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NEWS RELEASE
Monday, November 23, 1998
NOT DEAD YET (Oregon)
1535 Commercial St. SE
Salem, OR 97302
Contact: Ellie Jenny 503-363-1748
Not Dead Yet members will be available to detail cuts in funding for attendant care providers, while assisted suicide promises to be fully funded. To put barriers in the way of attendant care for severely disabled and elderly individuals, including those who may be in wheelchairs or even quadriplegic, some of whom may be labeled "terminally ill," endangers the lives of these vulnerable citizens.
Ms. Jenny emphasized, "Because assisted suicide endangers the elderly and disabled, all nine national disability groups which have adopted a position on legalization of assisted suicide have decided to oppose it. We also oppose funding assisted suicide in a State that has already cut needed services to the disabled and elderly."
For details, members of Not Dead Yet will be available at 9:30 am, Monday, November 23, 1998, at the Human Resources Building, in room 137 A & B. The Not Dead Yet protest will at the OMAP rules change hearing in Salem at the above mentioned time and location.
My name is Ric Burger, I am the President of the Oregon chapter of American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT). In addition, I am a member of the Disability Services Advisory Council for Multnomah County. I am listing these organizations for identification purposes only.
My purpose for being here today is to oppose any action that makes Physician induced death a covered service under the Oregon Health Plan. Today, disabled people in Oregon are facing a grave crisis. Community Based Attendant Services are becoming harder to access due to the lack of compensation for service providers. In other words people who want to live in the community are facing a shrinking supply of service providers, and will eventually forced into institutional settings.
The fact that the State of Oregon will not properly fund our Personal Attendant Services, yet will pay for us to die, amounts to nothing less than cultural genocide. I believe that greedy health maintenance organizations will place pressure on us to end our lives.
I am a diabetic. Under measure 16 I can be considered terminally ill. Even though I live an active life. However, I do need attendant services in order to live independently. If those services became unavailable, I could be forced into a nursing home. A situation that would lead to severe depression. This would leave me exposed to pressure from an HMO to end my life.
The proponents of Physician induced death refer to this as a quality of life issue. I ask them, if you are concerned about our quality of life, why aren't you advocating for increased funding for attendant services? Why is your so-called compassion limited to allowing us to die?
Thank you.
Ric Burger
Local, Memphis:
Tim Wheat
(901) 726-6404 * (901) 726-6521 fax
1633 Madison Avenue - Memphis TN 38104
National:
Steve Drake
Rochester, NY.
Diane Coleman
(708) 209-1500 ext. 11
7521 Madison St., - Forest Park, IL 60130
The Memphis Center for Independent Living
1633 Madison Avenue,
Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 726-6404 v/tty (901) 726-6521 fax
mcil@mcil.org
MCIL is a United Way of the Mid-South member Agency
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