>Return-Path: [log in to unmask]
>Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 21:18:57 -0800 (PST)
>From: PAUL KENNETH LONGMORE <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: PAUL KENNETH LONGMORE <[log in to unmask]>
>cc: PAUL KENNETH LONGMORE <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Physician-Assisted Suicide Conference
>
>Colleagues:
>
>This coming Friday, November 13th, a conference will be held at UCSF to
>promote legalization of physician-assisted suicide in California. A bill
>to that effect will be introduced in Sacramento in the upcoming
>legislative session. The conference program includes prominent lawmakers,
>community leaders, and foundation executives. San Francisco Mayor Willie
>Brown will welcome the conferees. But the perspective of most
>disability-rights activists will be excluded. We are writing to ask you
>to sign on to the letter of protest that follows. Please forward this
>letter to other members of the California disability community.
>
>Names of endorsers should be emailed to: [log in to unmask]
>
>Please indicate if you are endorsing for yourself or on behalf of a
>disability-community organization. We need the endorsements by 2 pm,
>Monday, November 9th.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Deborah Kaplan Paul K. Longmore
>Executive Director Professor of History
>World Institute on Disability San Francisco State University
>
>
>
>AN OPEN LETTER TO PARTICIPANTS AND SPONSORS OF THE CALIFORNIA CONFERENCE
>ON PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED DYING
>
>On Friday, November 13, 1998, "the California Conference on Physician-
>Assisted Dying" will be held at the University of California San
>Francisco. Because you are listed as a participant or sponsor, we, as
>leaders in the California Disability Rights Community, are writing to you
>to express our concerns about this gathering and on the issue in general.
>
>Disability-rights organizations in California and across the country --
>including ADAPT, Californians for Disability Rights, the Multiple
>Sclerosis California Action Network (MS-CAN), the National Council on
>Independent Living, the National Council on Disability, the World
>Institute on Disability and Not Dead Yet-- have all taken strong stands
>against legalization.
>
>People with disabilities are regularly bombarded with messages that we
>cost too much to be allowed to live. On February 24th, this year, the
>Second Circuit Court of Appeal ruled, with the support of the national
>agency that regulates Medicaid and Medicare, that these programs need not
>pay for all medically necessary treatments, and may limit their coverage
>for budgetary reasons, even if (quote) "Put bluntly, . . . [it] would be a
>death sentence for some patients." On July 6th, the media reported that
>the nation's top HMOs are pulling out of state Medicaid programs which
>serve poor, elderly and disabled people. At the same time, policy makers
>like Ex-Colorado Governor Richard Lamm, are advocating a "duty to die"
>that would apply to those with medical conditions whose lives are too
>burdensome on families and society. This is the broader context from
>which our position on this issue is founded.
>
>It comes as no surprise that a diverse constituency of groups, including
>persons with disabilities, turned down the Physician Assisted Suicide
>Initiative in Michigan on November 3. Demographic analysis of the
>opposition to the initiative shows that African Americans and older people
>also are very skeptical of the reliability of any safeguards to protect
>against abuse. Experience already demonstrates that programs that start
>off with good intentions can easily become vehicles for younger people to
>preside over the deaths of older people, well-off people to preside over
>the deaths of poor people, white people to preside over the deaths of
>people of color, and non-disabled people over the deaths of people with
>disabilities.
>
>The organizers of the California Conference on Physician-Assisted Dying
>have created the illusion that they are open to critical perspectives.
>Yet rather than inviting leaders of any of the major disability rights
>organizations listed above to present their views, the conference planners
>have included a presentation from one of the few public figures from our
>community who agrees with their agenda and is a member of the Board of
>Directors of the Death with Dignity National Center. Thus, the
>proceedings will promote a distorted public representation of opinion in
>our movement.
>
>To our knowledge, the only disability organization to receive a
>non-transferable invitation is the World Institute on Disability (WID),
>and even that may have been a mistake, as it was addressed to the World
>Institute on Aging. When WID's Executive Director Deborah Kaplan
>contacted the Death with Dignity National Center in San Mateo, she was
>told frankly that the conference planners had organized the program in
>order to promote their political agenda, but that they would like to have
>a dialogue with disability-rights leaders on another occasion. We find
>that response patronizing, exclusionary and offensive.
>
>We want you to understand that a very large majority of disability
>organizations and leaders in California are opposed to any form of
>physician assisted suicide. We are aware of attempts to characterize our
>perspective as that of an irrational fringe element, and the only response
>we can provide is that this character assassination sheds more light on
>the accusers than the accused. We invite you to look at who we are: you
>know us. We provide services in your communities. You sit on our Boards
>and Advisory Boards. You speak at our events. We are a part of your
>community. We urge you to listen to us and take our position seriously.
>If this issue re-asserts itself into the California political agenda, we
>will speak out and our numbers will grow.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Deborah Kaplan Paul K. Longmore
>Executive Director Professor of History
>World Institute on Disability San Francisco State University
>
>
Colleagues:
Some of you have written to ask if it is possible to attend the conference at
UCSF next week to promote legalization in California of physician-assisted
suicide. Due to a mistake of mine, a paragraph regarding conference
registration was inadvertently omitted from the letter Deborah Kaplan and I
sent yesterday:
"We are also concerned that the conference has been organized in such a way
that it will effectively bar most people with
disabilities from attending. The registration fee is $75. Few members of our
community can afford such a charge. In addition, participation is by
invitation only. Those invitations are not transferable. Thus, most people
with disabilities will be prevented from voicing their views on an issue that
directly affects their lives."
The conference information phone numbers are 650-344-8100 and 650-344-6489.
Paul K. Longmore
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Devva Kasnitz, PhD
Research Director,
Research and Training Center
on Independent Living and Disability Policy
World Institute on Disability
510 16 Street, Suite #100
Oakland, CA 94612-1500
Voice: 510-251-4348
TTY: 510-208-9493
FAX: 510-208-9494
email: [log in to unmask]
Home: 2345 7th St
Berkeley, CA 94710
510-549-1865
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