American democracy is based on the idea that the voices of the people matter.  As legislators struggle with difficult issues, trying to balance the needs of conflicting constituencies and solve complicated problems, they need to hear the perspectives of the people most directly affected. This is why they listen to hour after hour of

Rear Adm. Tom Steffens, U.S. Navy (retired) When I was on active duty, one of the key tenets of our Navy SEAL Creed was, “Leave no one behind.” I see this same principle alive across our commonwealth as civil society and our public servants work tirelessly to support our 700,000 veterans every day. Despite that

  In 20 years of working with geriatric patients, I have seen the frightened faces, emaciated and bruised bodies, and the hopelessness of abuse victims. My patients taught me the five types of elder abuse: neglect, financial exploitation, emotional abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse. New York state legislators could create a new category: legally

  Like many people all over the world, I am not leaving the house now. For me, though, staying home is nothing new. I am in bed as I write this, propped up by my usual heap of cushions, talking to other sick and disabled people all day on my laptop about how the hell

  With the looming and imminent threat of insufficient hospital and ICU beds, medical equipment and healthcare staff, I found myself recalling an old favorite TV show from my college years. MASH (mobile army surgical hospital) created both comedy and drama around the reality of having three operating room beds in an army tent on

  As a person who has a significant disability that impacts all areas of my life, I experienced anger, disappointment and frustration in reading the column about Ralph McFadden, who hopes that he is living in Illinois when the time comes for him to take a pill that will cause his death…He has seen people

  The majority of people with disabilities has considered the “End of Life Options Act,” or what ever it is being called this year, otherwise known as physician prescribed suicide. The National Council on Disability came out with a report on Oct. 9 about the dangers of assisted suicide laws for people with disabilities. The council clearly opposes

    Contrary to the March 9 editorial “Avoiding unnecessary suffering,” the data as well as personal experience confirm that assisted suicide puts at risk the lives of many vulnerable people who deserve to be valued equally. Although the editorial asserted that this ill-conceived public policy is intended to relieve suffering, the data it referenced

Dr. Neil S. Kaye is a practicing psychiatrist and Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and member of the advisory board of the  National Alliance for Mental Illness-Delaware. …Physicians are terrible at predicting death. At six months out, fewer than 33% of predictions end up being correct. HB 140, the medical aid in dying bill, relies

  More than 100 doctors and health care professionals from around Massachusetts signed onto an open letter urging state lawmakers to sink proposed bills that would open the door to allowing doctors to prescribe lethal doses of chemicals for terminally ill patients… “As physicians and healthcare professionals, we embrace a culture where ALL people receive

In the ten years that Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) has conducted annual surveys, veteran suicide has always topped the list as the most pressing issue in the membership community. This week, IAVA released our 10th annual member survey, and the results are troubling: veteran suicide numbers continue to rise as the overall

While the number of hospices and other organizations providing palliative care continues to expand nationwide, staffing shortages represent a barrier that threatens to slow this growth. The United States has 13.35 hospice and palliative care specialists for every 100,000 adults 65 and older, according to an April 2018 study. The research estimated that by 2040

  Battle lines are drawn with an even number of people who support and oppose the bill. Unlike in previous years, there’s a public, full-court press by the opposition. “Assisted suicide is dangerous public policy. When suicide becomes a medical treatment, it injects government pressure and profit-driven insurance decisions into everyone’s end-of-life care,” said Kristen

It has come to my attention that our Legislature will be soon voting on a bill (HB 1659) to make assisted suicide legal here in New Hampshire. As someone who has worked in the mental health field for decades, I am gravely concerned about this. In my career, I have personally witnessed many people with

As Maryland lawmakers prepare to hold public hearings on whether the state should join nine others that allow terminally-ill patients to choose physician-assisted suicide, it begs a serious question with no easy answer: Is suicide wrong? Granted, the question of the humanity of physician-assisted suicide is a complicated one. For those who have completed Applied

  A health policy expert is warning that Canada is moving too fast on changes to legislation that would expand eligibility for medically assisted death. Dr. Harvey Schipper, a professor of medicine and an adjunct professor of law at the University of Toronto, urges caution, saying calls to extend euthanasia access to mature minors and people

Nine states have already legalized physician-assisted suicide, (PAS) and New York may be next in line, Fordham University professor of theological bioethics Charles Camosy told Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Tuesday. Camosy told host Tucker Carlson that the most common reason patients in Oregon, where assisted suicide has been legal since 1997, request access to PAS is not due to “physical

  The Maryland Legislature is expected to again consider an assisted suicide bill in its new session. Once again, disability activists will be a prominent part of the coalition to oppose the bill as a discriminatory overlay to a beleaguered and inequitable health care system. The assisted suicide bill, authorizes health care providers to write

By Mary D. Lopez Lopez is the executive director at Independence Empowerment Center in Manassas. From 1997-2010, Lopez also served on the Board of Not Dead Yet, an advocacy group that opposes legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia. Last year Virginia lawmakers introduced assisted suicide legislation for the first time. Thankfully, that lethal bill never

  As is common among proponents of assisted suicide, Cheri Bach’s Jan. 7 opinion piece bills state-sanctioned killing as a dignified end of life “choice.” What Bach says about individuals’ desire for increased autonomy and control is true. However, for many where assisted suicide is legal, it is not a true choice and takes away