Originally Posted - July 17, 2006

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ALBANY--- Protesters from the national disability rights group Not Dead Yet who oppose assisted suicide and euthanasia made their voices known last week at the annual conference of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanites held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Albany by the Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical College.

This year's conference had the theme "Bioethics & Politics: The Future of Bioethics In A Divided Democracy" and the two dozen Not Dead Yet members stated their dissatisfaction about not being made a part of the conference.

Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and Wesley Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, were among the speakers at a two-day conference. The conference focused on how politics and ethics are intertwined in such topics as advanced directives, cloning and stem cell research.

Caplan, the moderator of the bioethics symposium held at UPenn in May featuring Michael Schiavo, Judge George Greer, Ronald "Dr. Death" Cranford and Jay Wolfson, guardian ad litem in the Terri Schiavo case, was one of the most outspoken advocates to kill Terri Schindler Schiavo.

Caplan, an outspoken right to die proponent and advocate for Terri's death, said she had to die, "not because everyone who is brain damaged should be allowed to die. Not because her quality of life is too poor for anyone to think it meaningful to go on. Not even because she costs a lot of money to continue to care for. Simply because her husband who loves her and has stuck by her (while co-habitating with his paramour and fathering two illegitimate children and while he thought he was going to inherit Terri's trust) for more than 15 years says she would not want to live the way she is living".

Arthur Caplan did his best to taint the media against Terri's right to live, appearing on MSNBC, advocating her death, appearing before the House Judiciary Committee to testify against a federal review, testifying against House Bill 1151 "The Incapacitated Persons Legal Protection Act" which would have allowed federal intervention in cases like Schiavo's where state courts have ruled in favor of terminating life support.

Smith is an attorney and consultant for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide and a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture. He is an international lecturer and public speaker, appearing at political, university, medical, legal, bioethics, and community gatherings across the United States, Canada, Europe, South Africa, and Australia. He is the author of 11 books including "Forced Exit: The Slippery Slope From Assisted Suicide to Legalized Murder". 7-17-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette