Sorry!

Mike Yates mikey+ at pitt.edu
Sat Aug 22 15:46:42 PDT 1998


Friends,

Marta's fine book can be ordered by email from amazon.com. It will arriv in a couple of days.

Michael yates

Marta Russell wrote:


> Chuck Grimes wrote:
>
> > I tried to find your book the other night at Cody's, Moe's, and then
> > B&N, but nobody had it.
>
> A friend said that they got a copy from Cody's but maybe they are out.
> The publisher is Common Courage Press, the distributor is Logan out of
> Chicago. You can order direct by calling 800 497-3207.
>
> > I will keep looking around locally, but in the meantime I have to ask
> > about Eleanor Smith.
> > This has to be the same Eleanor Smith I worked with, or rather under,
> > about thirty years ago at Cowell Hospital--the Univ of
> > Calif. Berkeley student hospital (since torn down and replaced with
> > the Haas School of Business!).
> >
> > She was an rehab nurse/occupational therapist (?) working for the Cal
> > Dept of Voc Rehab and was heavily involved in getting younger severely
> > disabled people out of county hospitals and into school or independent
> > living. Is this the same person? If so, could you just give a quick
> > sketch of the context and the quote? (off-list if you prefer)
>
> I don't know if Eleanor lived in California. But this sure sounds like
> something that she would be doing. She has lived in Georgia for many
> years. Here is the excerpt from Beyond Ramps:
>
> " McAFee told Joseph Shapiro of U.S. News & World Report that he hated
> losing control of his body but that losing control of his life was
> worse.8 McAFee had hoped to remain a valued participant in society, but
> found his way blocked at every turn by catch-22's. The lack of PAS in
> Georgia meant that McAfee had to be institutionalized;
> institutionalization meant that McAffee could not respond to want ads or
> take computer courses; no job re-training meant no chance for employment
> and employment itself could mean that work disincentives built into
> disability policy would risk the very support he needed to survive.
> Wouldn't any motivated person become despondent over such overwhelming
> obstacles?
> Eleanor Smith and other disability rights activists, outraged that
> society was willing to step in and help a disabled person die rather than
> provide the means to live, held demonstrations during the court hearings.
> The attorney, the physician, and the judge all participated in moving the
> suicide agenda forward.
> The attorney who pled his case said McAfee was "depressed" but did not
> insist (as he surely would have if a nondisabled client made a suicide
> request) that McAfee immediately receive crisis intervention therapy.
> Rather he directly filed the petition with the court , bypassing any
> depression therapy.10 During the court proceedings, McAfee explained to
> the judge that the seven months spent in Grady hospital was a low point
> for him and said, "Everyday when I wake up there is nothing to look
> forward to." The judge did not hear McAFee's plea to bring quality into
> his life. Judge Johnson ruled that McAfee had no "emotional or
> psychological disabilities" and granted McAfee's request to disconnect
> his ventilator. No psychological evaluation or intervention was ordered.
> The court assumed that a quadraplegic life would not be worth living, and
> that death was a rational choice. The judge called him "heroic" and
> "courageous."
>
> And later in the same chapter I used this from Smith's press release:
>
> "Activists pointed out that "the state creates an unbearable quality of
> life and then steps in and says disabled people should be assisted to die
> because their quality of life is so poor."16 None of the officials
> supported the attendant services that McAfee, the disabled citizen,
> requested. None seriously addressed the fact that PAS is a more cost
> effective means of solving care needs, or the simple fact that disabled
> people prefer a self-determined lifestyle. Most importantly, none of the
> experts addressed the fact that McAfee had been robbed of his
> self-esteem, demeaned, intruded upon, and humiliated by Georgia's social
> services bureaucracy. Instead, they gave him the "right" to die."
>
> > On the bio-ethics thread, I told my son, who is starting his first
> > year residency at some hospital in Texas, whenever anybody mentions
> > ethics, just follow the money. In medicine ethics => money.
>
> Yes unfortunately so. And dangerously so.
>
> I met a doctor from Wales who was visiting LA. He got to talking about
> the difference between the health care system in the UK and here. He
> flatly stated that he would never practice medicine for profit, that the
> two should be kept seperate because the patient would always lose out.
> He said that he took a salary but that his family supplemented his income
> by sheep farming. It was refreshing to talk to such a human being.
>
> Best,
> Marta



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