Ian McIntosh Appointed Interim Executive Director Of Not Dead Yet

Rochester, NY, January 13, 2025 – A Brief Note on behalf of The Board of Not Dead Yet:  

With the sudden passing of Not Dead Yet’s irreplaceable Founder, President and CEO, Diane Coleman , the Board of Not Dead Yet (NDY) was tasked with ensuring that her legacy continues into the next phase of this important mission, decades in the undertaking. We worked over a period of months, to select and appoint Ian McIntosh [pictured here] as Interim Executive Director. In this unprecedented and challenging time, Ian will provide leadership and direction while stewarding Not Dead Yet’s constant critical mission to oppose the legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia as deadly forms of disability discrimination.

Ian joins Not Dead Yet having previously served as the Director of Disability Outreach for the Patients Rights Action Fund (PRAF), a leading, national, secular, non-partisan leader defending the rights of patients, people with disabilities, our elders, and the poor from the threat of legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Clashes Break Out at Anti-Israel Protest in Brooklyn Jewish neighborhood

by Luke Tress, Times of Israel, February 19, 2025:

NEW YORK — Anti-Israel protest groups staged a rally in a Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn on Tuesday night, berating the residents as “settlers” and “Zionists” and sparking fights with pro-Israel counterprotesters. 

The protest, led by the Pal-Awda activist group, took place in Boro Park, an area with a large Orthodox population.

Around 200 anti-Israel protesters gathered on a street in the neighborhood within a barricaded area set up by police. A crowd of Jewish residents and other pro-Israel counterprotesters demonstrated on the sidewalk across the street. Dozens of police officers separated the two sides. The protest began just after sundown and the temperature was below freezing.  

The anti-Israel protesters chanted, “settlers settlers go back home, Palestine is ours alone,” “Zionists go to hell,” and “We don’t want no Zionists here.” Most wore masks or keffiyehs to cover their faces.

New York State Issues Mask Mandate

As of mid-December, New York state health care workers who have not received an influenza vaccine have to wear masks when working in places where residents or patients are present in facilities.

In a Dec. 18 statement, New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald [pictured right] declared that the “flu is prevalent across the State means healthcare personnel who are not vaccinated against the flu this season need to take extra precautions and wear a mask in healthcare facilities to avoid exposing sick patients and those most vulnerable to complications of the virus.”

His declaration on requiring masking did not mention COVID-19, only influenza. During the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local governments, as well as private businesses, required masks due to the virus.

New York State Bar Outlines 2025 Legislative Priorities, Aiming for Fairness, Equity

By Brian Lee, original publication 12/18/24.

At the approach of the 2025 legislative session, New York’s largest bar association announced that it will lobby Albany lawmakers to enact right-to-counsel measures for children, families and immigrants in New York.

The new priorities, the statewide bar group said, will move the state closer to creating a more fair and equitable justice system.

The New York State Bar Association said it will also continue to advocate fervently for a series of past proposals that have failed to become law.

Mayor Adams on Hearing the People and Other Matters

The Democrat mayor made the comments while speaking to Fox News's Martha MacCallum on Wednesday, in which he also discussed the illegal immigration crisis impacting the city.

The host asked Adams what he thought of President-elect Donald Trump's sweeping victory over Harris, in which he secured substantial support in the five NYC boroughs that have historically voted Democrat. McCollum inquired as to where the Democratic Party had gone wrong.

"We stopped speaking to people, we started speaking at people," Mayor Adams told McCollum. "Not hearing the people and you engaging in dialogue while individuals are fearful of affordability, losing their home, the future of their children, and you're having these intellectual conversations, and people are, like, saying, what the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm hurting and you're asking, 'Is Donald Trump Hitler or not?'" Adams said. "It's just not talking to the real needs of the people."

Daniel Penny Acquitted in Subway Chokehold Death

By Ben Kochman, Kyle Schnitzer and Emily Crane.

Marine veteran Daniel Penny [wearing brown jacket] was acquitted by a Manhattan jury Monday in the choke hold death of Jordan Neely – a lightning-rod case that cast a light on the mayhem plaguing Big Apple subways.

Jurors cleared Penny, a 26-year-old Long Islander, of criminally negligent homicide after the fatal caught-on-camera encounter on an uptown F train last year sparked fierce debate about mental illness, public safety and vigilantism.

A suited-up Penny, who remained stone-faced for much of the four-week trial, broke out a huge smile as his not guilty verdict was read out – prompting both applause and anger inside the courtroom as the high-profile case came to an end.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg – who quickly faced calls to resign for bringing the case against Penny in the first place — said he respected the jury’s ruling and insisted prosecutors “followed the facts and the evidence from beginning to end.”

“It really, really hurts,” Neely’s father, Andre Zachery, said after the verdict. “I had enough of this. The system is rigged.”

Diane Coleman, Fierce Foe of the Right-to-Die Movement, Dies at 71

Photos in linked article:  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/20/us/diane-coleman-dead.html

Her fight for disability rights included founding a group called Not Dead Yet, which protested the work of Dr. Jack Kevorkian and others.

By Clay Risen

Published Nov. 20, 2024, updated Nov. 21, 2024

Diane Coleman, a fierce advocate for disability rights who took on Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the right-to-die movement and the U.S. health care system, which she charged was responsible for devaluing the lives of Americans like her with physical and mental impairments, died on Nov. 1 at her home in

Rochester, N.Y. She was 71.

More on Diane Coleman

Over the weekend, Diane Coleman [pictured right] of Not Dead Yet passed away. She was an icon in our movement and – personally – my mentor and friend.

When you met Diane, you immediately recognized that she was brilliant, with the rare exception of her vocational rehabilitation counselor. Her VR counselor apparently found Diane a job counting commercials, so she could work and wouldn’t even need to leave the house. Diane had other plans which meant moving to California and getting both a law degree (juris doctor) and a master’s in business administration. Armed with a JD/MBA, Diane worked for the California Department of Corporations as an attorney and volunteered her time for the disability rights and independent living movements. She served on the board of the Westside Center for Independent Living (now called Disability Community Resource Center) and used her vacation leave to participate in ADAPT actions which were focused at the time on securing access to public transportation. Diane was an ADAPT activist and organizer who – with Tom Olin and Lillibeth Narvarro – started the Los Angeles chapter of ADAPT in 1987.

Diane’s activist heart took her to (just outside) Nashville, Tennessee with Tom Olin, Carol Gill and Larry Voss. When she left her position in California, her coworkers sent her off with a gift of a bullhorn and handcuffs!

In Memory of Diane Coleman (Pictured Below)

https://www.newcomerrochester.com/obituaries/diane-coleman

The family will receive friends, 1 pm -4 pm Sunday November 10, 2024 at New Comer Cremations and Funerals, 6 Empire Blvd. (next to Donut's Delight). A funeral service will begin promptly following visitation at 4 pm.

Diane has been an accomplished person from an early age! Diane, shortly after birth was diagnosed with some form of Muscular Dystrophy. She defied all odds after telling her parents William and Dolores Coleman that she might not live past her teens. 

Diane went on to Graduate from Loy Norris High School as Valedictorian of her class. She then went on to University of Illinois to continue her studies. While there she lived independently and learned to drive a handicapped equipped van! Her parents were in amazement with all of her accomplishments! 

But then she continued by moving on to Los Angeles, California and attended UCLA and Graduated with her Law Degree. Then went on to pass the California State Bar. Shortly after, she went on to work for the State of California as a Lawyer for about 12 years. 

Diane became active in the disability rights movement with the group ADAPT. She was a big advocate in getting lifts on all buses! She was involved in many protests, being arrested many times for the cause.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Foe of Drug Makers and Regulators, Is Poised to Wield New Power

The New York Times reported:

 

When 12,000 public health professionals gathered in Minneapolis last week for the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, Dr. Jerome Adams, who served as surgeon general in the first administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump, issued a pointed warning about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“If R.F.K. has a significant influence on the next administration, that could further erode people’s willingness to get up to date with recommended vaccines,” Dr. Adams said. “I am worried about the impact that could have on our nation’s health, on our nation’s economy, on our global security.”

Diane Coleman, Leader of Not Dead Yet, has Died

By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition *

It is very sad news to announce that the great Diane Coleman [pictured here] has died. Diane founded Not Dead Yet in 1996 and was the President and CEO of Not Dead Yet until her death. The fact that other Not Dead Yet organizations world-wide were founded in conjunction with Not Dead Yet in America proves that her activities had world-wide significance.

I have always had incredible respect for Diane's direction, understanding of the issues and her leadership skills. Diane led a group of people who differed greatly and yet she effectively enabled them to work together.

Not Dead Yet, under Diane's leadership, was the most effective organization in preventing the spread of assisted suicide in America.

Diane and Stephen Drake  

Diane Coleman and Stephen Drake spoke at some of the earlier EPC [Euthanasia Prevention Coalition] conferences that Not Dead Yet co-sponsored.

Not Dead Yet [was] incredibly successful during the Massachusetts assisted suicide voter initiative in 2012, Diane worked with John Kelly to establish Second Thoughts Connecticut as the disability rights voice - voting NO on question 2. This decision was a decisive factor in the defeat of the assisted suicide voter initiative in 2012.

Ex-Doctor Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter in Connection with Suicide of Upstate New York Woman

BY  MICHAEL HILL 

Updated 2:57 PM MDT, September3, 2024

KINGSTON, N.Y. (AP) — An 85-year-old former doctor from Arizona charged for his role in the suicide of a woman in an upstate New York motel room pleaded guilty to manslaughter Tuesday under an agreement that spares him from prison.

Stephen Miller, of Tucson, was arrested earlier this year on a charge of second-degree manslaughter under a provision of New York law that allows the charge for intentionally causing or aiding another person’s suicide.

Under a plea agreement, Miller was sentenced to five years of probation after his guilty plea in state court. His attorney said Miller is infirm and did not want to die in prison.

Not Dead Yet Comment on Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association’s Statement on “MAiD”

Not Dead Yet is a national disability rights organization focused on combatting disability based healthcare discrimination, particularly in the context of advanced or terminal illness. We are extremely disappointed that HPNA [Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association] would consider adopting a “stance of engaged neutrality” regarding whether assisted suicide should be permitted or prohibited. We urge HPNA to reverse course.

Moreover, although the proposed position statement [download available here] claims neutrality, its content reads like a defense and sometimes an outright promotion of a public policy of assisted suicide. Although only 11 jurisdictions have legalized the practice, HPNA’s statement says, “All hospice and palliative nurses should develop competence and mastery regarding MAiD in the domains of education, clinical practice, research, advocacy, and leadership.” HPNA appears not to have considered the views of either palliative care experts or disability rights activists who oppose the practice. The statement includes only limited references and minimal tolerance toward nurses who object to the practice.

HPNA tries to explain why assisted suicide should be referred to as “medical aid in dying” or MAiD for short. These are marketing terms. As Dr. Ira Byock, a palliative care specialist has written, “‘aid in dying’ makes it sound like giving someone a lethal drug is an extension of hospice and palliative care. It is not.”

Anita Cameron: "Black People, Wake Up and Remember Our History"

As we in the Black community celebrate freedom, liberation, and life on Juneteenth, there is a movement afoot that will endanger the lives of the most vulnerable in our community.

This dangerous movement is the push for legalization of assisted suicide, sometimes called medical assisted suicide, across the United States.

Assisted suicide is when someone, usually terminally ill, with six months or less to live, makes a request for a lethal dose of medication prescribed by a physician or medical provider.  After the waiting period, if there is one, the provider issues the prescription, the person or someone designated by them picks it up, and the medication is ingested by the person to whom it is prescribed. There is no doctor or witness required to be present .... Currently, assisted suicide is legal in ten US states and the District of Columbia. As of this year, 2024, 20 states have either introduced assisted suicide legislation or have expanded bills that have already passed.

Proposed Act Has Not Advanced Past Committee

The proposed Medical Aid in Dying Act, which had sought to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in New York State, was first introduced in the New York State Senate by former Staten Island Sen. Diane Savino, — and in the Assembly by Westchester County Assemblymember Amy Paulin, — during the 2015-2016 legislative session. 

The legislation has never advanced past the committee state in either the New York State Senate or Assembly.