Making Choices About Death
A letter to the New York Times by FEN Board President Brian Ruder (Continue reading ...)
Living in the high-risk category in the time of COVID-19
We are all in the high-risk category for death because all living things die. However, each of us hopes to live a long, productive (however defined), satisfying life in the meantime. Covid-19 is causing many of us to reassess how long we may have left. (Continue reading ...)
New Final Exit Network website
We are happy to announce that the redesigned FEN website is up and running. (Continue reading ...)
COVID-19 Reveals A Deadly Failure of Priorities
Diane Coleman, President and CEO of Not Dead Yet, looks at the lack of resources available in the health care system as the nation prepares for overwhelming COVID-19 cases and discusses hoe the disabled will be significantly endangered. (Continue reading ...)
Understanding the right to die from a disabled person’s perspective
A dialogue about the right to die in interview format between the blog editor and a woman who has lived over four decades as a paraplegic. (Continue reading ...)
The slippery slope, voluntary decision-making, and equal protection
Slippery slope arguments deny rationality, moral precepts, and legal principles. Few of us who believe in a right to die go beyond the formulation of this right as a voluntary decision of one person about that person's life. The view that no one has the right to take from us the liberty to make such decisions to end our lives except ourselves appears to be the norm in this society for those who are near the end of their lives because of disease or condition. Voluntariness is inextricably bound up with the decision to die to escape suffering near the end of life. (Continue reading ...)
“Self-death” (suicide) as a natural right
A brief look at suicide historically, philosophically, constitutionally, legally, and practically as a right to all who value liberty. (Continue reading ...)
Deciding when suicide is a rational choice
How the Final Exit Network works to make hastening one's own death a rational endeavor–a review of the process. (Continue reading ...)
A Cruel Attack on the Disabled
Drawing on reports from Forbes, New York Times, USA Today, AXIOS, and the Philadelphia Inquirer, Jill Richardson explains the cruelty of reducing or eliminating disability benefits for the most vulnerable Americans. (Continue reading ...)
POLSTs and DNR orders are not Advance Directives
Patients complete advance directives without a physician's approval, though they may seek a physician's advice in doing so. Only a physician can issue a DNR order or a POLST, in consultation with the patient or surrogate. So long as the preferences and directives of patients are an integral part of the process, POLSTs appear to be a useful addition to late-stage medical care decision making (Continue reading ...)