Connecticut: Elders Deserve Choices, Not Just A Bitter End

Description: [of the article from the Hartford Courant]

Barbara Coombs Lee, president of Compassion & Choices in Portland, Oregon writes about the tragic deaths of Joan and Thomas Vanacore. [Note: C&C is sponsoring a Connecticut lawsuit seeking to recognize doctor-aid-in-dying as legal (see below.)]

Today family, friends and neighbors who loved Joan and Thomas Vanacore are grieving their tragic deaths and wondering how it might have been different. The Vanacores, known by the community of North Haven as decent and loving people, died violently - because our society is dysfunctional around death. Our laws are cruel. Connecticut law denied them the peaceful, humane choices they deserved as their lives drew to a close. Compassion & Choices is working hard to change that and the sadness of this case only increases our determination to succeed.

Both the Vanacores had terminal illnesses. Thomas, 73, had advanced cancer and Joan, 70, was dying of Alzheimer's. We can't know for certain what Thomas was thinking Monday when he shot his beloved wife of 38 years in the head and turned the gun on himself in the sunroom of their home. But their story repeats a pattern and illuminates truths all too familiar to those who fight for dignity and choices at the end of life.

[There is information in the Notes section below.]
[There are other related stories in the Links section below.]

Links:

To read the full article click on one of these links, both of which go to the same destination. A short link is provided for the convenience of readers. Also, readers may search and browse past and future advisories on the web (see bottom.)

  • http://tinyurl.com/2ddorz7

  • http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-hc-lee-death-suicide-0516.artmay16,0,1487843.story

    Also see:

  • Connecticut murder-suicide renews interest in assisted suicide law [EuthaNEWSia, May 12, 2010; The Oakland Press]
    http://www.euthanewsia.ca/archive/2010/05/enid201005124292.4.html

    North Haven, Conn. - Thomas and Joan Vanacore were a loving, friendly couple with a wide circle of relatives and friends who loved them. But Thomas Vanacore, 73, had late-stage lung and bone cancer and Joan Vanacore, 70, had Alzheimer's disease. On Monday afternoon, Thomas Vanacore shot his wife of 38 years, and then turned the gun on himself. Authorities have ruled the shootings a murder-suicide.

  • Connecticut doctors sue over state suicide law [EuthaNEWSia, Oct. 9, 2009, Hartford Courant]
    http://www.euthanewsia.ca/archive/2009/10/enid200910096469.4.html

    Two Connecticut doctors, co-represented by Compassion & Choices, have filed a lawsuit that asks state courts to clarify whether doctors can prescribe life-ending medications for dying patients to take themselves. The wording of state law, from 1969, says that any person who "intentionally causes or aids another person, other than by force, duress or deception, to commit suicide" is guilty of second-degree manslaughter.

  • Compassion and Choices Uses Murder/Suicide For Political Advantage [Secondhand Smoke]
    http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2010/05/14/compassion-and-choices-uses-murdersuicide-for-political-advantage/
    Wesley Smith disapproves of Barbara Coombs Lee's article:

    I was going to post about this case-in which a husband with cancer murdered his wife with Alzheimer's disease, and then killed himself-because the political opportunists at the assisted suicide advocacy group Compassion and Choices decided to exploit the case to push their agenda. But Stephen Drake of Not Dead Yet, the disability rights group, beat me to it over at the Not Dead Yet website. He uses language I avoid, but he's definitely got C and C's number as to why its claim that legalizing Oregon-style assisted suicide could have avoided the shootings is disengenuous.

Source:

Coombs Lee, Barbara. "Elders Deserve Choices, Not Just A Bitter End". Hartford Courant. May 16, 2010. <www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-hc-lee-death-suicide-0516.artmay16,0,1487843.story>. Hartford Courant, 285 Broad Street, Hartford, CT 06115, U.S.A.

Tags:

Tags (or keywords) briefly indicate some major topics of the report.

  • Barbara Coombs Lee

  • Compassion & Choices

  • murder-suicide

  • Connecticut

  • U.S.A.

Notes:

  • Final Exit book updated for 2010 [Assisted-Suicide Blog, Derek Humphry]
    http://assistedsuicide.org/blog/2010/05/14/final-exit-book-updated-for-2010/
    Updated Book - Final Exit 3rd edition 2010

    There is a new, updated printing of ‘Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying’ by Derek Humphry. Now in print for its 20th year, this volume remains the gold standard for choice in dying books. It has been translated into 12 languages. Price of the English-language paperback remains at $17 USD plus $6 shipping. Price of the digital download ebook is $25 USD.

    This printing contains factual updates and new addresses, BUT DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY NEW WAYS OF SELF-DELIVERANCE. (I wish it did!) If you already have the 3rd edition (2002) plus the Addendum you do not need this new printing.

  • Australia: Christians Supporting Choice for Voluntary Euthanasia [Dying with Dignity New South Wales]
    http://www.dwdnsw.org.au/ves/index.php/Links/christians-supporting-choice-for-voluntary-euthanasia
    DWDNSW posts news of the web site of Christians supporting choice for Voluntary Euthanasia: www.Christiansforve.org.au - A growing group of Christians who believe that, as a demonstration of love and compassion, those with a terminal or hopeless illness should have the option of a pain-free, peaceful and dignified death with legal voluntary euthanasia.

ID:

The EuthaNEWSia ID for this advisory is: enid201005175930.
Mailed: Monday, May 17, 2010 14:30:22 -0600
at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Etcetera:

EuthaNEWSia is a free Canadian news advisory service covering end-of-life issues such as right to die, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. EuthaNEWSia is produced by the Right to Die Society of Canada which works toward a good death for all, including open, regulated and equitable access to euthanasia and assisted suicide. The editor is Michael Dawson <editor@euthanewsia.ca>. 

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