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Meet Nancy Niedzielski in Vermont

Posted by Melissa Barber on October 4, 2011

Nancy NiedzielskiPatient Choices Vermont hosts Nancy Niedzielski this week for a series of free events to help all Vermonters learn more about their Death with Dignity bill poised for passage during the 2012 session.

In 2008, Nancy bravely shared her story with Washingtonians during the effort to pass the state's Death with Dignity Act as a promise to her dying husband. Fulfilling her promise, she played a pivotal role in the passage of Washington's Death with Dignity Act, Initiative 1000. Her efforts were recently featured in the documentary How to Die in Oregon.

Nancy joins Patient Choices Vermont for this speaking tour as they work to pass their own Death with Dignity legislation. Come hear her inspiring story and get involved with the campaign.

Thanks to a grant by the Jared Tamler Memorial Fund, all events are free, open to the public, and accessible to those with disabilities:

Tuesday, October 4

Read more: Meet Nancy Niedzielski in Vermont

The Calling

Posted by Guest Blogger on September 27, 2011

The Calling

Briget's father on one of his last walks with Finn.

Briget Wandruff is a Social and Cultural Anthropologist, writer, and currently resides in New York. After experiencing the loss of a father from brain cancer, the words Right to Die and Death With Dignity have become common language. Today, Briget is pursuing a career in palliative and end of life care and supports the right to end-of-life choices.

I ran fast more than twenty years ago from what seems to be a calling to be with the dying. I don't like the words "a calling", but there seem to be no other words to describe my answer to what may have been a whisper around halls and doorways as a child. I'm forty-five, no one is whispering, or talking softly, it's a calm clear voice. I am listening. Perhaps, as Dr. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross said, "Everyone has something to learn. That is why we are here."

Read more: The Calling

Massachusetts: The Road to the Ballot Box

Posted by Peg Sandeen, MSW on September 21, 2011

Ballot boxMoments ago, I got off the phone with Michael Clarke who is the consultant with Dignity 2012, the political committee working toward placing the Massachusetts Death with Dignity Act on the November, 2012 ballot. I learned a lot of interesting insider information from him, and I thought supporters of the Death with Dignity National Center would be interested in an update.

The proposed law passed its first hurdle—receiving the Attorney General's certification on September 7 that the question meets all legal requirements for a ballot initiative in Massachusetts. The next hurdle is for the campaign to gather 68,911 valid signatures in approximately 10 weeks. These signatures must be delivered to individual town clerks by November 30, 2011, for certification and to the Secretary of State on December 7. The Massachusetts ballot process is somewhat complicated, as there will be a second signature gathering period in 2012.

Read more: Massachusetts: The Road to the Ballot Box

September TweetChat Recording: Massachusetts & Vermont Death with Dignity Efforts

Posted by Melissa Barber on September 15, 2011

It's been an exciting summer in the Death with Dignity movement! Patient Choices Vermont is working hard to make sure all Vermonters are able to get the facts about their proposed Death with Dignity Act to be considered during the 2012 legislative session. And just last month, Dignity 2012 filed the paperwork for a proposed Massachusetts Death with Dignity ballot measure to be voted on by Bay Staters late next year.

To get you caught up on all of these exciting developments and help you learn how to get involved, we turned over this month's TweetChat to the organizations in Massachusetts and Vermont. Dignity 2012 in the Commonwealth and Patient Choices Vermont joined us on Twitter to chat about their proposed Death with Dignity Acts.

Read more: September TweetChat Recording: Massachusetts & Vermont Death with Dignity Efforts

September TweetChat: Massachusetts & Vermont Death with Dignity Efforts

Posted by Melissa Barber on September 14, 2011

It's been an exciting summer in the Death with Dignity movement! Patient Choices Vermont is working hard to make sure all Vermonters are able to get the facts about their proposed Death with Dignity Act to be considered during the 2012 legislative session. And just last month, Dignity 2012 filed the paperwork for a proposed Massachusetts Death with Dignity ballot measure to be voted on by Bay Staters late next year.

To get you caught up on all of these exciting developments and help you learn how to get involved, we're turning over this month's TweetChat to the organizations in Massachusetts and Vermont. Tomorrow, please join us on Twitter to chat directly with Dignity 2012 in the Commonwealth and Patient Choices Vermont about their proposed Death with Dignity Acts.

Read more: September TweetChat: Massachusetts & Vermont Death with Dignity Efforts

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You are the key to ensuring well-crafted Death with Dignity laws for all Americans. With your financial and volunteer help, the Death with Dignity National Center, a 501(c)(3), non-partisan, non-profit organization, has been the leading advocate in the death with dignity movement. Member contributions helped us pass a new Death with Dignity law in Washington, defend the Oregon law, and provide education and outreach programs for the vitality of the death with dignity movement.

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