Connecticut News: Strong Disability Advocacy and Great Result

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On March 20, Second Thoughts Connecticut members held a press conference and testified against an assisted suicide bill, HB 5417 at a joint Public Health Committee hearing. Channel 8 covered their testimony: ‘Aid in dying’ bill back before lawmakers. They also interviewed Cathy Ludlum and Elaine Kolb. NDY also submitted written testimony.

Although the major print media ignored the outspoken opposition of the disability community, despite their consistent presence and activism against these bills as they were considered the last few years, one very powerful letter to the editor by Second Thoughts member Joan Cavanagh was carried by the New Haven Register:

Once again, a bill in Connecticut legalizing physician-assisted suicide was the subject of discussion at a public hearing on Tuesday, March 20. This year, it is HB 5417, with the Orwellian name, “An Act Concerning End-of-Life Care.” The well-funded “Compassion and Choices” and Secular Coalition of Connecticut promoters of this bill are trying to rally all “liberals” behind it under the false banner of “choice,” claiming that its only opponents are the extreme religious right and the institutional Catholic Church. As always, they deliberately refuse to acknowledge the disability rights community activists, Second Thoughts Connecticut, and the peace and justice activists who have opposed these bills for years.
 
Second Thoughts Connecticut has led the opposition. They don’t just “represent” people whose lives are at risk because their health care is “too expensive.” They are those people. Articulate, determined, and resourceful, they have mobilized year after year to protect their own lives and right to choose. They have also given me courage, and so, from my personal experience in trying to get my elderly mother, a Medicaid patient with dementia, the care she needed to stay alive, I have written, spoken, and testified against this legislation since 2013. (The New Haven Register published my Forum piece about this (https://www.nhregister.com/opinion/article/Forum-Aid-in-dying-bill-neither-11375068.php), March 14, 2014.
 
We continue to clearly see these bills for what they are: another piece of the medical cost-cutting agenda that seeks to “ration” health care for the most vulnerable among us — the poor, elderly and disabled. As a life-long activist for peace and justice, it is beyond my understanding how anyone claiming human rights concerns could continue to advocate for this kind of legislation in the era of alt-right power, where the highest officials in our nation are slashing with impunity the most basic of our hard won, already inadequate, safety nets.
 
— Joan Cavanagh
New Haven
The great news, just in, is that the bill died in committee. This follows a similar victory in Massachusetts. Thanks to everyone who effectively communicated the very real dangers that a public policy legalizing assisted suicide poses to old, ill and disabled people!

John Kelly’s Awesome National Academies Presentation Video and Slides

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This is a very belated post about John Kelly’s February 12th presentation at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine two-day event entitled Physician-Assisted Death: Scanning the Landscape and Potential Approaches — A Workshop. Many of our readers have seen the video, which John posted on Facebook and others have shared. Here we can also provide his presentation slides. First, the video.

Here’s a photo of the first presentation slide, followed by links to PDF and text versions.

To view John’s presentation slides in PDF format, go here. For the Power Point text outline, go here.

We’re grateful for John’s leadership and fortitude in being one of only a few speakers at this event who opposed the legalization of assisted suicide.

 

New Jersey: Disability Advocates Testify Against Assisted Suicide Bill

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Assisted suicide is being promoted once again in New Jersey, going through the Assembly Judiciary meeting. This bill made it through the Assembly twice in previous legislative sessions, but failed to garner enough votes in the NJ Senate. Now, with the election of a new Governor and new members in the Legislature, the supporters of this bill are trying again.

On Monday, March 12, the bill was the subject of a public hearing of the Assembly Judiciary Committee. Disability Rights advocates were on hand to testify against the bill.

Here are the audio link and time markers for the disability witnesses.

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/media/mp.asp?M=A/2018/AJU/0312-1200PM-M0-1.M4A&S=2018

  • Dawn Parkot and Lindsay Tuman – 1:49:35-1:56:44
  • Kate Blisard 2:38.10-2:41:22
  • Kathryn Carroll 2:53:48-2:57:00
  • Alex Thompson 3:05:54-3:08:13

This bill is virtually identical to the Oregon assisted suicide law, and poses dangers to people with terminal illnesses, as well as people with chronic illnesses and disabilities. Oregon officials have recently written that a person is considered “terminal” under the assisted suicide law if their life depends on any form of treatment or medication and the person does not get that treatment or medication for any reason. This applies whether the person refuses or is denied treatment involuntarily, such as by insurance denial, or for any other reason. State interpretations of Oregon’s law are precedent for other state laws using the same language.

Recent Oregon state reports include the following as qualifying conditions: neurological disease, respiratory disease, heart/circulatory disease, infectious disease, gastrointestinal disease, endocrine/metabolic disease and, in the category labeled “other”, arthritis, arteritis, sclerosis, stenosis, kidney failure, and musculoskeletal systems disorders.

Click here for a written version of  Dawn Parkot’s testimony.

Click here for a written version of Kate Blisard’s testimony.

In addition to live testimony, NDY President/CEO submitted written testimony. You can read it here.

The Committee voted the bill out for the Assembly to vote on. A setback, but the fight’s far from over. Thanks so much for the disability activists and activists who are engaging in the fight for our lives – in New Jersey and across the country.

YouTube: EZ Breezy Assisted Suicide w/ Bill Peace (and Tipsy Tullivan)

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2010 was a horrible year for friend and NDY board member Bill Peace. Here’s a summary from a post back in 2012:

Back in 2010, our friend, colleague and ally Bill Peace, experienced a long, expensive health crisis when he experienced a stage IV skin breakdown – with a long treatment process that was physically and emotionally grueling by his own accounts.

While Bill was hospitalized – and at one of his lowest points healthwise – he was subjected to a late night visit by a hospitalist.  Laying out a grim set of possible outcomes for Bill’s health crisis, the doctor seemed to be urging Bill to just discontinue antibiotics and let himself be given palliative care to be pain-free until the infection took him.

Some years have passed, and just last month sat down and made a video with YouTuber Tipsy Tullivan – retelling the story and managing to laugh while he does:

Ms. Tullivan is also known as Jillian Weise. According to a short bio I found, she has a multitude of talents – poet, performance artist, disability rights activist, and an Associate Professor at Clemson University. You can find out more about her at her website, jillianweise.com/.

You can read more about Bill on our Board of Directors page.

“End of Life Washington” Promotes Directive to Prevent Feeding Assistance to Those with Dementia

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(The following continues coverage and discussion of an initiative regarding efforts to let dementia patients “refuse” assistance to eat. We discussed this in November 2017. You can check out that blog post here.)

Journalist Mike Bassett has a new online article out in Today’s Geriatric Medicine. It involves the latest initiative from “End of Life Washington” (EOLWA). As mentioned above, it’s been discussed on this blog before.

While disability activists and others in the social justice community have been rallying around the threats to the ADA, Medicaid, Medicare and other vital parts of the social safety net, organizations like EOLWA still see our biggest problem is that it’s allegedly too hard to die. In this case, the allege that too many people with dementia are being fed against their will.

Bassett’s article in Today’s Geriatric Medicine is very good. He includes the voices of reps from EOLWA, Alzheimer’s Association – and me, representing NDY.

As we’ve seen over the past few decades, narrow initiatives like this act as door-openers, in which a narrowly-defined “refusal” of life-sustaining treatment expands over time both in terms of the groups who may exercise this “right” and the level of proof a surrogate needs to “exercise” that right on the behalf of someone who cannot communicate those wishes themselves. What makes this initiative a bold step is that it shifts manual assistance in eating and drinking as a form of medical assistance – a radical difference in framing something that has historically viewed as basic care.

It’s vitally important that anyone who needs assistance to eat, who supports someone with those needs, or loves someone with those needs to keep this issue on your radar. It’s headed your way, sooner or later.

Please go and read the whole article in Today’s Geriatric Medicine. It’s titled Judicious Feeding Options at the End of Life.