NDY UK Intervenes in Noel Conway Assisted Suicide Case

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NDY UK’s Press Release on the July 17 court proceeding includes a powerful statement on the issues from a disability rights perspective.

www.notdeadyetuk.org
********PRESS RELEASE: 16 JULY 2017 @ 14:00 ********
__________________________________

DISABLED AND TERMINALLY ILL PEOPLE INTERVENE TO STOP
NEW ATTEMPT TO LEGALISE ASSISTED SUICIDE

Lawyers acting for Not Dead Yet UK will go to the High Court on Monday (July 17) to intervene in the legal challenge being bought by Mr Noel Conway to remove protections afforded disabled and terminally ill people by the current law prohibiting Assisted Suicide.

Not Dead Yet UK will be represented in Court on a pro-bono basis by barrister Catherine Casserley of Cloisters chambers together with and Chris Fry and Millie Broadbent of solicitors Fry Law.

Not Dead Yet UK recognises and empathises with Mr Conway’s fears for his future but we cannot support his action as we believe legalising Assisted Suicide by any means would put other disabled and terminally ill people at risk. We support his right for all medical, social and emotional support necessary for his life to end naturally and with dignity.

Not Dead Yet UK maintains any imposed safeguards will never be watertight enough to successfully protect all ill and disabled people from a change to the Suicide Act. The Act currently provides much needed protection to disabled and terminally ill people by prohibiting anyone from assisting another person to kill themselves. Even if only one person dies against their wishes as a result of a change to the law that is one death too many and completely unacceptable. We argue that disabled and terminally ill people are just as entitled to this protection as everyone else; to single out one group of society as different to the rest is a dangerous move and will be open to misinterpretation. Legalising Assisted Suicide for disabled and terminally ill people would again set us aside from the rest of society. We would effectively be second class citizens again, with suicide seen as a valid choice for us while non-disabled people would be encouraged to live.

This issue was last considered by Parliament almost two years ago (September 2015) when Rob Marris MP’s “Assisted Dying Bill” was decisively defeated by 330 to 118 votes in the House of Commons. Mr Conway is now attempting to override Parliament’s decision by seeking a change in the law through the Courts.

Disability campaigner Baroness Campbell of Surbiton, one of the founders of Not Dead Yet UK said, “We have successfully seen off attempts to change the law on Assisted Suicide in Parliament. Now we must change tactics to ensure the Courts continue to uphold our equal right to life. The law must not be weakened via the back door.”

Speaking for Not Dead Yet UK, co-founder Phil Friend said, “A change in the law is a terrifying prospect to the vast majority of disabled and terminally ill people who work hard towards achieving equality for all. Until we have reached that objective Assisted Suicide will remain a dangerous and prejudiced option, likely to increase suffering and distress”.

Not Dead Yet UK notes that not one organisation run by or for disabled and terminally ill people supports the legalisation of Assisted Suicide.. The medical profession is also against changing the law, believing it would destroy trust in relationships between patients and those providing their medical care.

Liz Carr, star of BBC1 drama ‘Silent Witness’ states “Disabled and terminally ill people want support to live – not to die. It is important that the Court hears from the people most at risk from any change to the current law. As a long standing supporter of Not Dead Yet UK I am keen to take an active role in making that happen”.

Notes To Editors
1. Not Dead Yet UK is a campaigning network of disabled people founded in 2006 to oppose attempts to legalise assisted suicide for disabled and terminally ill people.

2. Not Dead Yet UK promotes equality for disabled people in a secular context; it is not faith centred or allied to any organised religion. Its supporters come from all sections of the community. Its guiding principles are to value the lives of terminally ill and disabled people and oppose assisted suicide.

For media enquiries and interviews please contact:

NDY-UK    Phil Friend   M 07774 944246 E phil.friends@sky-mail.net

NDY-UK Juliet Marlow    T 01420 477646  E jemwriter@sky.com

NDY-UK Agnes Fletcher M 07748 333565 E agnes.fletcher@talktalk.net

Fry Law Chris Fry M 07837119211 E Chris.Fry@frylaw.co.uk

NDYUK Roger Symes T 020 7362 0220 E roger@wpjobson.co.uk

Alert From NCIL: Healthcare Vote Expected Next Week: The Fight Is Not Over!

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Disability advocates across the nation are continuing the fight to save Medicaid and preserve our healthcare, our lives and our liberty. Medicaid is the primary funder of home and community based services that provide independence and freedom, preventing older and disabled people from being shoved away in nursing facilities to die.

This latest Alert from our friends at the National Council on Independent Living is an excellent source of ideas for how each of us can make a difference.

Healthcare Vote Expected Next Week: The Fight Is Not Over!

July 14, 2017 By 

The Senate released their updated version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act(PDF) yesterday, and all of our concerns remain the same. Read the Senate summary (PDF). The new version will still cut Medicaid by $772 billion, with an even more restrictive growth rate and deeper cuts starting in 2025. Fifteen million people will lose Medicaid. The bill also still eliminates the enhanced match for the Community First Choice Option, removes protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and allows waivers to eliminate essential health benefits, on top of adding a new provision to create separate insurance products for people with higher and lower health needs.

NCIL logo - National Council on Independent LivingThis new version of the bill has made NO improvements. Despite that, we’re hearing that Republicans who were undecided or even opposed to the previous version of the bill are now leaning toward voting YES. Republicans are reportedly becoming more unified around this new version, and we cannot let that happen!

The vote is expected to take place next week. That means that we have less than one week to fight this dangerous bill, and every single day counts. We need to make sure our Senators understand how dangerous this bill is for their constituents with disabilities. We need them to understand that we are literally fighting for our lives. And we have less than one week to make sure they hear us.

Take Action!

  • Call your Senators by dialing the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
  • Use Resistbot to have your texts turned into faxes, mail, or hand-delivered letters.
  • Use faxzero.com to fax your Senators for free.
  • Find your Senator’s email address, Twitter handle, and other information through Contacting Congress.
  • Please see our previous alert for additional ways to take action. Every single one of us needs to keep the pressure on our Senators! Call often, send emails, keep protesting, and Tweet at GOP Senators; take action in every way you can!

* Priority Senators

We encourage everyone to reach out to their Republican Senators, but the following is a list of top priority Senators, including phone numbers for all of their offices, fax numbers, Twitter handles, and contact pages, as well as information for their healthcare staffers. Please utilize as many of these options as possible! If these are not your Senators, please make sure to reach out to everyone you know in their states! 

For the list of priority Senators and their contact information, please go here.

Disability Activists Hold Nationwide Protests of Proposed Medicaid Cuts

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ADAPT’s June 22nd protest in Washington, D.C. brought unprecedented public attention to disabled people’s profound fears about the very real and personal consequences of proposed cuts to Medicaid. It’s not an exaggeration to say that lives and liberty are at stake.

Rachel Maddow’s coverage on MSNBC was especially detailed in painting a clear picture of the disability activist group ADAPT. She reached back into the group’s history, showing news clips and footage dating back to 1978. I joined ADAPT protests for lifts on buses in 1987, and took a screenshot of this scene in which I was placed under police arrest.

Diane Coleman being pushed in her motorized wheelchair by a police officer who had arrested her.

ADAPT’s focus is the Medicaid home and community based long term care services that enable people with disabilities, including seniors, to live in our own homes and communities rather than be forced into nursing facilities. Those services allow people to live with their families, get an education, work and enjoy their communities like everyone else. Currently, Medicaid is required to cover nursing facilities, while in-home services are optional, so the proposed cuts will sacrifice the “optional” services that maintain the liberty of disabled Americans.

ADAPT and Not Dead Yet have long been very close. In 1996, one of ADAPT’s national organizers, Bob Kafka, came up with the name for our group, based on a running gag in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

In the week since the Washington, D.C. protest of proposed Medicaid cuts, disability activists across the country have organized local nonviolent protests, taking the message to key U.S. Senators, as well as other politicians and government authorities. Many of the activists are Not Dead Yet staff, Board members and advocates. Anita Cameron, Carrie Lucas and I were arrested, Emily Wolinsky penned a strong letter to her Senators, Dominick Evans organized actions in Ohio and recorded a hard hitting You Tube message to Senator Portman, and I’m still gathering information. Links to some examples of coverage are below.

Disabled protesters arrested at Sen. Cory Gardner’s Denver office after 2-day sit-in (Denver Post, 6/29/17)

25 protesters arrested inside county GOP HQ (Democrat and Chronicle, 6/28/17)

Protesters stage overnight sit-in at Sen. Gardner’s office over health care bill (KDVR, 6/27/17)

Will Senate Republicans Have Enough Votes To Pass Their Health Care Bill? (NewsOneNow, 6/26/17)

Police Haul Off Protesters, Some With Disabilities, From Mitch McConnell’s Office (Huffington Post, 6/22/17)

Dozens arrested after disability advocates protest at McConnell’s office (CNN, 6/22/17)

GOP threat to Medicaid threatens liberty of millions of Americans (Rachel Maddow MSNBC, 6/22/17)

NDY Release: Disability Advocates Protest American Health Care Act

ADAPT, Affordable Care Act, Anita Cameron, Our News & Commentary Blog, press release, protests,

[Note: This is NDY’s version of ADAPT’s Press Release, slightly revised to include a quote from Anita Cameron, who joined other disability activists for these protests.]

Not Dead Yet, the Resistance

Contacts:
Bruce Darling: (585) 370-6690
Anita Cameron (720) 413-9064

Disability Advocates Protest Senate Leader Over Cuts to Medicaid
for Millions of Elderly and Disabled Americans

(June 22, 2017, Washington D.C.) Today, about 60 members of the national disability rights organization ADAPT are staging a Die-in at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office. Advocates are protesting McConnell’s Senate healthcare bill, demanding he bring an end to attacks on disabled people’s freedom which are expected in the bill. “The American Health Care Act caps and significantly cuts Medicaid which will greatly reduce access to medical care and home and community based services for elderly and disabled Americans who will either die or be forced into institutions,” said Bruce Darling, an ADAPT organizer taking part in the protest. “Our lives and liberty shouldn’t be stolen to give a tax break to the wealthy. That’s truly un-American.”

Protesters include Anita Cameron, Not Dead Yet’s director of minority outreach, as well as other NDY activists. “For people who live in states where assisted suicide is legal, this will be a deadly combination,” Cameron said. “Insurance companies will be more emboldened to deny people with life-threatening conditions the medications they need to save or prolong their lives, offering them instead, the ‘option’ of the suicide prescription.”

“Not only will AHCA take away our freedom,” said Dawn Russell, an ADAPT organizer from Colorado. “That lost freedom will also cost Americans much more money. The nursing facilities that people will be forced into are much more expensive than community-based services that AHCA would cut.” In 2012, the National Council on Disability (an independent federal agency that makes policy

recommendations to the President, Congress and federal agencies) reported that States spent upwards of $300,000 more per person serving disabled people in institutions each year than they would spend providing equivalent services in the community.

The protest falls on the 18th anniversary of Olmstead v. LC the 1999 Supreme Court Ruling which first recognized disabled people’s right to live in the community. ADAPT organizer Nancy Salandra of Pennsylvania was quick to note the connection between that case and the AHCA. “We fought so hard to have our right live in the community recognized and here we are 18 years later and we are still fighting for our freedom from incarceration.”

As they dramatize the deaths AHCA’s cuts and forced institutionalization will cause, and as Capitol Police close in, the advocates who came to McConnell’s office from across the country chanted “I’d rather go to jail than die without Medicaid!”

“To say people will die under this law is not an exaggeration,” said Mike Oxford, an ADAPT organizer from Kansas. “Home and community based services are what allow us to do our jobs, live our lives and raise our families. Without these services many disabled and elderly Americans will die. We won’t let that happen.”

On the 15th anniversary of the death of Justin Dart, the father of the ADA, his words ring true “get into politics as if your life depends upon it, cause it does.”

ADAPT’s history, the issues we are fighting for and our activities can be followed on our web site at www.adapt.org, our ADAPT Facebook page and on Twitter – look for #ADAPTandRESIST

Anita Cameron: American Health Care Act and Doctor Prescribed Suicide

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The American Health Care Act (AHCA) is dangerous for people with disabilities. If passed, among other things, it will most likely eliminate affordable insurance coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, cut $834 billion from Medicaid over ten years (most people with disabilities, including seniors, rely on Medicaid for personal care, long-term care services and supports and durable medical equipment), and make drastic cuts in primary healthcare programs and services that low income people rely on.

For people who live in states where assisted suicide is legal, this will be a deadly combination. Insurance companies will be more emboldened to deny people with life-threatening conditions the medications they need to save or prolong their lives, offering them, instead, the “option” of the suicide prescription.

The lives of people with disabilities are already devalued, and doctors are likely to either intentionally or unintentionally influence, recommend or coerce their patients into assisted suicide, citing the financial burden they will be on their families.

With services such as mental health on the chopping block in AHCA, newly disabled individuals, seniors or terminally ill people will have less access to these services, putting them at greater risk to succumb to coercion by unscrupulous family members, heirs, or caregivers to get the suicide meds and take them.

There is nothing good about the American Health Care Act. It is designed specifically to cut back any protections that people with disabilities and low-income folks had in healthcare under the Obama administration. It will make it that much easier to force people with disabilities, seniors and people on low or fixed incomes into assisted suicide should they be deemed—correctly or not–to have a terminal condition.

Doctor assisted suicide is about one thing only – the establishment of a two-tiered system of suicide prevention. If you are healthy or nondisabled and want to die you get suicide prevention services, whereas if you are sick or disabled you are encouraged and provided the means to commit suicide. The American Health Care Act, by its very nature, will make this deadly form of discrimination much easier to carry out.