HPACC Launches Public Campaign/Hosts National Experts

Expecting a huge battle in the 2003 Legislature, Hawaii’s Partnership for Appropriate and Compassionate Care(HPACC) has been actively working to educate the legislature, the public, and medical professionals about the dangers of legalized physician assisted suicide (PAS).

Hawaii fell just 2 votes shy in 2002 of becoming only the second state, after Oregon, to legalize PAS. With such a close margin of defeat, PAS proponents have been working overtime to convince legislators and the public of the merits of PAS.

In response to the threat of PAS, HFF joined with the Hawaii Medical Association in 1998to form HPACC. Also included in HPACC are the Hawaii Nurses Association, Hospice Hawaii, the Hawaii Psychiatric Medical Association, the Healthcare Association, the Hawaii Cancer Pain Initiative, the Hawaii Catholic Conference, Not Dead Yet (Disability Rights Organization), The Arc in Hawaii ,Hawaii Right to Life, and ACLJ of Hawaii.

In January HPACC will be hosting two of our nation’s leading physician opponents of PAS, Dr. Kathleen Foley and Dr. Herbert Hendin .

Dr. Herbert Hendin is a Professor at New York Medical College in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Medical Director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Dr. Kathleen Foley is a Professor in the Department of Neurology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Attending Neurologist, Pain and Palliative Care Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Director of the Project on Death in America, Open Society Institute, Soros Foundation, New York.

Their book, “The Case Against Assisted Suicide, For the Right to End-of Life Care” was published by The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. They will be in Hawaii the week of January 6 along with Marilyn Golden of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund.

All three will be meeting with policy-makers, medical professionals and the media to outline the dangers of PAS. HPACC will also be educating the public about PAS through a comprehensive TV, radio and print media campaign slated to begin in January. Stay tuned!