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February 26, 2007A Case of Suicide Tourism in Oregon?A story in the San Francisco Chronicle today inadvertently disclosed what may be a case of assisted suicide tourism in Oregon. The story is about a pagan memorial service for a woman named Heather MacAllister, who was notable locally for promoting fat burlesque. (Remember, this is San Francisco.) Here is what caught my eye:
No indication she ever moved to Oregon. If she was not a resident of Oregon, the assisted suicide was illegal there. But the state’s regulators would almost certainly never find out about it since virtually all they know about individual assisted suicides comes from information supplied by the death doctors, who would almost certainly not disclose that they assisted the suicide of a non resident. And even if the state regulators were informed, they don’t have the authority to investigate. All they could do is refer it to a district attorney, who, if past irregularities that have come to light in Oregon are any indication, would not give the matter a high law enforcement priority. The residence requirement “safeguard” in Oregon is a total joke, of course. If I wanted to become a resident of Oregon today, all I would have to do is fly there, take out a motel room, and claim Oregon as my home. I am going to see if I can find out more about this. But even if my suspicions are right, don’t expect the Oregon authorities to do anything. The entire program there is run on the principle of hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil. The guidelines aren’t actually intended to protect, but merely give false assurance. 14 Responses to “A Case of Suicide Tourism in Oregon?”Leave a Reply
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March 3rd, 2007 at 1:55 am
This was not a case of suicide “tourism.” If you would have googled for half a second more, you would have found multiple other sources that reference Heather MacAllister moving to Oregon over 9 months ago to escape the high price of living in San Francisco.
I am Heather MacAllister’s partner and I can personally attest that her decision was carefully made, and only made after fighting stage III ovarian cancer for three years with nothing but love, raw courage and her friends at her side. Assisted suicide would not have been my choice, not by a long shot, but it was her choice. And anyone who would have taken this choice away from her knows nothing of “ethics.”
Heather had a memorial service in a city where she was no longer living because her courage, love of–and fight for– life inspired so many. She was a person who wanted to make the world a better place and she did. It’s a travesty that her last choices are being maligned by an elitist, self-righteous, ignorant prig who can’t even be bothered to research the allegation he is making.
You disgust me.
March 3rd, 2007 at 9:22 am
You would probably beg for mercy yourself if you had cramps let alone deal with the prolonged agony of ovarian cancer. Grow some ova yourself and mind your own narrow minded business.
March 3rd, 2007 at 9:43 am
I strongly suggest (although this should be completely obvious to anyone purporting to promote discourse on “Ethics”) that you do the most basic research before making defamatory statements.
A simple seach in the SF Gate search box (or if you were feeling truly ambitious, Google) would have yielded you this article in the same paper you quote above:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/24/BAGE5OAJRC1.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea
Where it states: “Last summer, after being been diagnosed with cancer, she moved to Portland, where she was joined by her partner, Kelli Dunham, who came from the East Coast to take care of Ms. MacAllister until her death.”
It is appalling for you to troll the internet for examples of assisted suicide that you believe back your pre-made assumptions and post them online baselessly without bothering to do any basic fact checking. In fact, it could easily be construed as libel, since any reasonable person could have easily found out what you presupposed is not true.
Please post a correction immediately and issue an apology to Ms MacAllister and her bereaved family. In addition, as our community mourns the tragic passing of an inspired leader and artist at 38 years of age, you can can easily make heartfelt amends by supporting the Heather MacAllister scholarship noted in the same article.
“Ms. MacAllister requested before her death that donations be made to Heather’s Fat Fashion Scholarship Fund, care of Carole Cullum, Cullum & Sena Law Offices, 1390 Market St., Suite 818, San Francisco, CA 94102.”
It’s only fair that since you tried to profit by her death to bolster your argument, that you make a compensatory offering to the person whose life and spirit you have maligned.
Thank you for having the courage and intellectual honesty to post this comment and to provide an update with the aforementioned correction. It speaks well of your ethics.
Sincerely,
Anne
March 3rd, 2007 at 10:29 am
I guess a bunch of people have written in to tear you a new one for your shoddy lack of legwork in labeling Heather MacAllister’s death a case of “suicide tourism,” so I won’t reiterate. I would just ask how a supposed expert in ethics can be so busy riding his anti-Oregon hobbyhorse that he forgets there are actual human beings on the other side of the headline. Personally, I thank God that Heather came to Oregon so she could end her agony without anyone who loved her having to break the law to help her. Thank God for Oregon and its humane, compassionate death with dignity law.
March 3rd, 2007 at 10:30 am
You might wish to do some research before you fly miscellaneous and untrue allegations into the blogosphere and make an utter fool of yourself. That woman you’re talking about was a legal resident of Oregon for close to 10 months. She was renting a home in Portland and she had utilities in her name. She had attending physicians and hospice care providers, all in OR state, and all paid for IN OR state by her personal insurance.
Moreover, Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act does not specify the term of residency required and entrusts that determination to the attending physician participating in the patient’s care. Read here: http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/pas/faqs.shtml#howdoes
March 3rd, 2007 at 10:41 am
Hi Wesley,
I’m sure you didn’t mean to be a mean jerk to a cross country community who is grieving for the loss of a dear friend. This is a real person you are talking about, so let me fill in some of what you were missing either intentionally or accidentally.
Heather MacAllister did in fact move to and live in Portland for what she had hoped would be a very long time.
She fought stage 4 ovarian cancer with all the heart and skill of a warrior for much longer than anyone ever hoped was possible. While doing that she became HOMELESS in San Francisco. Have you ever tried to get housing when you are terminally ill with no job and no health insurance? When you have only the kindness of friends and community to depend on?
So because San Francisco, her creative home became too expensive, she moved to PORTLAND, OREGON where she had more amazing friends. Portland Oregon is a hotbed of fat activism with people like Stacy Bias from FatGirl Speaks and Cupcake, Sossity Chiricuzio from Diesel Femme Wear and photographer Kina Williams.
These people are longtime friends of Heather’s. This and the lower cost of living is why Heather moved from San Francisco to Portland. So she could have her own apartment. So she could continue her 3rd YEAR of chemo and search for other treatments and not just put all her energy into paying a high rent.
Heather’s partner Kelli Dunham, moved from Philly to Portland to live with her.
It is a tragedy that Heather is dead. Please do not make this any more of a tragedy by publishing half researched slander. I hope that I have filled in the blanks for you on a person that I loved and admired. She was a person of tremendous strength, fierceness and dignity. You could stand to speak less ill of the dead whether or not you agree with their choices.
PS. Heather’s actual funeral was in Portland Oregon on Saturday February 17th. And we had memorials for her in San Francisco, New York AND Detroit on what would have been her 39th birthday Feb 25th. You can read all about it here - (please note in the Portland memorial where it says “her home”.) http://nolose.org/activism/heather_mac.php
Sincerely,
Deb Malkin
pps. why are these comments not viewable?
March 3rd, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Are you f—ing kidding me? This is a bioethics website? Pull your head out Wesley or rename your website. You know nothing about Heather and the SUFFERING she went through. Her greatest hope was to live which she did for many more years than most doctors had even predicted but only of her own sheer will. You’re a horrible human being. “your global information source on bioethics news and issues” is a COMPLETE sham. I hope God can forgive you for your horrible words–no one else will.
March 3rd, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Hi, who are you that you have so much time to dabble into the life (or death, in this matter) of such an amazing, strong, and loving woman??? You know nothing about her or what her life stood for. If you did, you would not be writing this. This woman put up a fight everyday of her life. If not for her own self, then for others.
After she was diagnosed with cancer, she still fought for others. She travelled around the country, performed, and did CONSTANT activism. She fought with all of her strength for her life and those of us that loved her had better not even dared to think about saying that she was “dying”. She felt that that was putting negative energy into her healing and she was not going to have that.
I knew Heather for several years. I watched her body decay, I watched her lose more and more control over her life as the years went by. I also watched her do what she could to keep some amount of privacy and dignity. I watched her unable to eat, and often unable to do anything for herself, other than cry in pain.
Have you ever felt what she felt? Have you ever spent YEARS of your life in unbreaking pain while still fighting for what you believe in? Have you gone weeks at a time unable to eat anything more than a few bites of food and still unable to even enjoy that? Have you ever had to have hospice come into your home in the middle of the night every night for weeks to pump you so full of drugs, just to get an ounce of relief???
My guess would be no. My guess would be that you are full of priviledge, probably white, and have no clue as to what real and true suffering that amazing woman went through before she finally decided it was time. And believe me, it truly was time.
I encourage you to do your research before dabbling into peoples lives and making such horrible accusations. There are people all over this world aching over the loss of this woman. What does her life really mean to you? Perhaps you might seek one out of your own?
March 3rd, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Heather did, in fact, move to Oregon. Some of her closest friends were there. When she moved to Oregon, she was still doing chemotherapy and fighting like hell for more time on this earth. When she died, memorial services were held for her all over the country, because she had friends all over the country, both in places she’d lived and places she’d visited. She and her work affected so many.
Heather didn’t move to Oregon to kill herself. She moved there because for her, as for many people these days, San Francisco had become too expensive a place to live for someone who was sick and poor.
March 3rd, 2007 at 3:50 pm
It is, i believe, a significantly un-ethical act to post such a maligning piece without first thoroughly researching the subject. a mere 2 minutes more of your time would have yeilded a very different post. as one who values and teaches ethics, i am appalled by your action.
March 3rd, 2007 at 11:06 pm
You’re a nutsack, dude.
Heather’s situation was tragic. You’ve never known the kind of pain she knew - if you had, you would have a different opinion of physician assisted suicides.
March 4th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
“The guidelines aren’t actually intended to protect, but merely give false assurance.”
WHO are you refering to when you say “protect”. Why is someone elses choice to end a life of misery any of your concern? Have you LIVED with misery as those who have chosen to end their lives have? We aren’t talking about attempted suicide due to lack of medical treatment. We are talking about ending life with dignity. Heather was 38 years old… way past the age of legal consent. We aren’t talking about teenagers flying to Oregon.
I am surprised that you did not do any fact checking befor writing this article. The professors at your alma matter must be disappointed and asshamed to have taught you, nothing, if not to check your facts first.
Susan Beadle
Philadelphia, PA
March 5th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I did not malign anyone. I criticized Oregon’s residency requirement. I respond more fully in a new post. Thanks for writing, all.
March 26th, 2007 at 1:21 am
Obviously a well-organized group…I would say one person sent out a bulk email to all their friends to write you a hate email for your comments…Would that we could be as organized as them sometimes…Keep up the great work! I love your site.