HEY! YOU! MEDIA!

Better the Rights I Know: Part 1 of Why I Oppose Assisted Suicide Legislation

/ Ingrid Tischer / Leave a comment

All of us know that our healthcare options are limited by the boundaries set by a for-profit healthcare industry. I’m justifiably skeptical of proposed assisted suicide legislation that was written and supported by the healthcare industry. Particularly when they are marketing it as a civil right that just happens to be the $300 alternative to more costly options.

Assisted suicide legislation, modeled on Oregon’s law, is once again up for a vote in the state where I live. I look at assisted suicide legislation as a public health issue that will affect thousands of people in the state of California alone. Consider just three factors in combination:

1) California’s fastest growing demographic is people age 60 and up.

2) Elder abuse is on the rise while investigating agencies such as Adult Protective Services (APS) caseworkers are already dealing with unmanageable caseloads.

3) A physician is not required to be present when assisted suicide drugs are taken but an heir may be present and help administer them. (“Self-administer” is a term that does, in fact, allow for assistance in taking the drugs.)

This is the real-world context where proposed assisted suicide legislation would be implemented. All of us know that our healthcare options are limited by the boundaries set by a for-profit healthcare  Continue reading →

Judging Assisted Suicide Policy, Not People

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This was a tough, tough interview and the toughest question NBC asked me was: “If you were talking to Brittany Maynard right now, would you tell her she can’t have this choice?”

A: I’d say, “I don’t want you to suffer and I want you to direct your own care so you have peace of mind. I’m a woman who has a degenerative neuromuscular disease and I want that for ME. But our choices aren’t really the problem and I don’t want to be set up to judge you. But I DO have to judge proposed public policy.
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Secrets of the Crip: Transhuman Edition

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Thanks to Regan Brashear’s film FIXED, I was part of a UCSF diversity-month panel where I indoctrina — excuse me, talked to — medical students/researchers, nurses, and physical therapists about the social model of disability and my general reaction to new “human enhancements.” (As I’ve said before, I’m more old-school when it comes to enhancements — and a HUGE fan of coffee, wheelchairs, Harrington rods, BiPAPs, and orthodontics.)

Here is what I consider a key question in any discussion about human enhancements and how I answer it.
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Voters with Disabilities Need Better Access to Polls

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For people with disabilities, voting alongside our neighbors should be a right not a privilege. But accessible polls are still considered a luxury that a nation at war cannot afford.

More than one out of five U.S. adults with disabilities have been unable to vote in presidential or congressional elections because of barriers at, or getting to, the polls, according to a September study by the National Organization on Disability. This translates into more than 8 million potential voters.

These are not new problems nor are they unknown to voting officials. A 2001 General Accounting Office study reported that 84 percent of surveyed polling places had a barrier that prevents a person with a disability from voting.

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