SUPPORT THE PATIENTS RIGHTS COUNCIL
Latest additions to web site: 5/15/13
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“End-of-life bill head to governor for signature”
(Burlington Free Press — May 14, 2013)
Opponents were armed by the fact that the Senate had rewritten the bill just a week earlier. They argued that Senate version was crafted hastily with definitions left open to interpretation or misinterpretation…Nothing in the definition of a patient being capable of making a decision precludes an ill-meaning spouse from translating the patient’s wishes to a doctor. More on Vermont
“Report: Oregon’s suicide rate higher than nation’s”
New figures showing a sharp increase in suicides across the nation among middle-aged Americans show an even bigger increase in Oregon. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report shows Oregon saw a 49.3 percent increase in suicides among men and women aged 35-64, compared to 28 percent nationally.
[Note: Oregon's statistics do not include deaths under the state's law permitting doctor-prescribed suicide.] More on Oregon.
Doctor-prescribed suicide bills are being considered in a number of states. For developments in individual states, see Site Map
Scroll down for additional articles.
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Who will speak for you?
Imagine you are in an accident tomorrow and so seriously injured that you aren’t able to communicate about your health care wishes for several weeks. Who would make health care decisions for you during that time? Do you need an advance directive?
The Latest PRC Update (May-June 2013):
- Care or suicide? It’s all available at Washington’s “full-service” cancer center
- State legislatures deal with doctor-assisted suicide measures
- New developments in Minnesota’s case against the Final Exit Network
- Texas Struggles with Its Futile Care Beast
- Study finds diagnostic errors common in primary care
- Researchers develop test to see if older patients will be alive in 10 years
- Social isolation is deadly for older men & women
- Bioethicist says donor’s death is insignificant in harvesting organs
- News briefs from home & abroad
View as plain text. View as PDF
Recent Major Developments… (Read other recent articles here)
Vermont passes doctor-prescribed suicide law
(Burlington Free Press — May 14, 2013)
Opponents were armed by the fact that the Senate had rewritten the bill just a week earlier. They argued that Senate version was crafted hastily with definitions left open to interpretation or misinterpretation…Nothing in the definition of a patient being capable of making a decision precludes an ill-meaning spouse from translating the patient’s wishes to a doctor. More on Vermont
“Montana man wrongly told he had terminal brain cancer wins $60,000″
(CBS News — May 9, 2013)
In the months Templin believed he was dying he quit his job, sold his pickup truck, celebrated a “last” birthday, bought a prearranged funeral service and contemplated suicide.
“Half of families suffer in hospital”
(Telegraph — May 10, 2013)
About half of Britons say they or their families have experienced poor care and neglect at the hands of the NHS, a new study has found.
[Note: This is the same NHS that Dr. Donald Berwick, President Obama's first nominee to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, praised, saying, " I am romantic about the National Health Service. I love it."
"Suicide Rates Rise Sharply in U.S."
(New York Times -- May 2, 2013)
More people now die of suicide that in car accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2010 [the latest reporting year], there were 33,687 deaths from motor vehicle crashes and 38,364 suicides….The rise may stem from the economic downturn….Another factor may be the widespread availability of opioid drugs like OxyContin and oxycodone, which can be particularly deadly in large doses. [Note: that number is more than double the 16,259 homicides for the same time frame.]
“Poor NHS Care Drives Assisted Suicide Support”
(National Review — April 30, 2013)
Fears about standard care for terminally ill people in the NHS are fueling support for the legalisation of assisted suicide a study suggests. More than a third of those who said they support a change in the law cited a belief that dying people cannot expect to receive “decent” care at the end of their lives among their reasons.
“What Vermonters think about assisted suicide”
(Burlington Free Press — April 29, 2013)
In point of fact, the discourse from proponents has been replete with euphemisms, platitudes and even denial about the reality of the suicide that their proposal entails. Although euphemisms can be used out of respect for the sensitivities of others, they can also detract attention from what is really going on in proposed legislation.
“Islanders question health center merger”
(Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber — April 17, 2013)
The merger between the Highline Medical Center and Franciscan Health System has drawn controversy. Advocates for end-of-life choice say they’re concerned that Catholic health systems interfere with the Death with Dignity Act, which Washington voters passed in 2008.
“Leading cancer centre in Washington state sets up assisted suicide program”
(Bioedge — April 13, 2013)
The leading cancer centre in Washington state has published in the New England Journal of Medicine a blueprint of how to implement a dying-with-dignity program, now that assisted suicide has been leglised…[The article] followed 40 patients….One took more than a day to die, an outcome which distressed his family and the doctor.
“Connecticut General Assembly will not vote on assisted suicide bill this year”
(New Haven Register — April 5, 2013)
State Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D- Milford, the committee’s Senate vice chairwoman, said, “there wasn’t enough support in the committee for the vote. It wasn’t even close…. I think people have difficulty with the idea of having a societal go-ahead for suicide,” said Slossberg who said she is not a supporter. More on Connecticut.
“Taking up end-of-life care”
(Roanoke Times — April 1, 2013)
Sen. Mark Warner will reintroduce the Senior Navigation and Planning Act, a bill he first offered in 2009. Among other things, it would require doctors to tell patients with specified diseases about advance directives and other end-of-life planning tools.
More on Health Care Reform (Obamacare).
“New Data to Consider in D.N.R. Decisions”
(New York Times)
Every year in the United States, about 100,000 hospital patients age 65 and older experience what is known in medical parlance as Code Blue. Their hearts stop, and a medical team is summoned to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation….
The chance of recovering from cardiac arrest declined with age, but even in the oldest of the old — those 85 and older — almost half survived one year after being released from the hospital. “We shouldn’t hold a nihilistic attitude toward resuscitating the elderly.”….”If an older patient is cognitively intact and in reasonably good health, he or she might want to consider allowing resuscitative care.”
Featured Articles…(Read other recent articles here)
“Selling suicide with George Soros’ money”
(Washington Examiner — April 4, 2013)
As Connecticut lawmakers begin public hearings on assisted suicide this month, national advocacy groups like Compassion & Choices will mobilize to help create the illusion that the proposed bill is a grassroots initiative.
It isn’t.
“Elder Suicide Depicted as ‘Rational’”
(National Review — April 3, 2013)
When elderly, disabled, or ill people kill themselves, reports depict the deed as empowering or laudable exercises in personal autonomy.
“Still haunted by a grandmother’s suffering”
(Boston.com — April 1, 2013)
The possibility that a patient might prefer suicide (whether physician-assisted or not), simply because s/he does not have access to clinicians who can reliably prevent or alleviate their suffering, should haunt, unite, and mobilize us all, regardless of our views on legalizing so-called “aid in dying.”
Have you heard about VSED?
It stands for voluntarily stopping eating and drinking. VSED is being promoted by assisted-suicide activists who are also working to force health care providers to participate in it.
Important Questions & Answers about VSED
“Voice of the Free Press: The act is called suicide”
(Burlington Free Press — January 30, 2013)
The debate taking place in Montpelier shows just how far Vermont has to go before we can speak honestly about physician-assisted suicide….If we, as individuals and as a society, are too squeamish to call the act for what it is, be are hardly ready to go forward with legislation that would allow a physician to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to a patient.
“How Much For An MRI?”
A health care reporter tries to solve the mystery of her migraines with a doctor-recommended imaging test but trying to find out the real cost of that test induces headaches of its own. [Article contains tips for price-conscious healthcare consumers.]
(Kaiser Health News — December 9, 2012)
“Physician-Assisted Suicide Is Not Progressive”
(The Atlantic — Ira Byock — October 2012)
In today’s “Newspeak” the Hemlock Society morphed into Compassion and Choices, which promotes “death with dignity” and objects to the word “suicide,” preferring “aid-in-dying” and “self-deliverance.” These terms sound more wholesome, but the undisguised act is a morally primitive, socially regressive, response to basic human needs.
“If Medicare Tells You ‘No’”
(Wall Street Journal — October 18, 2012)
There are several things Medicare beneficiaries can do to reduce their costs….[O]ne that most beneficiaries don’t pursue is appealing denied medical claims. While the appeals process can be complicated and time-consuming, those who press their cases enjoy relatively high success rates.
More on Medicare and Medicaid
“Assisted Suicide and Disability”
(Diane Coleman — American Bar Association publication)
Assisted suicide has been marketed to the American public as a step toward increasing individual freedom, but choice is an empty slogan in a world full of pressures on people with chronic illnesses and disabilities. Now is not the time to establish a public policy securing the profits of a health care system that abandons those most in need and would bury the evidence of their crime.
More on Disability Perspective
“Physician-Assisted Suicide in Oregon: A Medical Perspective”
( Michigan Law Review, Vol. 106 – June 8, 2008 )
While previous articles have examined assisted suicide from legal and ethical perspectives, this article examines the Oregon law from a medical perspective. More
“Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide & Health Care Decisions: Protecting Yourself & Your Family.”
Table of Contents
Part 1: Detailed and extensively documented report about the latest in attempts to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia, along with tips for addressing these topics.
Part 2: Facts and practical information about advance directives including the difference between the Living Will and the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care.
From the bookshelf…
Twenty years ago, Ann Humphry, the co-founder of the Hemlock Society (now called Compassion and Choices) committed suicide. Her death made headlines worldwide.
Prior to her death, Ann contacted Rita Marker, a staunch euthanasia opponent. Over time, the two became close friends, and Ann asked Rita to make public secrets about the right-to-die movement — secrets that had weighed heavily on Ann.
Two years after Ann’s tragic death, the book, Deadly Compassion: The Death of Ann Humphry and the Truth About Euthanasia was published. It recounts Ann’s personal story, the founding of the Hemlock Society, and activities of euthanasia and doctor-prescribed suicide advocates. Thousands of copies of the book were sold in the United States, England, Canada and Australia. (Read excerpts from reviews of the book.)
Now, for the first time, you can read Deadly Compassion in its entirety on line in PDF format.
