Oh come on Wags! Surely this sets off even your radar! By this account, this facility and staff just murdered this man against the family's wishes, and yet the family is asking that the identity of those involved not be disclosed? How completely cooperative and nice of them.
Perhaps now that he has passed away they don't want any publicity.
This patient (now murder victim) is anonymous, but so are many other victims of this practice.
In 1999, 10.4% of the severely cognitively impaired residents of the United States were starved and dehydrated to death.
In 2000, 11.0% of the severely cognitively impaired residents of the United States were starved and dehydrated to death.
In 2001, 11.4% of the severely cognitively impaired residents of the United States were starved and dehydrated to death.
I haven’t found data yet for other years, but I think it’s a fair guess that the killings continue to climb.
This doesn’t represent a percentage of patients who died (which would be bad enough). It doesn’t mean that 11.4% of the patients who died were starved and dehydrated. It means 11.4% of all the people living in the U.S.A. with severe cognitive impairments were killed this way. And it doesn’t include the ones who were killed using other methods, such as denial of antibiotics for simple infections, removal of breathing assistance, etc.
The standard used for determining severe cognitive impairment for the purpose of this study is a score of 5 or less on the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). Patients in a coma or PVS cannot possibly score 1, much less 5. You’ve probably seen people in the grocery store with a score of 5 or less. So these killings include a wide range of brain damaged people. I wonder how many thousands of people are living with a score of 5 or less. And for every 1,000 people living with a score of 5 or less in the year 2001, 114 of them were starved and dehydrated to death that year.
All I have before me are the percentages. I’d like to see the corresponding numbers. Or would I?
Following is the breakdown by state for 2001. Notice that Rhode Island tops the list, with just over a third of that population exterminated this way. That might have something to do with the fact that RI has appointed the pro-euthanasia group Choice in Dying the official State agency in charge of informing the public about “end-of-life choices.” They supply forms for “living wills” and “assist” the public in filling out those forms. This is what happens when you put the fox in charge of the henhouse.
Believe it or not, Florida and Texas are both below the national average. Every state is on the list. Georgia is at the bottom of the list, exterminating only 1.30% this way.
RI - 33.80%
OR - 32.50%
MI - 28.30%
MT - 28.00%
WI - 27.20%
CA - 23.40%
UT - 23.40%
AZ - 20.90%
PA - 17.40%
MN - 17.20%
AK - 17.10%
CT - 15.40%
WY - 14.90%
MD - 14.60%
NM - 14.20%
SD - 14.10%
WA - 13.20%
OH - 12.90%
ID - 12.30%
IA - 12.10%
MO - 11.90%
National Average - 11.4%
VT - 11.20%
HI - 11.10%
DE - 10.80%
ND - 10.80%
MA - 9.90%
IN - 9.70%
ME - 9.20%
NH - 8.70%
NY - 8.50%
NE - 7.70%
CO - 7.20%
AL - 7.10%
TX - 7.10%
IL - 6.70%
WV - 6.70%
KY - 6.60%
SC - 6.50%
TN - 6.30%
FL - 6.20%
NV - 6.20%
AR - 5.70%
NC - 5.20%
KS - 4.80%
NJ - 4.80%
OK - 4.10%
LA - 3.70%
VA - 3.60%
DC - 3.10%
MS - 3.00%
GA - 1.30%
Facts On Dying ~ This study was funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, who adamantly opposes the rights of vulnerable people to continue living. So if any trolls show up, complaining that the data is skewed in favor of life, check the facts and get back to me.
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I’m temporarily HTML impaired. If you check my profile page, you’ll find this same info with relevant links. At the time that I compiled the above data, the focus was on patients with cognitive impairments, but if you follow the link to the study ( http://www.chcr.brown.edu/dying/feedtubedata.HTM ) you’ll see that it is by no means limited to them.