Category Archives: Stories

Read the winning essay, by 18 year old Megan K Brennan, here. Read about the contest here.

Burlington Free Press
Written by Jean Szilva
Apr. 21, 2011
…let’s be adult Americans who know what freedom is and allow those who suffer while dying to have an option of dying in a way consistent with their own culture and family values. Both my mother and sister would have loved to have this option. There is no doubt in my mind that each of them would have obtained a prescription. Whether they would have used it or not, I don’t know, but I sure wish they had the option. Please support H. 274. Continue reading →

Posted: 04/13/2011
Full Editorial
With everything else the Vermont Legislature has on its plate this year, passing the proposed Death with Dignity legislation is probably a little lower on the priority list than crafting a responsible budget and coming to a landing on healthcare issues. It would be a plus though, if after our lawmakers get through some of these other questions, that some time could be set aside to contemplate H.274, as the bill is known. They spent the better part of one day talking about a bill involving employee bathroom breaks not so long ago, so this doesn’t seem totally unreasonable…. Continue reading →

Read it here
4/16/11
Tom McKenna, Stowe Continue reading →

Read it here
4/11/11
Rutland Herald
Bethany Barry Menkart, Leicester Continue reading →

Read it here
4/7/11
Addison Eagle
Ron Slabaugh, Middlebury Continue reading →

Read them here
3/26/11
St Albans Messenger
Nicky Ford and Karen Delorme Continue reading →

Burlington Free Press
Mar. 22, 2011
Monica Knorr Continue reading →

March 20, 2011
Bob Stannard

…I understand how one’s religious or moral beliefs may very well conflict with the issues regarding the end of life. The same feelings may be felt toward the freedom to marry act allowing those of the same sex to marry. That issue also collides with the tightly held religious beliefs of many people. I respect those who hold these strong religious beliefs, which may run counter to my own. I have no desire to impose my strongly held beliefs on any other person. In my eyes you are free to choose to do whatever it is you want to do, as long as you do not impose upon me. I’m a Vermonter and that’s pretty much how Vermonters think. Generally speaking they could care less what you do, or who you do it with, as long as you mind your own business…. Continue reading →

Rutland Herald
3/18/11
RUSSELL J. TONKIN, M.D. – Plymouth
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Caledonian Record
3/18/11
Joan Harlowe
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Rutland Herald
3/17/11
HEIDI WILLIS – Salisbury
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Barre/Montpelier Times Argus
Mar 16, 2011
Lynne Jakubauskas – Montpelier Continue reading →

Bennington Banner
3/14/11
ROBERT A. ALPER
…During the discussion, one woman told the enormously painful story of her father-in-law. A man of high achievement and, late in life, diminished capacity, he had been seduced away from his senior living facility by a female caregiver. While the man lived with this caregiver, his family feared for his welfare and, indeed, his life. Under a program such as Death with Dignity, the speaker suggested, this caregiver could have obtained a prescription and secretly poisoned the defenseless man.

Quite the contrary. This case clearly demonstrates the efficacy of the extensive safeguards included in H.274. The speaker rightly suspected elder abuse and feared potential homicide. But a man in such a condition is in no way a candidate for the medical options offered by H.274…. Continue reading →

Burlington Free Press
Mar. 13, 2011
BILL TEGTMEYER – South Burlington Continue reading →

Brattleboro Reformer
Friday March 11, 2011
By BILL SCHMIDT
…More than a decade of experience in Oregon tells us that a law of this kind works well. Over a 12-year period in Oregon 460 patients took medication to hasten their death, a yearly average of 38 in a state with six times the population of Vermont. Many others who were granted prescriptions didn’t use them but were comforted by their being available if needed. It’s interesting too to note that over 90% of the patients using medication under the Death with Dignity Act were enrolled in Hospice in 2009, a substantial increase over the 20% of dying patients in Hospice in 1993 before the Oregon law was passed…. Continue reading →

St. Albans Messenger
3/10/11
Emerson Lynn Continue reading →

Randolph Herald
3/10/11
Allen Hood – Sharon Continue reading →

Caledonian Record
3/9/11
Kristin Newton
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Barre/Montpelier Times Argus
3/8/11
Edward C. Day – East Montpelier Center Continue reading →

Barre/Montpelier Times Argus
3/8/11
Chuck Kletecka – Waterbury Center Continue reading →

Bennington Banner
03/08/11
DAVID BABBOTT, M.D. – Shelburne
Board of Directors, Patient Choices Vermont
…The operative word to describe H.274, the proposed Vermont legislation, is choice: the option to choose or not to choose a patient-directed death which, under strict regulation, the law would allow. Choice to use the law takes away no freedom from those who do not wish to use the law, yet there are those who oppose the law who would impose their beliefs on fellow Vermonters with equally valid but differing beliefs and values….
Continue reading →

Caledonian Record
3/7/11
Frances L. Stone – Orwell Continue reading →

Valley News
3/5/11
John Benjamin – W Fairlee Continue reading →

Caledonian Record
3/2/11
Libby Hillhouse – Ryegate Continue reading →

Bennington Banner
Tuesday March 1, 2011
BARBARA and ED MORROW – Manchester
…The separation of church and state demands that we respect and protect the rights of individuals to hold their own beliefs, while at the same time ensuring that these beliefs do not tread on the rights of others. The bill under consideration (H.274) does that, and it is good public policy, proven by its 13 years of use in Oregon…. Continue reading →

Burlington Free Press
Sunday, February 27, 2011
L.B. SYMMES – Milton
…Throughout life, a patient makes medical decisions with a doctor about his/her health care and ought to be able to exercise the same right to make a decision about his/her manner of dying. … Continue reading →

2011-02-24
By Richard Mallary Continue reading →

Burlington Free Press
02/13/11
DENISE CONNALLY – Berlin
…People who support this issue simply want to have an option they don’t have now. Vermont does not decide “there are lives not worthy to be lived;” individuals decide what is best for them personally. At the end of life or at any stage of life an individual person usually knows what is in their best interests…. Continue reading →

Friday, February 11 2011
Suzanne Weinberg, Dummerston
“…No “prescription” for any health-related issue is right for everyone, and a patient deserves good information, support, and a nonjudgmental attitude from others in considering all options. Physicians who so choose also deserve to be able to respond to their patients’ needs without fears about their own safety.

If readers wish to get educated about the issues and the proposed bill, as well as see a history of how a similar bill, passed in Oregon 14 years ago, has played out, please visit the Patient Choices Vermont website. I think you’ll find that the news from the Northwest is good, and that we don’t need another hysterical and provocative sound bite to destroy civil and balanced discussion about end-of-life care….” Continue reading →

Barre/Montpelier Times Argus
01/25/11
Christopher Maloney – Barre
“How you wish to live or not live your life is squarely YOUR right. Let’s be frank, the whole controversy over physician-assisted suicide, or “right to die” or whatever other euphemism anyone can dream up, is strictly one of two things: religion-based or a false concern over the possible erosion of rights to longterm care.” Continue reading →

01/25/11
SAM TUEPKER – Mendon
…”I personally think if you want a “democracy” in the state of Vermont, then people should be allowed to choose if they want to end their lives. Who are we to choose for other people whether or not they should live?”… Continue reading →

Barre/Montpelier Times Argus
published Jan 18, 2011
Denise Connally – Berlin
…I saw several TV spots sponsored by the Vermont Center for Independent Living, an organization that describes itself as a supporter of disabled folks. The ad inferred that giving Vermonters end of life choice would encourage people with disabilities, like myself, to end their lives.
I am very disappointed that a group like VCIL would promote such nonsense. Using scare tactics and deliberately misinterpreting the intent of an issue is something we’ve seen a little too much of lately…. Continue reading →

Listen to and watch the remarkable chronicle of 62-year-old Lovelle Svart. A life-affirming woman dying of lung cancer, she recorded a video diary during the last six months of her life. She died on September 28, 2007. The newspaper, Oregonian, provided … Continue reading →

Television commentary spot featuring Dick Mallary (R), U.S. House of Representatives and Speaker of Vermont House of Representatives, and Jean Mallary, Vermont Ethics Network. Continue reading →

Among prominent advocates of patient directed dying, few speak with the credibility of the cloth. Bishop John Spong does. In this post, read an interview with Bishop Spong about hastened dying, or his January 2003 speech “Death: A Friend to be Welcomed, Not an Enemy to be Defeated.” Continue reading →

On making choices at the end of life Writing this personal letter has been a painful task in many ways, but we are sharing it in the hope that our story will help others.  more by Sue (Ford) LaGue and … Continue reading →

Twelve letters appeared in the Burlington Free Press between May 30 and June 7, 2007, in response to “Rate Your Legislature.” Read them here. Continue reading →

‘Dr. Death’ served us all with time in prison What has Jack Kevorkian, now that he has been released after eight years in prison for murder, actually accomplished? In 1998, he openly dared Michigan to put him in prison for … Continue reading →

Maria Walsh wrote the following prophetic letter as well as one published on June 26; she died on July 8, 2007. Liz Jeffords supported death with dignity Your April 14 article on the Liz Jeffords’ death did not mention that … Continue reading →

Vermont deserves credit for debate The Vermont Legislature deserves our sincere thanks for allowing the conversation and debate to occur around the Patient Choice and Control at the End of Life Act. Special thanks and respect are due to members … Continue reading →

Death with dignity no social experiment I absolutely, vehemently disagree with your editorial March 23 and your stance on the “death with dignity” bill, just defeated in the Vermont Legislature. Your view is that the bill would “allow doctors to … Continue reading →

End-of-life issue needs Legislature The Burlington Free Press editorial on Feb. 25 had it exactly backward when it wrote that a recent Zogby International poll about end-of-life issues was misleading. more My Turn Op-ed by Dick Walters, Burlington Free Press, … Continue reading →

I’ll be a sponsor of death with dignity bill During the 2005-06 session, the Legislature was asked to consider a highly controversial bill allowing physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients more By Representative Rick Hube in Bennington … Continue reading →

Bring death out of the closet … Passage of this legislation will … provide immeasurable peace of mind to the hundreds of Vermonters suffering in the final stages of incurable and irreversible illnesses… more By David Babbott, M.D., Burlington Free … Continue reading →

Individuals have right to die I first heard a patient with advanced ovarian cancer plead with me to help her die when I was a young doctor… more By Jackson B. Beecham, M.D., Burlington Free Press, February 5, 2007.

Death and dying a part of life …acknowledge the inevitability of dying, and in doing so provide, when the time comes, a better death; one which will supply a full measure of caring support and most importantly, respond to the … Continue reading →

Ten letters appeared in the Burlington Free Press under this headline: End of life: Most readers want a choice Published Sunday, January 14, 2007 Written by MELINDA L. MOULTON, Huntington JUDY KELLY, Burlington JOAN BENNEYAN, Brattleboro THOMAS P. McKENNA, Montpelier … Continue reading →

Death with dignity …I watched my beloved husband suffer with a disease for which there was no cure. He struggled with every effortful breath… more by Janice Barnard, Waitsfield.

Death with dignity has proven safeguards I would like to go on record as strongly supporting the death with dignity bill, …more by Dieter W. Gump, M.D., South Burlington.

End-of-life care needs resolution Legislation allowing Vermonters the choice to direct their end-of-life care is long overdue. The time has come…more by Denise Connally, Berlin. Death should be personal choice I’m writing to express my support for The Death With … Continue reading →