Testimony in Opposition to Delaware House Blll 140 Chair Minor-Brown, Vice Chair Harris, Members of the Committee on Health & Human Development: My name is John B. Kelly. I am the New England Regional Director for Not Dead Yet, the leading national disability rights group opposing assisted suicide, futility judgments, and “better dead than disabled” […]
***MEDIA ADVISORY*** Disability Rights Advocates Gather at SJC to Defend Disabled Lives Boston, MA – Thursday, October 13 at 12 PM, Second Thoughts MA: Disability Rights Advocates Against Assisted Suicide and Not Dead Yet will gather outside the Supreme Judicial Court at the John Adams Courthouse to remind the SJC and the public that the issue of […]
The Answer Is Not Medically Assisted Suicide – Disabled People Demand Full Civil, Human Rights [Note: The hyperlink above leads to a PDF image scan of the article and the page it appears on. The full, screen reader accessible text of the article is below.] The Quincy Sun, August 18, 2022 38 years ago an […]
From WGBH, Boston’s PBS station: “Proponents of medical aid in dying, also known as physician-assisted suicide, say it can offer a peaceful death to those who are terminally ill. Critics say the process is unfairly stacked against people with disabilities. The two sides debated with Liz Neisloss on Greater Boston.” An article samples quotes from the […]
A Boston University News Service article, Medical aid in dying bills split Massachusetts once again, yesterday extensively quoted John Kelly, NDY’s New England Regional Director, as well as Ruthie Poole, President of the statewide organization M-POWER. While their disability rights based concerns about the Massachusetts assisted suicide bill should have been featured much earlier in […]
Massachusetts Public Health Committee hearing on the state’s assisted suicide bill: John B. Kelly Oral Testimony against EOLA H.2381/S.1384 October 1, 2021 Thank you. Everyone knows that doctors make mistakes, and studies show that 12 to 15 percent of people outlive the six-month hospice benefit for supposedly terminal people. But this year Oregon revealed that […]
Push for assisted suicide raises questions over disability rights September 7, 2021 In response to an essay on the Victorian fantasy of a peaceful death, two letter writers (“Beyond the fantasy of a gentle death,” Aug. 29) called on the state Legislature to pass the proposed assisted suicide bill. Paula Bacon and Molly DeHaas Walsh describe […]
John Kelly testified to the Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee at its Zoom hearing on the state’s assisted suicide bill on Monday, April 26. Members of the public who testified were severely limited in the time allowed, so below is John’s excellent full written testimony, which is well worth the read. [Tomorrow, we will post […]
On Wednesday, September 16, a public hearing was held by the Health Equity Task Force of the Massachusetts Public Health Committee. The legislative website stated that “[t]he virtual hearing is to receive testimony from the public on findings and recommendations that address health disparities for underserved or underrepresented populations during the COVID-19 pandemic, pursuant to […]
The Greenfield Recorder published John Kelly’s letter opposing the Massachusetts assisted suicide bill on August 12. This excellent letter speaks for itself. Older, ill and disabled people deserve choice-promoting services, supports By JOHN B. KELLY I disagree with Joan Milnes’s call for passage of the assisted suicide bill now in the legislature (“Making a final choice […]
