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Jun 13, 2013Elder Abuse – A National Tragedy

By Ashley Carson Cottingham
National Field Director

On June 15, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, we take time to acknowledge that an estimated 2.1 million older Americans fall victim to elder abuse, neglect and financial exploitation each year. At Compassion & Choices we work diligently to protect older adults by upholding their rights at the end of life, sometimes when they are no longer able to speak for themselves. And this year we became proud members of the Elder Justice Coalition in Washington, D.C.

Elder abuse occurs on a regular basis, affecting some of the most vulnerable members of our society. What’s even worse is that for every reported case of elder abuse, neglect and exploitation, experts believe there are five that go unreported. We must put an end to it.

Our work has exposed a form of elder abuse that is rarely discussed. It occurs when an older adult’s expressed wishes at the end of life are ignored, and as a result they are subjected to unwanted and invasive medical treatment. We believe this unwanted treatment absolutely constitutes elder abuse. More

Jun 4, 2013“She Didn’t Have to Suffer”

Compassion & Choices filed a groundbreaking legal case in April against a hospital and nursing home for failing to honor a patient’s end-of-life wishes. The complaint alleges Lakeland Regional Medical Center (LRMC) violated the late Marjorie Mangiaruca’s wishes for minimal end-of-life care and subjected her to aggressive, invasive resuscitation and life-prolonging treatment despite her clear instruction to refuse such treatment.

Compassion & Choices works in courts to advance patient choice in end-of-life care. This case aims to ensure medical professionals respect their patients’ wishes. Director of Legal Affairs Kathryn Tucker and Florida trial attorney Jeff Badgley filed a civil suit in Polk County, Florida, on behalf of Marjorie and her daughter Sharon Hallada. The case contends LRMC didn’t transmit Marjorie’s end-of-life medical instructions when staff transferred her to a nursing home run by Oakbridge Healthcare Associates, and Oakbridge didn’t determine if she had advance directives. Their combined failure resulted in EMTs delivering aggressive treatment that prolonged and aggravated Marjorie’s death. More

Jun 4, 2013Lifelong Fighters

Married for 59 years and dedicated to civil rights issues even longer, Mary Fran and Peter Libassi of Connecticut are directing their energy and passion to advancing end-of-life choice in the East. They are both longtime supporters of Compassion & Choices, with Mary Fran’s views shaped as a young woman in the conservative South.

“I really can’t remember how it started,” said Mary Fran, “but it was when I was in my early 20s – and I grew up in the South, a really conservative community, Presbyterian church. I have just had this sense for a long, long time that it is really an inalienable right that everybody should have.”

Peter, a retired attorney who held positions in the Johnson and Carter administrations working to advance desegregation, women’s rights and disability rights, and Mary Fran, a former social worker and professor at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work, saw the recent campaigns in their area as a great opportunity to get more actively involved. “It was the Massachusetts initiative that came up,” noted Peter. “In Massachusetts we lost, which surprised people in Connecticut. But we made phone calls on behalf of the Massachusetts campaign urging people to support it.” More

Jun 4, 2013Victory in Vermont

Vermont made history last month when its legislature became the first to authorize access to aid in dying. “Gov. Peter Shumlin and Vermont legislators have shattered a barrier by becoming the first politicians to show the courage to enact a death-with-dignity law,” said Compassion & Choices President Barbara Coombs Lee about the impactful win. Vermont is now the fourth state to affirmatively allow physician aid in dying and the first in the East. Oregon and Washington both sanctioned the practice through ballot initiatives, while Montana affirmed this option for the terminally ill via a state Supreme Court ruling in Compassion & Choices’ Baxter v. Montana case.

The Vermont bill is also unique in that it starts with rigorous requirements similar to the Oregon and Washington laws, including mandates for waiting periods, second opinions and extensive physician reporting. But after three years it transitions to a model governed by best practice standards, as in Montana. “Professional practice standards guide all of medicine, and it is appropriate for aid in dying to be governed in this manner,” explained Compassion & Choices Legal Affairs Director Kathryn Tucker, who testified before both the Vermont House and Senate in favor of the bill and also served as lead counsel in the Baxter case. More

Jun 3, 2013Compassion Drives ‘Aid in Dying’ Movement

By Mary Steiner

Jun 02, 2013

Vermont recently approved historic legislation allowing aid in dying, sometimes referred to as “death with dignity.”

Its The Patient Choice at End of Life Act represents a tremendous advance for citizens of that state and the entire movement to expand end-of-life choice. Although widely covered in media on the East Coast, this important development received little attention in Hawaii.

Aid in dying allows terminally ill, mentally competent adult patients to request, and physicians to prescribe, life-ending medication when they their suffering unbearable to bring about a peaceful death.

Vermont is the first state to enact such a law legislatively. Oregon and Washington passed death-with-dig- nity acts by referendum, while the Montana Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that physicians there may provide aid in dying.

The new Vermont law, which the governor signed on May 20, contains provisions similar to Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act and policies in Hawaii. It follows Oregon’s model, but after three years, those requirements expire, at which time professional practice standards will prevail, as they do in Hawaii. More

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