Alzheimer’s Association Hides New Partnership With Lobbying Group for Assisted Suicide

Selling assisted suicide “historically marginalized communities” It is difficult to do business because it can kill potential clients and smacks eugenics. Compassion & Choices has found a solution to this problem. It is the nation’s largest assisted suicide lobbying group. It has enlisted the help—and data—of a trusted brand: the Alzheimer’s Association.

It’s an odd combination. The Alzheimer’s Association invests considerable resources in order to overcome the “disease” it calls. “the stigma” Kim Callinan, Compassion & Choices CEO, described dementia as “an incurable disease that causes Alzheimer’s or dementia.” “a fate worse than death.”

Compassion & Choices was the name of the organization. Hemlock Society until the group’s support for fellow member Jack Kevorkian—and his increasing number of so-called mercy killings—tainted the brand. The Hemlock Society celebrated Kevorkian’s actions. But the Alzheimer’s Association issued a statement. Statement Opposition, noting “we must … affirm the right to dignity and life for every Alzheimer patient and cannot condone suicide.”

George Soros, whose mother was a member the Hemlock Society, invested millions in the assisted suicide movement through his Open Society Foundations to help the Hemlock Society rebrand as Compassion & Choices.

Once at odds, Compassion & Choices announced last December that they would work together to improve the lives of people with Alzheimer’s disease. Shared effort To improve “end-of-life care” People with dementia in the “Black, Latino, Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI), and LGBTQ communities,” According to a Compassion & Choices press release. Together, they will host webinars in the national and local areas, exchange data, and organize conferences. “and more,” According to the press release.

Compassion & Choices seems to be more enthusiastic about the partnership that its counterpart. While Compassion & Choices issued two press release, the Alzheimer’s Association did not. Each organization did not respond to multiple interviews requests. The Alzheimer’s Association agreed, days before publication, to make a telephone call to a director of diversity equity and inclusion engagement to submit comments. Washington Free Beacon Learn more about the key issues raised in this report. The association hadn’t done so by Friday at 5:00 p.m.

Now critics are raising concerns about the Alzheimer’s Association’s new partnership—which, contrary to its own Policy Share “partnership information with all constituents,” It is not disclosed on its website.

Compassion & Choices doesn’t have to be an end in itself. “end-of-life care” Despite its website describing the practice as “Assisted suicide lobbying”, it is not an organization.Medical assistance for the dying.” It takes a lot of effort to define what “end-of-life care” encompasses and, between 2017 and 2020 Compassion & Choices spent more than $2 million lobbying for assisted suicide. Despite its admission that certain people are able to suicidal, It shouldn’t count For assisted suicide in the United States, there are already Qualified.

“It is a very bad look for the Alzheimer’s Association, who have done so much for patients, to form a partnership with the leading proponent organization for assisted suicide laws, putting people with dementia and other intellectual disabilities at grave risk of deadly harm,” said Matt Vallière, the executive director of the Patients’ Rights Action Fund, an advocacy group against legalizing assisted suicide.

From DEI to Please Die

Compassion & Choices is interested in helping people who are suffering. “historically underserved communities”Assisted suicide is not a popular option for non-whites. There have been more than 2,100 assisted suicides. OregonIn the state of, there has been only one African American. WashingtonWhites account for 92 percent of assisted-suicide deaths.

So Compassion & Choices made a huge investment Effort To disseminate “end-of-life planning educational resources” to “underserved communities,” Increased distribution of 22,380 pamphlets/guides in 2020, up from 0 in 2018.

Many of the material was written from an assisted suicide lobby’s point of view. An advanced directive, which is a written document signed by a patient and giving instructions for future medical decisions in the event that the patient does not have the capacity, is an example of a document. This is unlike other directives. Advanced Directives in use, Compassion & Choices’s advanced directive for dementia patients has no discussion of what dementia is, the life expectancy—between 5 to 20 years—and the stages of dementia. Instead, dementia has been described as “Avoid unnecessary suffering.”

This effort is made possible by the Alzheimer’s Association. Its brand, unlike Compassion & Choices is a trusted and established entity. Compassion & Choices will instead be able to use the reputation of the Alzheimer’s Association through this partnership. Contacts With minority groups to disseminate materials that gloss over assisted suicide under the pretext of “end-of-life care.”

Compassion & Choices’s Press Release included a statement of Carl V. Hill (Chair Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at the Alzheimer’s Association). “We are excited to collaborate with Compassion & Choices to expand our reach, connecting families affected by Alzheimer’s and other dementia to disease information, education programs, and access to care and support services,” Hill spoke.

Even with this partnership, however, it is unlikely that black Americans living in underserved areas will choose assisted suicide. Joel Zivot, an Atlanta-based intensive care physician and professor at Emory University, says that even those who feel they are not being served well by the system, they will turn away from it. “I can tell you that in the U.S., or where I’m practicing … my patients who feel disenfranchised from health care … are not demanding to die. They’re demanding to live.”

Zivot said that some patients refuse Do Not Resuscitate forms and prefer to continue life-saving treatments. “The people who feel like the health care system had failed them their entire life,” He said, “These are the same people who tell, “Now you want me to roll over and die? No, thank you.”

It is even more so for those with dementia. However, Black Alzheimer’s research participants are twice as likely than white participants to develop dementia, but they are 35% less Most likely to be diagnosed with it.

Fayron, an assistant professor of nursing at Emory University also created a Programs specialized African-American churches should support families living with dementia and Alzheimer’s. While she declined to speak about the Alzheimer’s Association’s partnership—she is a board member of the Alzheimer’s Association in Georgia—she agreed to talk about what supports black patients need.

Epps stated that the problem is that “minority racial ethnic groups” These are the most common. “in underserved areas,” Which “means that they do not have the resources” They are also available to other people. They do not have access to adult day centers, sufficient medical care, or the education necessary for detection of Alzheimer’s disease.

These families cannot access the help they need without a diagnosis. Family members from under-resourced and under-served communities need to pick up the pieces. “Historically, you know, people have said that black families keep their loved ones at home,” Epps said. “I can say I’ve seen that in my work, that a lot of black families do the best that they can.”

Sometimes, the best just isn’t enough. These families also need support. Epps was most open to answering my questions about her work with patients nearing the end of their lives. “I don’t deal with end-of-life care patients,” Epps said. Alzheimer’s patients who are diagnosed early often live for many years.

These same patients, however, are coded automatically in jurisdictions that have extensive assisted suicide and euthanasia policies. “end-of-life.” For example, anyone with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis in Canada is eligible for receiving assistance. “Medical Assistance in Dying” Without delay and immediately after approval, Epps looked shocked. “That’s interesting. Okay. All right,” She said.

Alexander Raikin, a Washington, D.C., writer.