[From August 28, 2023] Assisted suicide in NY a poor idea To the Editor: It’s ironic that Joel Freedman’s Aug. 14 essay promoting assisted suicide laws opens by noting the need to “strengthen the rights of nursing home residents and other care-dependent people.” People are too often dumped into nursing facilities by hospitals and sometimes, […]
[Author’s note: Readers may wonder why it’s taken a month for me to post my response to the federal district court ruling in the Shavelson case. I was hoping to be able to post it after it appeared as an op-ed in one of the California newspaper outlets I pitch it to, but, alas, NDY’s […]
On October 1, 2021, the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Public Health held a hearing on An Act relative to end of life options (H. 2381 and S. 1384). We previously featured testimonies this bill to legalize assisted suicide by John B. Kelly, Director of Second Thoughts MA: Disability Rights Advocates against Assisted Suicide and Lindsay […]
NYAIL is the New York Association on Independent Living, a statewide, not-for-profit membership association created by and composed of Independent Living Centers across New York State. I was honored to receive NYAIL’s 2021 David Veatch Advocacy Achievement Award on September 29th. Below are my words of gratitude spoken at their virtual conference. Diane Coleman’s NYAIL […]
The COVID pandemic revealed that people with disabilities have been denied treatment for the virus due to their disabilities and pervasive biases about their “quality of life”. This denial of care raises the very real issue that persons with disabilities are and will face similar discrimination under assisted suicide laws. Healthcare providers are the gatekeepers […]
Steve Gold, who has long served as a disability rights attorney for both ADAPT and NDY, just had his letter published in the New York Times. It’s the second letter in a group responding to a recent pro-assisted suicide opinion by the NYT editorial board. Here’s Steve’s excellent letter: To the Editor: You equate the […]
Dear Disability Rights Supporter: Twenty years ago, on April 27th, at a disability rights gathering in Dallas, Bob Kafka, one of the leaders of ADAPT, said to me, “I’ve got a name for your group.” For years, ADAPT had been supportive of disability advocacy to challenge the assisted suicide movement and other deadly forms of […]
Versions of the letter below have gone to various California legislative committees and key members. We are down to the wire, with an Assembly vote possible today, but more likely tomorrow (Wed., Sept. 9th). California is one of the most influential states in the country and it’s unconscionable, after assisted suicide bills were defeated on […]
John Kelly and I both decided to add our own messages to the strong voices of disability rights advocates urging the DC Council to reject the assisted suicide bill that was the subject of the July 10th hearing before the Health & Human Services Committee. John’s testimony on behalf of Second Thoughts Massachusetts focused on […]
A newly-published article in New Scientist includes a section in which reporter Clare Wilson reports on actual Oregon data on assisted suicide after a go-through with NDY CEO and founder Diane Coleman. It’s rare – almost unheard of – for a reporter to go into this kind of detail on assisted suicide in Oregon. The […]
