{"id":2761,"date":"2018-05-18T14:46:53","date_gmt":"2018-05-18T14:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/?p=2761"},"modified":"2018-10-24T01:01:34","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T01:01:34","slug":"webcast-archive-american-medical-association-california-courts-roger-foley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/05\/webcast-archive-american-medical-association-california-courts-roger-foley\/","title":{"rendered":"Webcast archive: American Medical Association, California courts, &#038; Roger Foley"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1180\" height=\"664\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lc_Ogzdt_CY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In this episode of\u00a0<em>Euthanasia &amp; Disability<\/em>, Amy Hasbrouck, Christian Debray, and Taylor Hyatt discuss:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>AMA panel recommends staying the course<\/li>\n<li>California court declares assisted suicide law unconstitutional<\/li>\n<li>Roger Foley calls for a stop to euthanasia in Canada<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Please note that this text is only a script and that our webcast contains additional commentary.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION PANEL RECOMMENDS STAYING THE COURSE<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) of the American Medical Association (AMA) was asked to consider and offer recommendations on two possible actions related to their\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ama-assn.org\/delivering-care\/physician-assisted-suicide\">policy<\/a>\u00a0on \u201cphysician assisted suicide\u201d:\n<ul>\n<li>Resolution 15-A-16 would change the AMA\u2019s position from opposing AS\/E to having a neutral stance on the practice.<\/li>\n<li>Resolution 14-A-17 would have the AMA define and add the term \u201cAid in dying\u201d to policy discussions and position statements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Earlier this month, the CEJA issued a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ama-assn.org\/sites\/default\/files\/media-browser\/public\/hod\/a18-ceja5.pdf\">report<\/a>\u00a0explaining its decision to recommend no change to current policies.\u00a0 The report will be considered at the AMA\u2019s meeting next month.<\/li>\n<li>The CEJA took up the language question first.\u00a0 It explained that the terms people use to describe AS\/E reflect the political and ethical positions of the two sides of the debate.\u00a0 Though the resolution did not propose using the phrase \u201cdeath with dignity,\u201d the CEJA noted that supporters prefer it because it emphasizes \u201cpatients\u2019 values and goals,\u201d while \u201caid in dying\u201d signals doctors\u2019 commitment to care for and support the person.<\/li>\n<li>The CEJA felt the term \u201cphysician assisted suicide\u201d has \u201cnegative connotations regarding patients\u2019 psychological state.\u201d Yet they point out that \u201caid in dying\u201d and \u201cdeath with dignity\u201d are euphemisms that \u201cobscure or sanitize the activity.\u201d\u00a0 In the \u201cabsence of a perfect option,\u201d the CEJA chooses to stick with \u201cphysician assisted suicide\u201d because it describes the practice most accurately.\u00a0 In doing so, the CEJA appears to be taking the position that AS\/E is, in fact, suicide, which is also good news.<\/li>\n<li>The CEJA lists several values that unite the two sides of the debate and says reasonable people can have very different ideas of what actions will best support those values.\u00a0 These include:\n<ul>\n<li>Hope for a death that preserves dignity;<\/li>\n<li>The sacredness of taking care of someone at the end of life;<\/li>\n<li>Recognizing that relief of suffering is a primary goal of medicine; and<\/li>\n<li>Fully voluntary participation by both the person making the request and the doctor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The Report suggests that decisions should rest on thoughtful, stable and meaningful values and principles.<\/li>\n<li>The report never directly raises issues of discrimination, equity or equality; it only refers to \u201ccoercion of vulnerable persons,\u201d and \u201cpatients from disadvantaged groups.\u201d\u00a0 The CEJA does say that taking a neutral position amounts to agreement with AS\/E and rejects that option.<\/li>\n<li>The CEJA says the question of whether safeguards can prevent unintended consequences for people who request assisted suicide, doctors who provide it, and society at large \u201cremains deeply contested.\u201d\u00a0 The report cites studies that claim no problems have arisen, and others that question those conclusions, claiming the data are flawed, inadequate or distorted.\u00a0 The panel also notes that, in Europe, eligibility criteria have enlarged, \u201cdue care\u201d procedures are not always followed, and the CEJA questions whether oversight of the practice is adequate to prevent abuses.<\/li>\n<li>The panel concluded that \u201cevidence \u2026 that there have not yet been adverse consequences cannot guarantee that such consequences would not occur in the future.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The CEJA notes that doctors fail to discuss end-of-life issues, including palliative care, with their patients.\u00a0 As a result, \u201cmany patients may be led to request assisted suicide because they don\u2019t understand the degree of relief of suffering state-of-the-art palliative care can offer.\u201d\u00a0 Yet they don\u2019t mention that many people don\u2019t have access to palliative care.\u00a0 This is where the CEJA talks about \u201cdisadvantaged groups\u201d and people who are \u201cvulnerable to coercion\u201d but in a way that puts the burden on the individual, rather than on society for creating and maintaining the inequality and disadvantage.<\/li>\n<li>So, while the CEJA\u2019s recommendation, to reject the two resolutions, is a positive step, their conservative approach and failure to incorporate principles of equity and discrimination may cause the recommendation to be rejected by progressive members of the American Medical Association.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>CALIFORNIA COURT DECLARES ASSISTED SUICIDE LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When California\u2019s assisted suicide law was passed, a lot of people were shocked.\u00a0 That\u2019s because it was passed during a special legislative session on health care funding in October of 2015.\u00a0 This followed the sponsors\u2019 failure to get enough votes to pass it out of the Health Care committee in July of that year.\u00a0 By introducing an assisted suicide bill during the special session, advocates by-passed the committee process, where careful consideration and ongoing controversy had defeated all previous attempts at legalization.<\/li>\n<li>A group of doctors challenged the law once passed, and this week, a state Superior court judge ruled that the bill should not have been heard during the special session, since it did not concern health care funding.\u00a0 Though he declared the law unconstitutional, Judge Daniel Ottolia gave the California Attorney General five days to appeal the ruling.\u00a0 An appeal would allow the law to stay in effect until the higher court rules.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>ROGER FOLEY CALLS FOR A STOP TO EUTHANASIA IN CANADA<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Roger Foley has issued a letter to Attorney General Jody Wilson Raybould calling for Canada\u2019s assisted suicide and euthanasia program to be stopped until legislation guaranteeing adequate supports can be put in place.\u00a0 He also called for a \u201cpublic inquiry\u201d on AS\/E provided in Canada since the practices were legalized in 2016.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cPersons with disabilities are being assisted to their death rather than being assisted with life,\u201d the letter said.\u00a0 We talked about Foley\u2019s lawsuit on our webcast of\u00a0<a href=\"\/tvndy?p=2595\">March 16<\/a>\u00a0of this year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n   ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nThis week we are reviewing news from the American Medical Association, a California court, and Roger Foley.\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/05\/webcast-archive-american-medical-association-california-courts-roger-foley\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: American Medical Association, California courts, &#038; Roger Foley&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/05\/webcast-archive-american-medical-association-california-courts-roger-foley\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: American Medical Association, California courts, &#038; Roger Foley&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[121,201,196,118],"class_list":["post-2761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-webcast-archive","tag-euthanasia-disability","tag-medical-association","tag-roger-foley","tag-webcast","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2761"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3413,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2761\/revisions\/3413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}