300 Years & Counting 1H KILLS - On The Issues Magazine

tool for promoting euthanasia and doctor-assisteddeath.On a personal note, my husband, Dick,and I have executed living wills andenthusiastically support the HemlockSociety which actively campaigns tomake public opinion tolerant of the rightof terminally ill people to end their livesin a planned manner. Our decision wasmade after the horror of watching Dick'smother and aunt lie bedridden in nursinghomes for several years. My ownmother signed a living will in 1976.When, after several strokes, her nursinghome talked of sending her to ahospital "for life-support systems beyondthe home's capacity," we wavedher living will at the doctor. We told himshe had insisted, "Don't make me diestuck full of needles like a tired oldpincushion." We prevailed and she diedpeacefully at the nursing home in 1977.I've recently become active in the rightto choose to die movement. My firsttentative steps produced interesting results.While attending an Elderhostel at thePeabody Institute in Philadelphia, I metNancy Robinson, a hosteler from Orlando,Florida who runs the local chapterof the Hemlock Society out of herhome. Nancy and I invited other hostelersto an impromptu meeting to learnabout the Hemlock Society and thedeath-with-dignity movement. Fifteenattended and eagerly accepted copies ofthe living will we had hurriedly duplicatedon the student union photocopymachine.Another project is on my drawingboard:A new Federal law effective December1,1991, requires all patients admittedto any hospital for any reason be askedif they want to plan for their death byfilling out a living will. "The new law isso important it takes your breathaway," said Fenella Rouse, director ofChoice in Dying, a New York-basedorganization active in promoting livingwills and passive euthanasia (removalof life-sustaining equipment ratherthan assisted suicide). "It's like safesex. Once no one would talk about it;now everyone talks about it."I plan to ask the Board of the HealthInsurance Plan (H.I.P.) in New YorkCity to inform its 35,000 members aboutthe new law and to supply living willswhich, when signed, can be placed inthe member's H.I.P. medical record.When H.I.P. gets its program underON THE ISSUES SUMMER 1992way, I plan to contact friends in California,urging them to ask the Kaiser Plan— perhaps the world's largest prepaidmedical plan — to do the same.The new law is a stunning step forward,but isn't the time of hospital admissiona tad late to consider such animportant matter? Wouldn't it be moreprudent to discuss it with your doctorwhile you are hale and hearty? Tennesseeand Maryland are considering lawsto permit health insurers to providelower premiums to individuals who executeliving wills. You can bet a similaroffer from H.I.P. or Kaiser would spurmembers to sign their forms in a hurry.Dr. Herbert Cohan, a general practitionernearRotterdam, the Netherlands,might say an apt axiom for the 21stcentury would be: "If you want the bestcare and the most attention from yourdoctor, just ask for euthanasia." JackKevorkian's book is a goldmine of informationon the subject.—Irene DavallTHE IRIGARAY READER, Edited byMargaret WhiHord (Blackwell Publishers,Cambridge, MA; $39.95BROOKSIDE SOAPhardcover, $19.95 paperback)Reading Luce Irigaray is to enter madness—first you think it is hers and thenyou come to the maddening understandingthat it is ours. She speaks about andthrough a hysteria that she teaches is aculturally determined response to a setof social relationships which deprivewomen of language and shape. Herprose itself is dense, convoluted, andevocative. Concrete and abstractthought are mingled so that most readersfind her difficult if not exasperating.But the intrepid are richly rewarded.Irigaray is a member of a loosely affiliatedgroup of revolutionary, highly theoreticalfeminist psychoanalysts inFrance. She is a brilliant philosopher/psychoanalyst whose work is influentialin European academic, psychoanalytic,literary and political circles, althoughshe is still relatively unknownin the U.S. In addition to her practice asan analyst and her continued writingand teaching in philosophy and literature,she is also a feminist activist. Herfirst published work, in psycholinguistics,Le Langage des Dements (1973)Dedicated to Quality.Soap handmade from thefinest vegetable oils, herbs andnatural fragrances.Committed to youand the environment.Recyclable packaging.No animal testing.Women-owned and operated.P.O. Box 55638 Seattle, WA 98155 (206) 363-3701Not So Subtle TeesP.O.B. 410, Lincolndale, New York 10540Tel: (718) 998-2305Thelma & Louise Live!Join the Thelma & LouiseFinishing School GraduatesBlack T's with White Print:Med., Lg., Xlg. $13.00 XXIg., XXXlg. $14.00Black Sweats: Med., Lg., Xlg., XXIg. $17.00"Thelma & Louise Live" Buttons $1.50Send for brochure & wholesale prices.NYC/ST. Res. Add Sales Tax53