We were finally going to meet our baby sister! My older brother, Richard, my older sister Beth, and myself, made plans for Lisa to take the bus from Queens, NY to Matawan, NJ. Beth and I picked her up at the bus station on Easter Sunday. I brought her a little purple bunny. Meeting her was the most fulfilling day of my life, other than the birth of my daughter! We spent two hours at Dunkin’ Donuts, chatting.. We also learned that Lisa had a sweet tooth! We then took her to Beth’s house to meet everyone else.

We all became close, fast! Lisa went through a rough time with depression throughout her life, and things were tough for her. After about 6 months, I convinced her to come to Pennsylvania, and live with me. I wanted to get her the best help I could, and I did! I found her doctors and therapists. She went on new medications. Some days were better than others. Lisa told me on more than one occasion that she was very fearful of death. That was the reason she was still here. She stayed in Pa for about two years, and then did what we all thought was the best thing for herself. In October of 2007, she got an apartment, in Duchess County, with her best friend that she grew up with. We were so happy for her, because she had said this was a great move for her. There were even some days she would tell me that the medications made her stop dwelling on death. She was feeling better! She even put in for a name change! She named herself after our deceased mother. Her name was Sandy. Our Aunt called her Sam, so Lisa decided to take the name “Sammi”. I called her “Sissy”..

After her death, I realized she moved in order to be away from her family, in order to plan her suicide! She got her guts up from a web site and book called “The Final Exit”! She also visited a site called “Ashers”. They all convinced her that she could take her life painlessly, and she did! The site told her verbatim, what to drink, what to eat, what meds to take, the position to sit in to avoid leaving a big mess, and finally, how to “hook” herself up to the tanks.

She was a brilliant girl, and followed those rules to the finest of detail! The Officer that found her said he had never seen such planning involved like this in his life! He said he spent hours with her, reading her journal aloud trying to make some kind of sense of it all! He couldn’t leave! He said it was so devastating to see her all hooked up to those tanks!

Her adoptive Aunt and I went to her apartment the following day. Her body was gone, but everything else was still there! The tanks, tubing, the plastic she covered her head with, the video rocker she sat in, empty TV dinner trays, Gatorade, duct tape, empty pill bottles, and so much more!

I remember the last time she called me. My friend answered the phone. I was lying down due to a bad headache. I didn’t come to the phone. Sissy said she would call back in a day or so, and to tell me she loved me. How I wish I came to the phone! Maybe I could have sensed something from her, but I didn’t! I know her death was not because I missed her call now. What I do know, is that these horrific animals told my baby sister that it was okay to die, and they would make it happen painlessly for her! Who the hell are they!? If they’re alive, how can they preach this!? Did they hook themselves up to tanks meant for blowing up birthday balloons! Did they turn on the tanks just long enough to feel like they were going to die!? I don’t get it! I’m so hurt and angry, I could spit fire! I know my sister was suffering from depression, but it wasn’t up to those animals to help her die! It was up to me and my family to do everything we could to help her heal, and live! They’re COWARDS, and they intentionally helped my sister die!

SHAME ON THEM!

Emotionally and grief stricken,

Karen (last name omitted)