Originally Posted - May 24, 2006

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Myra Christopher's activism in support of assisted suicide and euthanasia via legislative and public policy change, has been instrumental in many policy changes toward legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia in the U.S. The attainment of legalization has been through educational programs directed toward healthcare givers and healthcare systems, government and legislative policy, and the clergy, all which leads to changes in public views. Myra has spent more than 20 years to achieve that goal through her collaboration to the Last Acts and other groups favoring euthanasia.

Last Acts is a defunct organization, which spun off the Hemlock Society. Myra has had affiliations with Last Acts and other right to die groups that merged, splintered off, or ceased to exist, but they have all emanated from the original Hemlock Society or the Euthanasia Society. http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/041606HealthcareConnection.html

The Carolinas Center for Hospice and End of Life Care is a state coalition that provides "vision, leadership, partnership and resources to promote the highest quality of care across the end-of-life care continuum." Their coalition is a structure composed of 35 or more community coalitions, 30 or more advance care planning instructors, and various state partners such as the North Carolina Division of Aging, the North Carolina State Bar Association, and AARP's state affiliate. Their model is a structure for their public engagement campaign, which educates caregivers and consumers about planning for care at the end of life.

The Carolinas Center sponsored a Respecting Choices "train the trainer" certification program for advance care planning instructors, a similar program to Myra's LIFE Project, "Train the Trainer Speakers Bureau Workshop" series, and sponsored in Lawrence, KS, in 2004, which provided tools in support of speaking, and promotion of improved pain management and advance care planning. As of February 2003, instructors had held 51 sessions and trained 677 advance care planning facilitators in North Carolina. A follow up survey revealed that 82 percent of facilitators had helped patients or clients in a professional capacity. The Carolinas Center also created and distributed more than 91,000 "Isn't It Time We Talk?" advance care planning brochures, discussion guides and planning guides for consumers.

One community coalition collaborated with two major medical centers to distribute planning guides to patients. Another key initiative of the Carolinas Center has been to encourage the development of other end of life care coalitions. More than 30 community coalitions have emerged in North Carolina over the past few years.

Through Rallying Point's initiatives, the Carolinas Center's staff offers consultation to community and statewide coalitions around the nation. The Center claims to have had a significant impact on public policy. These partnerships have led to system changes at the state level in North Carolina.

The Carolinas Center is a founding partner of LIVE, along with Myra's Center for Practical Bioethics, The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, Pinellas Partnership for End of Life Care, Myra's Kansas LIFE Project, Hospice of Missoula, and Life's End Institute, to name a few.

The Carolinas Center's accomplishments include the creation of a registry for advance care directives, a process for "out of facility" do-not-resuscitate orders, and statewide recognition of National Health Care Decisions Week, sponsored by the American Bar Association.

The Carolinas Center has held more than 56 conferences and workshops for at least 6,679 participants. Highlights include a statewide conference for health care professionals in 2000, a palliative care summit in 2001, a caregiver leadership training event for health care professionals and community leaders in 2002, and a seminar featuring national experts who spoke about grief and loss in the workplace in 2002.

The Carolinas Center has created a national network of speakers to educate health care professionals, local coalitions and communities about end of life diversity issues. In addition, they have collaborated with the Duke Institute on another project. The Center focuses on the future to "expand and further refine our initiatives," They use data from the Means to a Better End report, along with results from a statewide end of life survey they cosponsored with AARP of North Carolina to achieve their goal.

What is their goal? "Our goal is to further statewide initiatives and efforts in local communities so that end-of-life care is integrated into the health care continuum."

End of life care and treatment is already integrated in the healthcare system and always has been. Medicine has not practiced assisted suicide and euthanasia care and treatment in the past. The missing factor in all this debate is accurate public knowledge for discussion, which euthanasia proponents present as lack of care, inadequate care, and poor legislative policies. The right to die advocates have shaped public opinion, and not with the complete truth.

If the Myra Christopher's and euthanasia advocates were truly focused on all aspects of end of life care, why are they not supporting physician, nursing, and other medical associations against assisted suicide and euthanasia at the state level when these individual states bring bills to the floor which allow these practices?

Caring Connections is another program Myra is affiliated with in some form or fashion. Caring Connections is a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) and provides a consumer initiative to improve end of life care.

In September 2004, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) was awarded a $2.3 million grant, titled Caring Connections, by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). The Foundation funded NHPCO to work towards four objectives;

1) Advance former RWJF funded programs of the Last Acts and Rallying Points Programs

2) Build consumer capacity to recognize and demand timely access to quality end of life care and services

3) Build community capacity to empower consumers to recognize and demand timely access to quality end of life care and services

4) Sustain these consumer outreach efforts to last beyond the funding provided by RWJF.

In November 2004, Caring Connections coalesced with more than 400 members of NHPCO. These coalitions, absorbing "Rallying Points" program members and resources, and partnerships such as Myra's LIFE Project's Caring Communities, worked at the state and community level to promote quality end of life care via professional outreach and education, public policy initiatives, community needs assessments, media and public relations, and consumer outreach strategies.

One informational booklet available to the public answers questions on Artificial Nutrition and Hydration (ANH), and was published by Last Acts. Artificial Nutrition and Hydration removed from the terminally ill is one issue of care where palliative measures are applied to ease discomforts of those dying and close to death. Removing ANH from the non terminally ill; those with severe head injuries, the disabled, those with Alzheimer's, AIDS, the elderly and infirm, is a separate issue of withholding care or treatment and constitutes no care. The lack of care and discontinuance of ANH is where we see passive, non-voluntary euthanasia. All the studies in the world cannot detract from the fact that there are major differences between patients who are terminally ill and dying that are unable to tolerate and forego or stop ANH, and patients not dying and who are not terminal that have no advance directives and no voice, yet a hospital and ethics committee or family member makes the decision to passively euthanize the patient. http://www.caringinfo.org/files/public/QA_Artificial_Nutrition_booklet.pdf

In September 2005, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded NHPCO another two years of funding to continue and build capacity for consumers and communities to improve and increase access to end of life care. Caring Connections provides free services and resources to consumers, coalitions and "LIVE" partners.

Some of LIVE's founding partners include Myra's Center for Practical Bioethics, the American Hospice Foundation, American Hospital Association, American Psychological Association, National Association of Social Workers, The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, Pinellas Partnership for End of Life Care, Emory University, Kansas LIFE Project, Hospice of Missoula, Life's End Institute, and The Carolinas Center for Hospice and End of Life Care.

Myra's Bioethics Center has been busy promoting euthanasia. But why are the Bioethics Centers and Bioethicists opposed to euthanasia not given equal voice and policy leverage? Why is the opposition silenced? Why is the opposition given no credibility by the mainstream media? Unless this changes, we will soon practice euthanasia and infanticide just like the Netherlands and at the same high rates.

"Medical excellence is not possible without ethical principles" 5-24-06