In the News
Massachusetts Court Dismisses Bulk of Lawsuit that Argues Assisted Suicide is Not Manslaughter
Kligler, a retired internist who has terminal prostate cancer, and Steinbach, who treats terminally ill patients, are plaintiffs in the case filed in 2016 against state Attorney General Maura Healey and Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe. They sought to have Suffolk Superior Court in Boston declare that physician-assisted suicide is not manslaughter.
Medicare Advantage Plans Offering Palliative Care Quadrupled for 2020 but Hard to Find Sufficient Number of Providers
A rising number of Medicare Advantage plans are offering home-based palliative care as a supplemental benefit. This year, 61 plans offer a palliative care benefit compared to 15 during 2019, a new Duke University report indicates. Hospices provide about 50% of home-based palliative care in the United States according to the Center to Advance
Palliative Care Reduces ICU Use by 10%
A recent study published in JAMA showed that palliative care services at hospitals was associated with a 10% reduction in ICU use for patients who died during hospitalization. The researchers noted that over half of the hospitals sampled in the study reported that they never had a palliative care program. Ask your state legislator
Elder Financial Exploitation
Financial exploitation is a fast-growing form of abuse of seniors and adults with disabilities. Situations of financial exploitation commonly involve trusted persons in the life of the vulnerable adult, such as: Caretakers Family members Neighbors Friends and acquaintances Attorneys Bank employees Pastor Doctors or nurses APS programs report that the number and complexity
Against physician-assisted suicide: A new law would feed a throwaway culture
There will be a renewed push to legalize physician-assisted suicide (PAS) in New York State in 2020. Some think of this as a debate between religious and secular activists, the former in favor of traditional morals and rules and the latter in favor of individual freedom and autonomy. But the debate is actually much more
Assisted Suicide Laws May Harm People with Disabilities
Photo Credit: Not Dead Yet Massachusetts Compassionate medical care and end of life considerations are some of the most complex and difficult issues facing families, and society in general. It is a reality that may only intensify against a backdrop of an aging population. In the United States, the number of older individuals outpaces
‘Bike Man’ Is A Different Kind Of Community Superhero Changes His Mind About Assisted Suicide
Bob Charland has a passion for building bikes. He just doesn’t know how much longer he can do it. “I want to help people,” said Bob. “I want to know that my time here meant something and that I was able to make a difference in this world.” Bob used to work as an
Let doctors focus on healing patients, not helping them commit suicide
Lewis Cohen argues for passage of the End of Life Option Act which has been defeated in the Maryland General Assembly for the past five years, but actually illustrates one of the many dangers of this terrible bill (“Deathly ill Marylanders should have a choice on how and when they die,”Dec. 4). Every year,
State should not legalize physician-assisted suicide
Legalization of physician-prescribed lethal medication for terminal patients, even on request, is bad medicine. This is eliminating the sufferer, not the suffering. It is both unnecessary and dangerous. Twenty years’ experience in Oregon shows that “Inadequate pain control or concern about it” is a distant sixth most-cited reason for patients to choose lethal medication,
If You’re Fighting a Life-Threatening Sickness, Keep Fighting
Doctors make educated guesses about how long a person has left to live after a terminal diagnosis, but no one should take a healthcare provider’s estimate of how many weeks or months someone has left to live as gospel truth. Patients routinely survive long after the day they’re expected to succumb to their illness.
Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan Resolution Condemning Assisted Suicide
While impeachment divided the House of Representatives along party lines, a group of lawmakers is rallying around a bipartisan resolution condemning assisted suicide as Congress heads into winter recess. Reps. Brad Wenstrup (R., Ohio) and Lou Correa (D., Calif.) introduced a resolution last week declaring that medically assisted suicide “puts everyone, including those most vulnerable, at risk of
Refusing to Die: The Chris Dunn Story
On July 7, 2018, Chris Dunn survived a freak diving accident that left him paralyzed, on a ventilator and mostly blind only to face an even more hellish reality: a year living in a Maine ICU fighting for his right to go to rehab and get back to living his life. Other than a
Is Assisted Suicide a Human Right?
The Kings County Medical Society in New York recently hosted a brunch with New York State legislators. One of the guests was Richard Gottfried, chair of the New York State Assembly Health Committee, who is cosponsoring A2694, a bill legalizing [assisted suicide]. As a medical oncologist with 30 years’ experience treating seriously ill patients,
Disability Activist Anita Cameron Speaks At Congressional Briefing On Assisted Suicide
Anita Cameron, director of minority outreach for Not Dead Yet, will speak at a Congressional briefing to be held Thursday, December 12, 2019 in Room 2168 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The briefing is cosponsored by the National Council on Disability (NCD), Congressman Lou Correa (D-CA) and Congressman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH). This briefing will explore the
State should not let doctors become suicide enablers
Earlier this year, the American Medical Association voted to uphold its longstanding opposition to physician-assisted suicide. The AMA says assisted suicide is “fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks.” This is, in fact, the historical position of medicine going back
Justice Minister Lametti looking to larger reforms on assisted suicide
Justice Minister David Lametti is being asked to move quickly to respond to a court ruling that Canada’s law on doctor-assisted death is too restrictive, but he says the Liberal government is open to reforming the law in an even bigger way than the judge ordered… Trudeau also wants Lametti to work with the
Congress should keep the ADA in mind when setting assisted suicide policy
Lawmakers like Reps. Luis Correa (D-Calif.), Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), and Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) have done the American people a great service by calling out assisted suicide for the dangerous public policy that it is. This newly introduced truly bipartisan Sense of Congress resolution shines a light on the many dangers of assisted suicide and is
When healers become agents of death, not life
Assisted suicide makes for bad law and bad medicine. It is dangerous public policy that negatively impacts everyone and profoundly changes medicine’s role in society. Performing assisted suicides damages the physician-patient relationship and violates our calling to heal. Many medical groups globally and in the United States reject assisted suicide. The World Medical Association
Why the RCGP should not adopt a neutral stance on assisted suicide
Impact on doctor/patient relationship It will surely involve major changes in the law, which could have serious consequences for the doctor/patient relationship. ‘First do no harm’, is frequently bandied about and whatever the origin, it is a maxim that means patients can hold us to the highest and most transparent of motives. Death is
Cori Salchert: Assisted suicide is not the answer — every life is worth the fight
As more and more states consider passing assisted suicide policy, it is important for Americans to realize that this dangerous policy puts vulnerable lives, like mine and my children’s, at risk. In 2012, I was facing what appeared to be a hopeless situation. In spite of pursuing a decade’s worth of surgical and pharmaceutical