Interview With State Senator Mike Padden on TVW, Thursday 10/04/24 at 7 pm

Senator Padden:

As mentioned in my most recent e-newsletter, I sat down for a “farewell interview” with Austin Jenkins, the host of TVW’s "Inside Olympia" show. 

The interview focused on my 28-year career in the Legislature and some of the key issues I focused on during my years in the House and Senate. The interview will be shown for the first time on TVW this Thursday (October 3) at 7 p.m. 

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For a short summary of Senator Padden 's life and career, please see below.

My Personal Experience With Assisted Suicide

By Margaret Dore

In another life, most likely in 1980 when I was 23 years old, I talked three young men down from suicide.

What I think happened is that a final exit network type person had given them my phone number by mistake. This was before the age of caller ID.

I was contacted by each of the three young men over a period of time, each one wanting assistance to kill himself. 

I called a suicide prevention person to ask what I should do, i.e., with regard to the first one. The person told me to ask the suicidal person why? To engage him.  

My Mum Didn't Die

Good morning. I’m Anita Cameron, Director of Minority Outreach for Not Dead Yet, a national, grassroots disability organization opposed to medical discrimination, healthcare rationing, euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Assisted suicide laws are dangerous because though these laws are supposed to be for people with six months or less to live, doctors are often wrong about a terminal diagnosis. In 2009, while living in Washington state, my mother was determined to be at the end stage of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. I was told her death was imminent, that if I wanted to see her alive, I should get there in two days. She rallied, but was still quite ill, so she was placed in hospice. Her doctor said that her body had begun the process of dying.

Though she survived 6 months of hospice, her doctor convinced her that her body was still in the process of dying, and she moved home to Colorado to die.

My mum didn’t die. In fact, six weeks after returning to Colorado, she and I were arrested together in Washington, DC, fighting for disability justice. She became active in her community and lived almost 12 years!

Seattle Mother Who Died from Blood Clots got J&J Vaccine to be Child's 'Room Mom'

SEATTLE (KOMO) — A King County woman has died from a blood clot after she got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The Washington State Department of Health (WSDH) confirmed she is the first blood clot death in the state after getting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

“Sadly, this is the first such death in Washington State,’ Secretary of Health Umair A. Shah said. “We send our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones. Losing a loved one at any time is a tragic and difficult and pain that’s become all too familiar in the last year and a half of this pandemic.”

Jessica Berg Wilson, 37, received the J & J vaccine on Aug. 26 and died Sept. 7, according to her family.

Conrad Reynoldson Makes a Difference

By Margaret Dore, Esq.

Bill HB 1141, which had sought to expand Washington State's assisted suicide and euthanasia law, is dead. From my vantage point, a big reason was a young lawyer named Conrad Reynoldson (pictured here).  

Reynoldson is founder and lead attorney of Washington Civil & Disability Advocate, a 501(c)(3) tax exempt non-profit, formed to ensure individuals with disabilities a low-cost option to protect their civil rights.

Reynoldson, himself, did not take the credit, sending out an email thanking others for the win. 

Expansion Bill Dead

 

By Barbara Lyons (pictured here)

The Washington State expansion of assisted suicide bill, HB 1141, is dead. It passed in the House by a 60-37 vote and cleared several Senate committees.  

Thanks to the dedicated, persistent work of a diverse coalition of people in the disability rights, medical, right-to-life and faith communities, the Senate adjourned last night without taking up the bill. It is dead for this session.  

The bill’s dangerous expansions included: reducing patient waiting times from 15 days to three days, allowing non-physicians to make terminal diagnoses and prescribe lethal drugs, and allowing for the lethal drugs to be shipped through the postal service rather than obtained in-person. Many thanks and congratulations to the coalition which led this successful effort!

Dore Featured Speaker

Margaret Dore

This evening, Margaret Dore was the featured speaker at St. Louise Parish Hall in Bellevue, Washington.

Her main topics included problems with assisted suicide in Washington State and how to win in the future against legalization. She also discussed suicide contagion in Oregon.

Special thanks to Debby Ummel who organized the event.

Death With Dignity Act Must Be Overturned

Click here for pdf version.

Washington State’s Death with Dignity Act was passed by the voters as Initiative1000. During the election, backers touted it as providing "choice" for individuals. A glossy brochure declared, "Only the patient — and no one else — may administer the [lethal dose]." The Act does not say this anywhere.[1]

•  The Act legalized assisted suicide as that term is traditionally defined. In the fine print, the Act allows euthanasia.