Anita Cameron: Provide people with disabilities supports to live, not tools to die

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Provide people with disabilities supports to live, not tools to die (Guest Opinion by Anita Cameron)

Head and shoulders photo of Anita Cameron, an African American woman with long dreadlocks and brown sweater.
Anita Cameron

By Anita Cameron | Not Dead Yet

Anita Cameron, of Rochester, is director of minority outreach for Not Dead Yet, a national disability group headquartered in Rochester that opposes assisted suicide laws.

The New York state Legislature is expected to review A4321 and S6471, the latest in a succession of fundamentally flawed (and, to date, all defeated) assisted suicide bills this spring. This activity comes at a time when the culture hasn’t yet recognized most disabled people would prefer the means, resources and supports that make it easier for us to live — because of commonly accepted biases, prejudices and policies that, intentional or not, make it increasingly difficult for disabled people to do so.

The first warning sign: Assisted suicide has been used to cut costs everywhere it is legalized. In states where the controversial practice has become legal, like Oregon, there have been several documented instances where profit-motivated insurers have denied people access to life extending treatment while blithely offering to provide a lethal prescription instead. Only weeks after California passed its assisted suicide law, Stephanie Packer, a mother of four and a cancer patient, was denied her previously approved chemotherapy treatment, and told cheaper suicide pills were available instead. If assisted suicide is normalized, insurers and even patients may see it as an economic benefit.

The second warning sign: Disabled people, including seniors, experience abuse at the hands of family members and caregivers every day at rates significantly higher than the general population. An estimated one in 10 seniors already experiences elder abuse. One in two disabled women will be sexually abused. Why is this relevant to assisted suicide? Because assisted suicide makes it easier for heirs, family members and dubious caregivers to pressure a person with a disability to end their life, with no questions asked. And, worse yet, no consequences.

The third warning sign: Assisted suicide targets and devalues disability communities without ever mentioning us explicitly — essentially erasing those most at risk. It does so with the deadly combination of overly broad definitions and weak, unenforceable safeguards. In a 2019 report, the National Council on Disability, an independent nonpartisan federal agency that advises the president, Congress and other federal agencies on public policy decisions, detailed the extensive dangers of assisted suicide laws to disability communities and reported that “safeguards” in assisted suicide laws are “ineffective, and often fail to protect patients.”

The fourth warning sign: If proposed assisted suicide bills are signed into law, New York state legislators would, in effect, embrace a new category: legally protected abuse. If it ever becomes law, assisted suicide legislation intentionally puts lethal drugs into the hands of those who could easily misuse them and makes it easier to do so. Like child abuse, spousal abuse and hate crimes, elder abuse occurs when a class of people does not get equal protection, equal treatment and social supports to prevent harm. If New York passes assisted suicide legislation, it will unwittingly create a class of people who receive lethal medication and suicide instructions instead of suicide prevention interventions and social support to prevent harm.

The current bill, which like its predecessors, is based on Oregon’s flawed assisted suicide law, does not require attending clinicians to talk to the patient at least once without family present in assisted suicide cases. Further, New York’s bill does not and would not explicitly require documentation that such conversations even occurred. Both the Medical Society of the State of New York and the American Medical Association have historically opposed assisted suicide for this reason and others.

While rarely acknowledged by proponents, this much is certain — wherever assisted suicide is legal, it is inevitable that some people’s lives will be ended without their consent due to implicit bias, mistakes or coercion. No safeguards, existing or proposed, are adequate enough to prevent these abuses, and the lack of oversight only increases the danger to already at-risk individuals. As assisted suicide spreads and is normalized, the numbers of those at risk will grow to include other marginalized communities, such as people of color, due to racial disparities in healthcare, and poor people, who likely would have limited or no access to healthcare.

Caution was warranted when New York state first rejected assisted suicide in 1828, and is arguably more essential now due to increased risks no one could have imagined two centuries ago. Now, as was true then, New York’s policy priorities should be improving and expanding healthcare services that people with disabilities and all marginalized communities rely on to live, instead of normalizing assisted suicide and increasing already substantial perils to disabled, chronically ill, and older New Yorkers by lazily transforming documented dangerous practices into literally lethal laws.

Register for Webinar On Court Case Striking Assisted Suicide Residency Requirement

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NDY was pleased to have the opportunity to talk about recent assisted suicide court cases during a March 11thwebinar organized by the Patients Rights Action Fund. A recording of that webinar is available HERE.

One of the cases I talked about, Nicholas Gideonse, M.D. vs. Kate Brown, will be the subject of a new PRAF sponsored webinar that I plan to attend. I urge others to consider doing so as well.

The case was brought by a doctor to challenge the residency requirement of the Oregon assisted suicide law. Five years ago, End of Life Choices Oregon had referred a man with cancer to Dr. Nicholas Gideonse, a primary care and hospice doctor, who had already helped many patients use the Oregon law. Although the man lived in Washington state where assisted suicide is legal, he sought to use Oregon’s law.

Nicholas Gideonse, M.D. vs. Kate Brown (filed in Oct. 2021) argued that residency requirements for assisted suicide violate two sections of the U.S. Constitution, one barring state laws that limit the ability of a nonresident to access medical care and one prohibiting state laws that burden interstate commerce.

It’s not really clear whether, with more information and time, the court would have considered it relevant that the patient lived in a state where assisted suicide is legal like Washington or, in contrast, where it’s illegal, such as Idaho.

It’s also not really clear whether the court would have thought twice about the possibility of trains, planes, automobiles and telehealth opening assisted suicide to people living in every state. After all, that would basically get around the 1997 Supreme Court ruling that turned the assisted suicide issue back to the individual states to decide.

What is clear is that, before the court had a chance to substantively consider much of anything, Oregon officials were comfortable entering a settlement agreement with Dr. Gideonse. The agreement precludes any enforcement of their law’s residency requirement and requires the Oregon Health Authority to submit a legislative “concept” to amend the law during the next session.

We already know from the Oregon data that people who are not terminal are getting lethal prescriptions. We already know that the top five reasons for requesting assisted suicide are unaddressed disability-related concerns.

Let’s hope that there’s a way to stop this court case from multiplying by a factor of five the number of older, ill and disabled people who may be pressured into assisted suicide.

Are You Looking For A Leadership Career In Disability Advocacy?

Our News & Commentary Blog

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Diane Coleman

Over thirty years ago, I left my job as an attorney and took a road less traveled in disability rights organizing that led me to found and lead Not Dead Yet. Now I’m looking for an assistant, a partner and hopefully a successor in the work to save our lives from the ableist attitude that we’re better off dead than disabled. If you might be that person, please read below and send a letter and resume to me at dcoleman@notdeadyet.org.

Assistant Director/Policy Analyst

The Assistant Director/ Policy Analyst works with the CEO of Not Dead Yet to implement NDY’s policy priorities at the state and national levels as they affect legislation, regulations, legal cases, and activities of government and health care providers in the areas of assisted suicide and euthanasia, withholding and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, futile care policies, access to health care for people with disabilities, crisis management protocols, etc. The AD/PA will also assist the CEO to implement NDY’s strategic plan/goals, especially focusing on intersection issues that affect women, children, elders, LGBTQIA folks, BIPoC, and multicultural communities. Finally, the AD/PA will collaborate with the CEO to achieve a smooth leadership transition. Salary starting at $60,000 for a full time equivalent. Staff work remotely. Hours and salary are negotiable and may permit for reduced hours at a proportionately reduced salary level.

For the full job description including responsibilities and qualifications, go HERE.

Today on Deathstyles of the Rich and Abled: Costs Illustrated Magazine

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By INGRID TISCHER

Welcome to the world of Champagne lifetimes and caviar deaths! I’m Robbin’ Leech, your guide to the deathstyle media titans that are teaching us how the fabulously wealthy celebrate the moments of their end-of-lives. Today I’ll be sharing two sumptuous images from Costs Illustrated magazine and then dazzling you with one glorious Deathstyles graphic.

(Summary image descriptions: Below are 3 separate graphics that depict: a magazine cover featuring the Sarco; a one page excerpt of this magazine’s article; and a promotional graphic for the Deathstyles series. Click the image for complete alt-text or scroll down for complete image descriptions.)

 

A spoof magazine cover called Costs Illustrated that’s a parody of Cook’s Illustrated, and that features a highly stylized photo of the 3-D printable death pod invented by Philip Nitschke that’s called the Sarco. Art: A wide blue border with a narrow white border inside it that frames a painting of an old-fashioned room with golden light coming in the window. Layered on this background is a large blue metallic Sarco that gleams with reflected light. It stands leaning against the wall. Arranged around its base are Styx’s Grand Illusion album, a bunch of rotting bananas, a poisonous mushroom, a pomegranate with six seeds picked out, a banana peel, and a copy of Peter Singer’s Practical Ethics. On the bureau painted in the background are stacks of gold coins and a portrait of a vulture. There are four flies scattered around. Text: Banner logo of Costs Illustrated top center with Number 1979 and January/February 2022 above it. Listed in heavy white type on the left side of the image are the articles in this issue: How a Death-Wish Becomes a Law Australian Death Cultures: Tangy, Cheap, Utilitarian Beyond Ethics®: Fear-Based Ethics Make Assisted-Death Policy Sausage That Naïve And/Or Craven Elected Officials Can’t Get Enough Of Easy Weeknight Euthanasia Policy: Crips Are Dying To Save You Money Expendable People: Bioethicists Tell Us Who’s Worthless Sarco Death Pods: A Single-Use Appliance Worth The Hefty Price?

 

 

An old promotional graphic for the program, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous With Robin Leach that’s been altered to read, Deathstyles of the Rich and Abled With Robbin’ Leech. Art: Gold logo of The Deathstyles of the Rich and Abled with Robbin’ Leech against a black background. To the right is a doctored photo of Robin Leach in what can only be described as a casual tuxedo look, and holding a glass of champagne next to a table with a bottle of bubbly and a bowl of caviar with a tiered cake in the background and a huge bunch of flowers. Layered on top of Robbin’s face is a cutout of Marty Feldman’s face and a separate cutout of a filthy captain’s hat on top. There are about six flies buzzing about the whole graphic. Text: Two signs are on the wall. The gold one reads VIP RIP “End-of-Life Options & You” in Penthouse. Right below that is a dingy sign reading, No Elevator To Penthouse Stairs Only. Layered on Robbin’ is a bright yellow star-shaped quote, “It’s Champagne lifetimes and caviar deaths here on Deathstyles of the Rich and Abled!”

Image #1: A spoof magazine cover called Costs Illustrated that’s a parody of Cook’s Illustrated, and that features a highly stylized photo of the 3-D printable death pod invented by Philip Nitschke that’s called the Sarco.

Art: A wide blue border with a narrow white border inside it that frames a painting of an old-fashioned room with golden light coming in the window. Layered on this background is a large blue metallic Sarco that gleams with reflected light. It stands leaning against the wall. Arranged around its base are Styx’s Grand Illusion album, a bunch of rotting bananas, a poisonous mushroom, a pomegranate with six seeds picked out, a banana peel, and a copy of Peter Singer’s Practical Ethics. On the bureau painted in the background are stacks of gold coins and a portrait of a vulture. There are four flies scattered around.

Text:  Banner logo of Costs Illustrated top center with Number 1979 and January/February 2022 above it. Listed in heavy white type on the left side of the image are the articles in this issue:

How a Death-Wish Becomes a Law

Australian Death Cultures: Tangy, Cheap, Utilitarian

Beyond Ethics®: Fear-Based Ethics Make Assisted-Death Policy Sausage That Naïve And/Or Craven Elected Officials Can’t Get Enough Of

Easy Weeknight Euthanasia Policy: Crips Are Dying To Save You Money

Expendable People: Bioethicists Tell Us Who’s Worthless

Sarco Death Pods: A Single-Use Appliance Worth The Hefty Price?

Image #2: An excerpt from one of Cost Illustrated’s articles: “Easy Weeknight Euthanasia Policy With Pomegranate and Baked Meats.” This is a satirical article about how ableist public policy and the Sarco work together. It spoofs the real magazine’s test-kitchen narrative style and format.

Art: An artfully simple page of text that’s free of advertising and photography. The title of the article is quite large with a smaller summary beneath it. There are unobtrusive horizontal lines at the top of the page, above and below the author’s name, and at the bottom above the page number. The main text is in a two-column format that represents a single page of a multipage article.

Text: Contains links that add to the text but aren’t essential. They do not appear in the graphic.

Easy Weeknight Euthanasia Policy With Pomegranate and Baked Meats

Costs Illustrated teams up with the America’s Test Policy lab to show how American euthanasia policy that starts with a tangy Aussie death culture and tools like the Sarco Death Pod are all you need for easy, elegant, and classy institution-quality deaths you can afford to put on a weekly rotation.

BY RALPH NADIR

With stresses from the pandemic, rising healthcare costs, algorithms that decide if you’re worthy of healthcare resources, and an aging population, nothing’s been hotter than working with death cultures or that new death-style must-have, the Sarco Death Pod. If you’re like many people, your first reaction to hearing about the Sarco is that it cannot possibly be real. But it is. The Sarco is like a Build-a-Bear workshop where you’re 3-D printing a death chamber for someone you can’t bear. As the ultimate status symbol of the rich and abled, the Sarco brings class, elegance, and sophistication to the more down-market dying experience of those you’ve given an adequately convincing appearance of loving. And the Sarco’s beautiful built-in coffin design means that it can do double-duty as server-ware for euthanasia public policy.

But there can be a steep learning curve to achieving an uninvestigated death that stays unrisen even as income drops, caregiver burnout grows, and she just doesn’t get why you need your inheritance now.

Bill or ballot measure? Paddle or fist? Ice water or time in the freezer?  Or both? There’s a lot to know.

If every unintended survival leaves you a little more flummoxed then the last, you may decide that this is a job best left to the professionals. But that would be a shame because death cultures have never been more available, and end-ware like the Sarco makes the job easier, faster, and more seemingly inevitable and compassionate.

We decided to find out the best tips and tools for a busy weeknight when you just want to get dinner on the table and hasten a death that says, “Nothing to see here.” We rigorously tested every variation to get the best death, using a whole lot of mostly older female staff from minority communities who were about to be laid off because print journalism is dying without any help from anyone. The result is an institution-quality death you’ll want to put on a weekly rotation.

Ableist Policy is the Best Policy

What you may not know is that even a hobbyist should start with the tool professionals swear by: a set of ableist public policies. (see “How a Death-Wish Becomes a Law”) Ableist public policy is a great stabilizer for almost any death culture, especially the Australian ones that are as norm warping as they are sour. Keep the ableism sharp – like the American kind now being produced – and it will create a much more forgiving policy environment for mistakes with your deaths.

If you’re a physician, the benefits of ableist policy are even clearer. If you can say, “But I was acting in good faith!” you’re covered. Even if your euthanasia learning curve intersects with the downward spiral of a patient you misdiagnosed and whose depression history you oopsed.

Properly written, legislative policy establishes a feedback loop of fear and rationalization that makes the hastening of a death a breeze. It can’t be wrong because it’s legal and it’s legal because it isn’t wrong. When you’ve got this tautology down, you’re set up for success in growing your death culture (see “Australian Death Cultures: Tangy, Cheap, Utilitarian) and learning how to say goodbye with your new little friend, the Sarco.

The Sarco: It Comes From a Land Down Six Feet Under

If you don’t have a ready supply of vulnerable test subjects who are unaware of their rights, don’t worry. Crips will be dying to save you money if you present the Sarco as the creation of one of the two extremely masculineAustralian men at work on saving crips, in a manly and rational way, from themselves. Plus, crips are available year round, they’re low-cost, and the pandemic has only increased the diversity and longevity of many previously difficult to source varieties too delicate for

[Footer:]  Costs Illustrated, 13

Image #3: An old promotional graphic for the program, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous With Robin Leach that’s been altered to read, Deathstyles of the Rich and Abled With Robbin’ Leech.

Art:  Gold logo of The Deathstyles of the Rich and Abled with Robbin’ Leech against a black background. To the right is a doctored photo of Robin Leach in what can only be described as a casual tuxedo look, and holding a glass of champagne next to a table with a bottle of bubbly and a bowl of caviar with a tiered cake in the background and a huge bunch of flowers.  Layered on top of Robbin’s face is a cutout of Marty Feldman’s face and a separate cutout of a filthy captain’s hat on top. There are about six flies buzzing about the whole graphic.

Text: Two signs are on the wall. The gold one reads VIP RIP “End-of-Life Options & You” in Penthouse. Right below that is a dingy sign reading, No Elevator To Penthouse Stairs Only. Layered on Robbin’ is a bright yellow star-shaped quote, “It’s Champagne lifetimes and caviar deaths here on Deathstyles of the Rich and Abled!”

Webinar: Fighting Assisted Suicide – The Big Picture in the States, Federal & Judiciary

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Fighting Assisted Suicide Coast to Coast:

The big picture in the states, federal, and judiciary

Friday, March 11th 2022
4:00pm to 5:30pm EST

REGISTER TODAY

The Patients’ Rights Action Fund, Not Dead Yet and our allies fight the legalization of assisted suicide public policy, which is dangerous and discriminatory. You are invited to attend a webinar for a complete update on the fight against assisted suicide and euthanasia on all fronts.

State Update – Barbara Lyons, Coalitions Director of Patients’ Rights Action Fund

  • Assisted Suicide Legalization Bills – States where introduced and provisions

  • Assisted Suicide Expansion Bills – States where introduced and provisions

  • How States are Stretching the Oregon Model

Federal Update – Matt Vallière, Executive Director of Patients’ Rights Action Fund

  • Bi-partisan Congressional Resolution – How to get involved

  • Federal Regulation – Provisions and action needed

Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia Push in the Courts – Diane Coleman, CEO & President Not Dead Yet 

  • Overview of how proponents are trying to legalize and expand assisted suicide laws through litigation.

This webinar will include real-time closed captioning and will be signed by an ASL interpreter.
If you have an accommodation request, please email ian@patientsrightsaction.org

REGISTER TODAY

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