Thought some people might be interested in this, I find the testimony compelling. I'll say this for Kevorkian, he is a genius at misspecifying an issue to suit his interests. >--------------------- >Forwarded message: >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Justice-For-All Moderator) >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: 96-05-15 21:49:37 EDT > > Justice For All > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Kevorkian Just Keeps on Going...... > >A Michigan jury acquitted Jack Kevorkian of criminal >charges that he helped two women kill themselves in >1991. Kevorkian immediately declared that this should >legitimize the practice of physician-assisted suicide >in Michigan and elsewhere in the country. The jurors >were comprised of six men and six women. > >The verdict comes at a time in our country where this >debate has shifted to the national level. Many of the >jurors expressed dismay at the ambiguousness of the >law and spoke of needing clarification from a higher >authority (Congress?). Richard Thompson, Oakland County >Prosecutor warned that the "ultimate victims" of legalized >physician-assisted suicide would be "the most vulnerable >in our society, the people on the margins." > >The 1991 women were Majorie Wantz, 58 and Sherry Miller,43. >Neither women were terminally ill. Miller had multiple >sclerosis, and Wantz suffered from a painful pelvic condition, >the cause of which was never determined. > >What will this country do? Will we have federal legislation >addressing the issue of physician-assisted suicide or will >we continue to leave it to the court and juror's determination >of guilt or innocence? > >Congress has begun to look at this issue and recently Diane >Coleman, J.D. and Carol Gill, Ph.D, two noted disability >activists presented their side to this question. The following >is a summary of the testimony that Diane delivered on April >29, 1996 before the Constitution Subcommittee of the Judiciary >Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. > > Summary > >Most proponents of physician-assisted suicide for the terminally >ill would say that a representative of the disability community >does not really belong here today. But, in fact, forty individuals >and organizations have endorsed this testimony, including the >ADAPT, and Justin Dart, the "father" of the Americans with Disabilities >Act. > >Court after court has already declared that people with disabilities >are essentially the same as people with terminal illnesses based on >our perceived low quality of life. Many cases involve people with >quadriplegia, often unnecessarily locked away in nursing homes. > >No court questioned the suicidal feelings of Elizabeth Bouvia, >David Rivlin, Larry McAfee, Hector Rodas or Kenneth Bergstedt. >Courts superficially concluded that those individuals' suicidal >despair was not treatable. They were granted a so-called "right >to die" without being offered adequate supports for living. These >highly publicized cases are the tip of the iceberg, and disabled >people are beginning to feel that we are riding on the Titanic. > >A west coast mother recently killed her brain injured teenaged >daughter. The judge said her actions were understandable, that >other parents could be expected to react in the same way, and >he sentenced her to COMMUNITY SERVICE. A U.S. government report >on child abuse recently found that children with disabilities >are twice as likely to be abused as nondisabled children. > >Assisted suicide proponents have reinforced public prejudice >and fear regarding disability, lablelling it "pitiful," >"helpless," "hopeless," "miserable," and inherently "undignified." >This is an insult to our lifestyles. Experienced people with >disabilities have learned that there's more to life than >toileting independently. > >Physicians must not be granted the power to decide who will >be given suicide prevention and who will not. Research shows >that physicians dramatically underestimate quality of life for >people with disabilities compared to our own assessments. > >According to a Dutch governmental report in 1990, in the >Netherlands, 5,941 persons, including over 1,400 competent >persons, were given lethal injections without consent, because >of such express reasons as "low quality of life," "no prospect >of improvement," and "the family could not take any more." >(Doctor Assisted Suuicide and the Euthanasia Movement, ed. by >Gary E. McCuen) > >In the U.S., involuntary passive euthanasia of people with >mental disabilities is already common. Medical rehabilitation >specialists report that quadriplegics and other significantly >disabled people are dying wrongfully in increasing numbers >because emergency room physicians withhold aggressive treatment. >Disabled people who use ventilators report that they are >increasingly asked by medical personnel to consider "do not >resuscitate" orders and withdrawl of life support. Children >with non-terminal disabilities are killed by the denial of >routine treatment. People with relatively mild disabilities >are denied life saving organ transplants. > >Indeed, the 9th Circuit Court decision in effect recognizes >assisted suicide as an acceptable solution to the economic >burdens of healthcare. The so-called "right to die" has become >the "duty to die." Kevorkian has stated, "The voluntary self- >elimination of ... mortally diseased and crippled lives taken >collectively can only enhance the preservation of public >health and welfare." > >Many proponents of physician-assisted suicide believe that >adequate safeguards can be adopted. If so, as a matter of >equal protection, then they should be willing to allow physician- >assisted suicide for any citizen, regardless of their health >status. However, no one has proposed that physician-assisted >suicide be made available to all citizens on a non-discriminatory >basis. The fact is that they are willing to risk the lives of >hundreds of thousands of severly disabled people who are not >terminally ill in order to secure a right to assisted suicide >for others. People with disabilities protest this cavalier >devaluation of our lives. > >With today's cutbacks in health care and the human service >"safey net" and with growing isolation from the supports >of families could once more easily provide, people's fears >of aging, illness, disability, and the dying process are >understandably growing. > >But, particularly in the absense of a constitutional right >to physician care, a right to physician-assisted suicide is >not the answer. > >We ask all who care about social injustice to believe us when >we state that disability-based discrimination is deep-seated, >virtually unconscious, pervasive and overwhelming. This >discrimination against millions of Americans must be acknowledged, >understood and reversed long before we can discuss expanding the >ways in which society's unwanted can be killed. > >We can only call upon this Congress and the good people of our >nation to resist. We are the proverbial "canaries in the coalmine." >If we are declared expendable, who will be next?" > >If anyone desires a copy of the entire testimony, please call >Diane Coleman @ 708-986-0779. > >Where will you be on this issue? Don't let it slip up on you as >a non-issue, because with each days passing it becomes more and >more real.
