Pro-Euthenasia
09.07.06: Senator Ron Wyden Blocks Threat to Oregon’s Aid-in-Dying Law
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon acted Tuesday to protect the state’s Death with Dignity Act by placing a hold on the proposed “Assisted Suicide Prevention Act.” The hold prevents the legislation from being voted on unless 60 senators move to lift it. The bill was introduced by Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback in August and would prohibit doctors from prescribing federally controlled substances for the purpose of aid in dying.
Wyden defended Oregon’s law, twice approved by voters, on the Senate floor saying, “The government ought not attempt to override or preempt the individual and the family values, religious beliefs, and wishes.”
Brownback’s bill comes less than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Bush administration challenge to the Death with Dignity Act by a vote of 6-3. If passed, the legislation would eviscerate the Oregon law and impact patients nationwide by placing a punitive restriction on a physician’s ability to adequately treat pain at end of life.
Compassion & Choices will continue to oppose Brownback’s move to legislate end-of-life care options and provide you with updates on this dangerous bill as they develop.
More on Brownback’s bill
Read the KTVZ story
09.05.06: Victory for Families in Nebraska
Nebraska’s proposed “humane care” ballot initiative failed to receive enough valid signatures to place it on the November ballot. The amendment would have required caregivers to administer food and water by any means necessary, unless the patient had explicit instructions to the contrary in an advance directive. It also opened the door for meddlesome politicians and organizations to challenge a family’s decision to remove a feeding tube, potentially tying it up in court for years.
Compassion & Choices has aggressively opposed health decision restriction efforts that have surfaced across the country in response to the Terri Schiavo case. This victory has strengthened our resolve to monitor and fight laws that seek to interfere with a patient’s wishes and a family’s ability to honor them.
08.30.06: Compassion & Choices calls for choice at the American Bar Association
Compassion & Choices President Barbara Coombs Lee and Director of Legal Affairs Kathryn Tucker participated in a panel discussion on Aug. 4 at the American Bar Association Annual Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii. The session, titled "Gonzales vs. Oregon—Lessons for States, Terminally Ill, and Schiavo Patients," brought together leading voices in medicine, law, medical ethics, and patient advocacy to delve into the far-reaching impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act.
Read the Star Bulletin article
08.23.06: Nebraska Measure Reveals Religious Right's Extremism
A proposed ballot initiative to amend the Nebraska Constitution is likely to be sent to voters in November. If passed, it will take end-of-life care decisions out of the hands of patients and their families, and put them into the hands of strangers and the courts.
Dubbed the "humane care" amendment, the measure would require caregivers to administer food and water to patients, by any means necessary, unless an advance directive specifically states otherwise. It also allows public officials, politicians, advocacy groups, or any other interested party to intrude in a family's most intimate and difficult decision, tying it up in court for years.
In the wake of the Terri Schiavo case, state legislatures nationwide have entertained legislation similar to this amendment. Compassion & Choices has taken the lead nationally to oppose these health decision restriction efforts. These laws will do great harm to people who do not want to be kept alive and unconscious against their will. They will intensify the grief of families and expose private, intimate decisions to protracted court battles and self-serving political grandstanding.
We are committed to defeating the measure, making our resources and information available to any organized opposition effort that develops. By actively educating our Nebraska members, we will spread the word to cast a "No" vote on the amendment in November.
To support Compassion & Choice's efforts to educate the public about this potentially devastating law, make a donation now.
The exact text of the Nebraska Humane Care Amendment:
To Amend Article I of the Constitution of Nebraska by adding a new section 30:
Humane Care
Sec. 30. The fundamental human right to food and water should not be denied to any person, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, nativity, disability, age, state of health, gender or other characteristic: No entity with a legal duty of care for a person within its custody (including a hospital, orphanage, foster home, nursing home, sanitarium, skilled nursing facility, prison, jail, detainment center, corporation, business, institution or individual) may refuse, deny, or fail to provide food and water sustenance and nourishment, however delivered, to any such person if death or grave physical harm could reasonably result from such withholding and the person at risk can metabolize. Any such person so threatened with dehydration or starvation, any relative of such person, such person’s legal guardian or surrogate, any public official with appropriate jurisdiction, or any protection and advocacy or ombudsman agency shall have legal standing to bring an action for injunctive relief, damages and reasonable attorney’s fees to uphold this standard of humane care. This section does not prohibit honoring the will of any person who, by means of a valid advance directive record, has fully, expressly, and personally either authorized the withholding of food or water from himself or herself under specific conditions, or delegated that decision, under specific conditions, to one or more relatives or to another person unrelated to the entity with a legal duty of care.
08.07.06: Aid in Dying Foe Brownback Launches New Threat
U.S. Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) introduced a bill last week dubbed the “Assisted Suicide Prevention Act” that seeks to prohibit doctors from prescribing federally controlled substances for the purpose of aid in dying.
In a subsequent statement, Brownback theorized that, “When the law permits killing as a medical 'treatment,' society’s moral guidelines are blurred, and killing could gain acceptance as a solution for the chronically ill or vulnerable.”
Compassion & Choices Legal Director Kathryn Tucker faced Brownback in May of 2006 when she testified at a Judiciary Committee hearing he chaired on “assisted suicide and euthanasia.” Tucker countered the opposition’s unfounded claims against the Oregon Death with Dignity Act stating, “The available data demonstrate that making the option of assisted dying available, far from posing any hazard to patients or the practice of medicine, has galvanized improvements in end of life care, benefiting all terminally ill Oregonians.”
In response to this latest threat to Oregon’s law and patient’s rights across America, Compassion & Choices President Barbara Coombs Lee pledges to take on the challenge saying, “We have met these elected officials head-on and will continue to do whatever it takes to deny their ability to use the levers of power to impose their ideological view of a person’s right to choice in dying. We must all be vigilant against this small group of senators who are determined to control our dying moments.”
Read Senator Brownback's Bill
Read the Eugene Register Guard article (PDF)
Read the Seattle Times editorial Oregon's Third Senator
08.03.06: Char Andrews, a true inspiration to the end-of-life choice movement, passed away at her home Wednesday, in Salem Oregon
One of our most vigorous and delightful spokespersons, Char Andrews, died at her home Wednesday, surrounded by dear friends and family. Char learned just a few weeks ago that her prognosis was limited and had begun the process of obtaining medications under Oregon’s law. While having options brought Char immeasurable comfort, in the end, she did not use the medication.
We will miss Char’s energy and passion for our cause. She was a maverick whose legacy will continue to bring comfort to those seeking good end-of-life care. In 2002, Char's decision to sign on as a patient plaintiff in defense of Oregon's law put her life in the national spotlight. She become an invaluable spokesperson who spoke with passion and a raw candor to reporters (and anyone who would listen) about the personal & political importance of end-of-life choice.
"Char took her place in a line of people fighting for Oregon's law and all the people who come after her who will receive enormous comfort just from knowing it is there," said Barbara Coombs Lee, President of Compassion & Choices. "Char was there for them."
Watch Char speak at the Washington, D.C. press conference:
Watch Now (Broadband)
Watch Now (Modem)
Read the Statesman Journal Article (PDF)
Read about Char's Memorial Service
07.28.06: New York Governor George E. Pataki, Vetoes Landmark Pain Bill
On July 26, 2006, after the New York State Legislature had unanimously passed the Palliative Care Education and Training Act, Governor George E. Pataki vetoed the bill, ending three years of work to better serve New York's citizens.
The bill was designed to improve palliative care and pain management, the first of its kind in the nation. Initiated by Compassion & Choices, the legislation addressed the urgent public health care crisis of the undertreatment of pain.
It is unclear at this time as to why the Governor chose to veto. There remains the possibility of an override by the New York Legislature.
06.27.06: The California Senate Judiciary Committee Rejects Compassionate Choice
We are heavy hearted today. Lawmakers in Sacramento failed us and they failed the people they serve. Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Joseph Dunn voted with the Republican minority to defeat AB 651. When politicians know a cause is just and vote against it, the system has failed. We had every reason to count Joe Dunn as an “aye” vote. We’ll never know how and why his vote changed, but it was not because our bill lacked merit, or popular support, or compelling testimony or cogent arguments.
Dunn told the packed room he feared the role of big money in politics, but big money won with his vote. California Medical Association, Catholic political operatives and Catholic hospitals got the outcome they wanted. These forces imposed their will on the state, defying 70% of its residents and dozens of strong advocates besides ourselves, including ACLU, NOW, the Council on Aging, Older Women’s League and the 500,000 member Congress of California Seniors.
We are heart broken for the sake of those like Tom McDonald, dying of melanoma, who pleaded with Dunn for a safe and peaceful option to the horrific death he faces. But in the end we are not disheartened.
Here is why:
Over the past 18 months we’ve moved the cause of Compassionate Choices to the front of public consciousness. We won the support of every major newspaper, high profile officials like Senator Diane Feinstein and a multitude of organizations and opinion leaders who had never thought seriously about aid in dying before.
This campaign won high marks for its intelligence, vigor, integrity and heart. Political observers know ours is a disciplined, creative and determined force for social change. And even our opponents suspect aid in dying will be legal everywhere one day. One set back can’t turn the tide.
We have met and welcomed many thousands of good and kind people to our cause, who will carry the memory of a campaign for compassion and choice, their whole lives. Doctors, attorneys, ministers and others of strong faith, nurses and social workers, families like yours and thousands more like you, bring understanding and compassion to the world because you helped fight this fight for human dignity and against needless suffering. Now we are connected and we will continue to stand up together for our values and beliefs.
Gratitude overwhelms us. Supporters too numerous to name, gave so much. So many of you traveled far, enlisted friends, dedicated your expertise and made this campaign possible with your spirit, wisdom and generous gifts of time and money. You showed up strong and spoke your truth. We will never forget your enormous generosity and hard work.
We're heartened to recall other struggles for social justice, and know we stand in a long line of campaigners who faced losses and never gave up. Society moves slowly and some never live to see their dream of freedom realized. Elizabeth Cady Stanton dedicated a lifetime to women’s suffrage, yet never cast a vote. As individuals we never know the full impact of our good works. Acts of kindness and mercy ripple through the world, and this brave campaign has its own enduring effect.
06.22.06: Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) Supports Compassionate Choices Act in California
Today, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) the nation’s leading Latino legal organization, endorsed legislative efforts to secure the right of terminally ill patients to make their own end of life choices.
“The California Compassionate and Choices Act”, AB 651 would ensure that all terminally ill patients in California have equal access to quality medical care and treatment—including a full commitment to the broad continuum of care, especially hospice and every modality of excellent palliative care.
> To learn more about MALDEF visit www.maldef.org
> Read the MALDEF Press Release (PDF)
06.20.06: Californians for Compassionate Choice testify before the California Senate Judiciary Committee
Today the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator Joe Dunn, holds the first of 2 hearings on AB 651. Today’s hearing is short, 12:00 noon – 1:30, and it will focus on bio-ethical issues. Our witnesses are Professor Ben Rich from University of California Davis, Dr. Nicholas L Gideonse, of Oregon Health and Science University and Dr. Richard, Ikeda, Medical Director of Health for All. Wesley Smith, fellow at the Discovery Institute, is the lead witness in opposition.
We know a formal hearing does not provide the full impact of our case for support of AB 651. Therefore, Dr. Gideonse and Dr. Ikeda also are appearing at a press conference in the Capitol today at 11:00 AM – 11:30. Dr. Gideonse will speak of his experience with elderly, dying patients who have been comforted by the assurance of a peaceful end of life. Dr. Ikeda will speak of the patients he cares for, elderly, frail, and deserving of the same assurance when they approach the end of their lives.
The second Judiciary hearing is next week—June 27th. This will be a full hearing and VOTE. If you can make it, please come to Sacramento and attend this hearing. A roomful of supporters is the best argument we can put forward!
Wednesday, June 14 the San Francisco went public with its long-standing position of neutrality on aid in dying. The statement is important as an example of the principled, non-dogmatic approach organized medicine should take toward end of life choice. Thank you to the San Francisco Medical Society for adopting this compassionate position.
> Listen to the Hearing
> Read the Proposed Law (PDF)
> Read the SF Chronicle editorial Politics of death
> Read the SF Chronicle article California looks to replicate Oregon's law
> Learn more about our efforts in California
05.23.06: On Friday, May 19, 2006 Sen. Brownback, chair of a Judiciary subcommittee of the U.S. Senate, announced a hearing to be held six days later, on “assisted suicide and euthanasia.”
Three witnesses, Compassion & Choices Legal Director Kathryn Tucker, Oregon Hospice Association Executive Director Ann Jackson and family member Julie McMurchie presented the reality of Oregon’s experience with legal aid in dying. They testified to the comfort and hope the law brings to dying patients and how hospice and palliative care has thrived and grown in the past eight years in Oregon.
> Read More
05.08.06: Compassion & Choices applauds the Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs and the Washington Legal Foundation
As the nation's leading organization dedicated to improving the care of terminally ill patients and advocating for excellent end of life care, Compassion & Choices applauds the successful effort by the Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs and the Washington Legal Foundation to remove barriers to patient access to potentially life extending medications. The plaintiffs in this case sought removal of a federal regulatory bar to patient access to medications that had passed an initial review for efficacy and safety (referred to as "Post Phase I" drugs), which might offer life saving or extending benefits to some terminally ill patients. The decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT, issued May 2, 2006 (No. 04-5350) empowers the patients to make an informed choice about whether to seek and consume such medications.
Instrumental in the Court's ruling were two cases that Compassion & Choices litigated: Washington v.Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702, 710 (1997), and Gonzales v. Oregon, 126 S.Ct. 904, 922-23 (2006). The D.C. Circuit relied upon both of these decisions as authority in reaching its decision.
05.05.06: New Report from New York University Law School
We have available a new report, Law, Medicine and Morality: Implications of the Terri Schiavo case. In March 2006 Compassion & Choices joined the MergerWatch Project and the Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Program of New York University Law School to present findings and raise awareness of the Religious Right’s new assault on end-of-life decisions.
> Read this authoritative and alarming report (PDF)
04.27.06: Endorsement from California Senator Diane Feinstein
Today California Senator Diane Feinstein put her enormous political credibility and stature behind the Compassionate Choices Act, pending in the California legislature. Assembly member Patty Berg received a letter of full endorsement and support.
This marks a sea change in the national politics of Compassion & Choices advocacy.
> Read Senator Diane Feinstein's endorsement (PDF)
04.26.06: Sid Lezak, a vibrant and steadfast supporter of Oregon’s aid in dying law, died this week
A person of enormous stature in Oregon and beyond, Sid devoted his life to law, in the service of justice.
> Read the Oregonian editorial
04.06.06: Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) Supports Compassionate Choices Act in California
"The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) supports the Compassionate Choices Act because it would strengthen protections for California’s terminally ill, including the uninsured, by providing equal access to choices in medical care as they enter the final stage of their lives. A law similar to the Act has greatly improved end of life care in the State of Oregon, heightened the quality of end of life medical treatment, and shed light on disparities in care that currently exist.
MALDEF has looked closely at AB 651. In a sensitive and thoughtful way, it protects vulnerable populations while giving individual patients control of their own end of life choices. This is an intimate personal decision made among a patient, family members and a doctor, and is of fundamental importance to Latinos and all Californians. MALDEF supports the Compassionate Choices Act.”
Francisco Estrada, Director of Public Policy
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)
MALDEF is a respected voice for the latino/latino community, their endorsement is vital to Compasssion & Choices' efforts to pass an aid-in-dying law in California.
> To learn more about MALDEF visit www.maldef.org
03.30.06: The Washington State Department of Health will set up a secure, Web-based registry of living wills and other health care directives
Under the measure Gov. Christine Gregoire signed into law, legal documents spelling out Washingtonians' wishes for end-of-life medical care could be directly entered into the online registry, where they could be accessed or rescinded at any time.
The health agency also will post living wills, medical power of attorney orders and other such health directives to the site on behalf of Washingtonians who send their documents to the state.
> Read the Associated Press article (PDF)
03.28.06: Advocates for patients’ rights warn against restrictive post-Schiavo legislation; call for policies to ensure that patients’ wishes be honored
One year after Terri Schiavo’s husband, Michael, won a legal battle for the right to have her wishes respected and a feeding tube removed, two national patients’ rights organizations warned today about the danger of legislation introduced in 23 states that would make honoring patients’ wishes to forgo life-sustaining treatment more difficult.
A list of 49 proposed laws introduced in 2005 and 2006 state legislative sessions was released by the MergerWatch Project and Compassion & Choices, two organizations dedicated to protecting patients’ rights to self-determination.
> Visit the One Year Later: Lessons from Terri Schiavo page
03.17.06: Another Win for Compassion & Choices' Efforts to Relieve Suffering
With legal assistance from Compassion & Choices, Dr. Harold Luke, of Redlands, California, regained his right to practice medicine this week. The Medical Board had revoked Dr. Luke’s license for administering morphine to relieve a dying man’s agony. Compassion & Choices attorney Kathryn Tucker led an appeal and assembled a coalition of pain specialists to aid in Dr. Luke’s defense. This week the Board reconsidered, and issued a light reprimand instead.
> Read the LA Times article
> View all documents related to the Dr. Luke case
03.09.06: The Oregon Department of Human Resources released its Eighth Annual Report on Oregon’s aid-in-dying law today
Thirty-eight Oregonians ended their lives under the Death with Dignity Act in 2005 compared to 37 who did so in the previous year, according to the eighth annual report released today by the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS).
"Once again, our report shows little change in the demographics and characteristics among those who are using this law," said Mel Kohn, M.D., state epidemiologist. "And again, these deaths reflect a very small portion of the average 31,000 annual deaths in Oregon."
Physician aid-in-dying was legalized in 1997 and, since then, 246 Oregonians have used the law to hasten their death. |
