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Testimony Began Today in Vermont House Human Services Committee: Is Act 39 Working?

Posted in Devaluation of Lives with Disabilities, Disability Rights Groups' Opposition, Elder Abuse, Legislative Testimony, Uncategorized, Vermont Legislature on April 15, 2015 | Comments Off

      The following is the written testimony submitted to the House Human Services Committee, and given in person by Lynne Cleveland Vitzthum of the Vermont Center for Independent Living.  Kudos to Vitzthum for staying on message through repeated attempts by Committee Chair Anne Pugh to insist that disabled people are not vulnerable under this law. […]

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Roll call of Senate Vote

Posted in Vermont Alliance for Ethical Health Care, Vermont Legislature, Vote Results on March 12, 2015 | Comments Off

We want to thank all who stood strong and fought hard for Repeal of this disgraceful law. You have our admiration for standing up to protect patient’s rights to life and freedom from abuse, errors and outright coercion. The Amendment to Repeal Act 39 entirely was sponsored by Senator Norm McAllister, who made an emotional […]

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Urgent! Call your Senators today!

Posted in Action Alert, Letters to the Legislature, Vermont Legislature on February 25, 2015 | Comments Off

We need you to take URGENT action! Act 39 is expected to get a vote on the Senate floor at 1 pm Thursday (2/26). And the vote will be very close! We need you to call your Senators at the Statehouse today (Wednesday, 2/25) or early morning Thursday. So there is no time to wait! […]

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Our Tax Dollars at Work: Prettifying Suicide and Ignoring the Vulnerable

Posted in Choice Becomes "Duty" to Die, Chronic Diseases Rendered Terminal by Non-treatment, Devaluation of Lives with Disabilities, Disability Rights Groups' Opposition, Expansion of Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia, Language manipulation, Medical Opinions, Oregon, Personal Stories, Reasons to Oppose, Selfishness of Proponents, Selling of Suicide, Suicide Increase, Uncategorized, Vermont Legislature on February 20, 2015 | Comments Off

The Vermont Senate Health and Welfare Committee heard testimony on Wednesday on Act 39. The two questions being examined: “Is Act 39 working?” and “Should the sunset provisions in Act 39 be repealed?” Testimony was heard from a dozen people, nearly all of whom acknowledged that there are problems with the law, including the lack […]

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A Deep and Tragic Irony: In VT Lawmakers Praise Suicide Prevention Efforts While Legally Enabling Suicide

Posted in Repeal Effort, Suicide Contagion, Vermont Legislature on February 13, 2015 | Comments Off

The following resolution praising the state’s suicide prevention workers was presented today in the VT House: http://legislature.vermont.gov/assets/Documents/2016/Docs/RESOLUTN/HCR039/HCR039%20As%20Introduced.pdf. Among the choice quotes: “…suicide is a public health issue that affects individuals and families of all ages, socio-economic strata, ethnicities, and cultures…” True Dignity could not agree more.  We have been saying exactly this for years.  According to […]

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Vermont’s Suicide Conflict of Interest

Posted in Selling of Suicide, Suicide Contagion, Suicide Increase, Vermont Legislature on February 12, 2015 | Comments Off

Two stories were in the Vermont news this week that highlight a very real conflict of interest over suicide in this State. Vermont Public Radio aired an interview with JoEllen Tarallo-Falk, Director of the Vermont Suicide Prevention Center (VTSPC), on suicide prevention: http://digital.vpr.net/post/more-funding-needed-suicide-prevention-advocates-say Meanwhile, several media outlets published stories glamorizing two recent Legislature-endorsed (per Act […]

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Why Some People’s “Peace of Mind” Does Not Justify Legal Assisted Suicide

Posted in Elder Abuse, Vermont Legislature on February 2, 2015 | Comments Off

Assisted suicide should never be legal because some families are like this one: http://medicalfutility.blogspot.com/2015/01/bad-healthcare-surrogates-kill-patient.html. Though this is not an assisted suicide case, but one of withdrawal of life support and possible killing under the guise of “comfort care”, we don’t have to imagine how a similar scenario would play out with assisted suicide. We have […]

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