Compassion & Choices: In Thought and Action May 2007

COMPASSION & CHOICES: IN THOUGHT AND ACTION 05.07

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Terminally Ill Californians Call for an End to Violent Deaths

Courageous terminally ill patients in California are imploring
lawmakers to give them a chance for a peaceful death by passing AB 374.

Nancy Kelem, a 53-year-old mother of three diagnosed with terminal
colon cancer, is asking legislators to grant her the safe, legal option
of aid in dying, “AB 374 would give me a peaceful, dignified death
that would not traumatize my family through violence, prolonged
suffering or the stigma of illegal suicide.” Louise Shaefer, who
appears in the picture above, died on Mother's Day.

Terminally ill Californians have few legal choices to ease their
end-of-life suffering and some, who find these options intolerable,
resort to a violent end from a gun shot or other methods that devastate
family members.

According to the Eureka Reporter, Humboldt County California Coroner’s
Office reports show that in 43 percent of the 141 suicides committed in
the past five years, a chronic or terminal illness was a factor. A
majority, 54 percent, died from a self-inflicted gun shot.

If those numbers were applied to the entire state, it’s estimated that
more than 700 seriously ill Californians end their suffering with a gun
each year.

Safe, legal aid in dying ends desperate gun violence as a cure for
suffering. In Oregon, 10 times as many patients request aid in dying as
use it. An available option comforts patients and true suicide among
the terminally ill disappears. AB 374 would cure the current harm and
reduce the pervasiveness of such tragedies in California.

If you are a Californian, take a few minutes now to voice your support
for AB 374.

Send your Assembly member a letter or e-mail. Make a telephone call.
Tell lawmakers to Stop the Violent Deaths: Vote for AB 374!

• Go to the Compassion & Choices Action Center:
http://capwiz.com/compassionandchoices/utr/1/FEROHDVGKW/GJJHHDVGWY/1198429451/

• Read the Eureka Reporter article:
http://capwiz.com/compassionandchoices/utr/1/FEROHDVGKW/LACWHDVGWZ/1198429451

• Read the NBC11 story:
http://capwiz.com/compassionandchoices/utr/1/FEROHDVGKW/FKEYHDVGXA/1198429451

• Read the Mercury News profile of Nancy Kelem:
http://capwiz.com/compassionandchoices/utr/1/FEROHDVGKW/JBPIHDVGXB/1198429451

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ON MY MIND. BY BARBARA COOMBS LEE

Secrecy and Shame – Tools of Oppression

“Secrecy is an enemy of justice and shame is its ally.” So wrote
philosopher Ronald Dworkin, commenting on Taryn Simon’s photographs of
the “hidden and unfamiliar” on exhibit at New York’s Whitney Museum
of American Art. Included is a stunning photograph of Compassion &
Choices client Don James, the day he received aid-in-dying medication.

Those who fight to keep aid in dying a crime perceive that a right to
choose how to die threatens them and undermines their power. The
American Medical Association and the Catholic hierarchy would stifle
Simon’s image of a calm, proud Don James. Well they know that legal
aid in dying poses no threat to palliative care, or patient safety or
medical integrity. Moreover, they know assisted death happens every
day, in every other state, at a rate four times that of legal aid in
dying in Oregon.

But clandestine assistance threatens neither medical supremacy nor
Catholic dogma because it keeps the tools of oppression—secrecy and
shame—intact. Premature, violent suicide among terminal patients is
acceptable, in their worldview, since society so clearly condemns it.
Similarly, to the pope, AIDS deaths are a small price to keep condom
use sinful. Deaths from back alley abortions are sad, but preferable to
legal, safe abortions. And violent, premature death among the
terminally ill is the legitimate cost to reserve decisions about dying
for God and God alone.

This is why the campaign to legalize aid in dying stands at the cutting
edge of justice advocacy in developed countries. Abolish secrecy and
shame, and justice can prevail over needless suffering and self-serving
dogma.

• Share with a friend or family member:
http://capwiz.com/compassionandchoices/utr/1/FEROHDVGKW/BRXBHDVGXC/1198429451/

• Make an secure online donation:
http://capwiz.com/compassionandchoices/utr/1/FEROHDVGKW/FZTDHDVGXD/1198429451/

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New Book Features Compassion & Choices Client

Acclaimed photographer Taryn Simon appeared on “Charlie Rose” to
discuss her life and work, her current exhibition at the Whitney
Museum, and her book, "An American Index of the Hidden and
Unfamiliar” that features a photograph of Compassion & Choices
client Don James. (Interview begins at 11:40, Don James photograph at
19:20)

• View Charlie Rose Interview with Taryn Simon:
http://capwiz.com/compassionandchoices/utr/1/FEROHDVGKW/FPFIHDVGXE/1198429451

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Study of Dutch Law Finds No Slippery Slope

A study released by the New England Journal of Medicine last week found
that the Dutch Euthanasia Act, in effect since 2002, resulted in a
decrease in rates of euthanasia and physician aid in dying.

In 2005, 1.7 percent of deaths in the Netherlands were attributed to
euthanasia and 0.1 percent to physician aided death. This was a marked
decrease from 2001 when corresponding numbers were 2.6 percent and 0.2
percent.

The study also found the law led to greater physician reporting, 80
percent in 2005 compared to 54 percent in 2001.

Dr. Nancy W. Dickey, former AMA president and current president of the
Texas A & M Health Science Center, commented on the study in recent
Forbes article. “Neither Oregon nor the Netherlands appear to have
started down a slippery slope,” she said. Dickey also credited
improvements in palliative care for reducing the need for aid in dying.

• Read the Forbes article:
http://capwiz.com/compassionandchoices/utr/1/FEROHDVGKW/JHGCHDVGXF/1198429451
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