Patient Choices Vermont
  • Home
  • News
  • About Act 39
    • Text of Act 39
    • Act 39 Overview
    • PCV Guides and Resources
    • S.74 Amendments - Summary >
      • Text of S.74
    • Residency Issue
  • Resources
    • Guide to Medical Aid in Dying and End-of-Life Decision-Making
    • How to Talk to Your Doctor About Act 39
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Guide to Medical Decision-Making
    • Guide to Advance Care Planning for Dementia
    • Book Reviews
  • VIDEOS
  • Events
  • About PCV
    • Overview
    • Leadership
    • Advisors
    • Founders
    • History
    • Tributes
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Clinician's Guide

Welcome Audrey Winograd, JD, MSW... our first Program Manager

10/14/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
We are very pleased to welcome Audrey Winograd to our team.

​Audrey is a lawyer and hospice-trained medical social worker with experience in neurology, oncology, chronic disease, and end-of-life care. She holds a law degree from Rutgers University, a Masters in Organizational Development from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters of Social work from the University of Vermont. Audrey brings 40 years of experience in the field of organizational and community work, personal empowerment and patient-centered care. As a medical psycho-therapist she empowers clients to enhance one’s lived experience today, while engaging in shared decision making for tomorrow.


Read More
0 Comments

Patient Choices Vermont Endorses Residency Requirement Challenge

8/26/2022

0 Comments

 
On Thursday, August 25, 2022, Patient Choices Vermont (PCV) Board Member Dr. Diana Barnard, in collaboration with the national organization Compassion & Choices and Lynda Bluestein, a terminally ill Connecticut resident seeking medical aid in dying, filed a federal lawsuit to challenge the residency requirement contained in Vermont's Act 39. PCV applauds this work and stands ready to educate the public about the availability of medical aid in dying across state lines.

Read More
0 Comments

Patient-directed Care is at Risk Across the Country

8/23/2022

0 Comments

 
Like many Vermonters, I have been distraught over the U.S. Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe vs Wade. As a lawyer, I am keenly aware that this reversal of a half-century of legal precedent is tied to legal and political theories that pose broader threats to our rights to bodily autonomy.

Read More
0 Comments

PRESS RELEASE: Vermont House Gives Preliminary Approval to Bill to Improve 2013 Medical Aid-in-Dying Law

4/14/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
SB 74, already approved by Senate, would make three critical improvements to Act 39
​(April 13, 2022 - Montpelier, VT) Patient Choices Vermont and Compassion & Choices praised the Vermont House of Representatives for their preliminary approval Thursday of Senate Bill 74 to update and improve the state’s 2013 Patient Choice at End of Life Law, Act 39. The Vermont Senate passed the bill on a voice vote on Jan. 25. 
​

Read More
0 Comments

House Committee Hearing on S.74 Scheduled for 3/31/2022

3/29/2022

0 Comments

 
We are pleased to announce that the Vermont House Committee on Human Services has scheduled a hearing on S.74 on Thursday, March 31 at 9:15 am. The Committee invited Dr. Diana Barnard; Kim Callinan, President of Compassion & Choices, and myself Betsy Walkerman, President of Patient Choices Vermont (PCV) to testify. We look forward to sharing our team's expertise with our legislators. You can listen live on March 31 or replay afterwards on the Vermont House Committee on Human Services YouTube Channel.
See below for how to contact your representatives.

VTDigger Op Ed:

Many thanks to Vermont Digger for publishing our Op Ed Walkerman & Callinan: Empowering patients at the end of life — S.74, co-authored by Betsy Walkerman and Kim Callinan. This article highlights the very personal aspects of end-of-life choice, and makes it clear how the S.74 changes can alleviate suffering.

News from Oregon - End of Residency Requirement:

Like Vermont and all the other states with medical aid in dying laws, Oregon law has required that the patient be a resident of their state. Yesterday that changed. As a result of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the residency provision, Oregon will no longer require a person to be an Oregon resident in order to qualify for medical aid in dying.
 
PCV will be studying the impact of this development on Act 39’s similar residency requirement.  

Contact your Representatives:
We've set up an easy way for you to contact your representatives in support of S.74. PCV has already provided the basic message (which you can easily edit with your own personal story or comments) at ContactMyPolitician.com. All you need to do is provide your address to see a display of your own specific legislative representatives. Select politicians listed as members of the State House and click Send Message. It's that easy.
Picture
Act 39 passed in 2013 largely because of the vast number of supporters like you who contacted your legislators when the bill was coming up for a vote. We need your help to show our legislators that Vermonters still care deeply about this issue. We hope you find it worth your time to invest a few minutes right now to help make end-of-life choice more accessible in Vermont.

Thank you so much!
Betsy Walkerman, President PCV
0 Comments

Heartfelt Tribute to PCV Co-Founder Ginny Walters

1/30/2022

1 Comment

 
Picture
Over the course of a few days, my mother, PCV co-founder Ginny Walters, said goodbye to family and friends, drifted off to sleep and died peacefully. She was 96.  

Ginny’s extensive computing and organizational skills and her ability to write cogently and clearly were instrumental in launching and sustaining Patient Choices Vermont during the eleven-year legislative campaign from 2002 to 2013. While my father, Dick Walters, was the outspoken face of PCV, Ginny provided the backbone, editing the website, running a meticulous supporter database, coordinating volunteers and editing every piece of writing that went out the door. Even a few days before she died, Ginny was still sending me articles that she thought we could post on the PCV Facebook page. 

Ginny was a physicist, one of the first women in the US to earn her PhD in this demanding science. If you’d like to learn more about her, Click Here for the website her family has created in her memory.

If you knew Ginny or worked on the campaign with her, and have a story to share, please go to the Add Your Story Here page on her website. Then check back to see memories other people have shared.

Ginny requested that if people were so inclined, donations be made in her honor to either Patient Choices Vermont or Planned Parenthood of NE.  

Thanks so much for your participation as we carry forward the work launched by Dick and Ginny Walters.

​Sincerely,
Betsy Walkerman, President

1 Comment

S.74 Wins VT Senate Approval!

1/25/2022

1 Comment

 
​We are pleased to report that on Tuesday, January 25, 2022 the Vermont Senate passed Senate Bill 74, which updates and improves Act 39. 
Picture
PCV wishes to thank Senator Ruth Hardy for her presentation of the bill on the Senate floor and her deeply knowledgeable responses to questions. We also thank Senator Ginny Lyons and the members of the Health & Welfare Committee for their careful consideration of the bill. Thanks as well to the bill sponsors, Senator Richard McCormack, Senator Ginny Lyons, Senator Alison Clarkson, and Senator Michael Sirotkin.

Special Thanks to Willem Jewett

At the end of December, Former Representative Willem Jewett contacted PCV offering to share his story with the hope that it would help with passage of S.74. Willem Jewett was majority leader in the House of Representatives in 2013 and played a critical role in the passage of Act 39. We were very sad to learn of his rapid decline from cancer. In his last weeks, he made a priority of continuing his advocacy, while he prepared to use medical aid in dying himself. Our deep condolences to his family and friends. 

In early January, we recorded this conversation which was quoted on the Senate floor, and brought the importance of S.74 to a personal level.
​PCV was instrumental in connecting Willem Jewett to reporters at VTDigger, resulting in these two articles:
  • Vermont lawmakers are considering changes to the state’s aid-in-dying law. A former colleague, now terminally ill, says they’re necessary.
  • ‘Forza’: Willem Jewett, former Vermont House majority leader, remembered as ‘a force’ — in the Statehouse and on the trail
This press blossomed into a number of additional articles in Vermont media and in the national news. ​Thanks so much to all of you who wrote to your senators in support of S.74. Stay tuned for news as we work through the process in the House.
1 Comment

Celebrating Doctors Who Teamed up in Support of Medical Aid in Dying; Encouraging Early Planning with Your Doctor

8/30/2021

1 Comment

 
Picture
Picture
​Who is the tough-looking team in this New York Times photo from 2005?

Standing behind my father, Dick Walters, are Dick Austin, MD, Carmer Van Buren, MD, David Babbott, MD, and Ginny Walters, PhD (co-founder of PCV). As Ginny writes today (at age 96), “Having MDs who became active in the campaign in the beginning of PCV’s work was really meaningful. Dick Austin wrote really good letters to the editor citing his experience as a physician. He never minced words." The NY Times article quoted Dr. Austin as saying, "I've seen some of my friends here die rotten deaths." He cited the long periods of heavy sedation and misery for terminally ill patients and their families. 

Dr. Dick Austin died at the age of 99 this past week.  

The New York Times article also included a picture of Dr. Diana Barnard, who spoke passionately about the need for Act 39 in the early days of the campaign. Dr. Barnard continues to serve on PCV’s Board of Directors, as does Dr. Jaina Clough, both palliative care physicians in the UVM Health Network.
 
We take this moment to honor these doctors.

Throughout PCV’s history, both practicing and retired doctors served on our Board of Directors and Advisory Board, including Dr. Don Robinson, Dr. Charles Gluck, Dr. Stephanie Barnes, and until this past summer, Dr. Fred Crowley, a retired radiologist and past president of the Vermont Medical Society.    

Medical aid in dying is now widely available in Vermont.

Dozens of physicians across the state have prescribed medical aid in dying under Act 39.  Oncologists and neurologists, along with palliative care doctors, being the specialists who serve the majority of terminally ill patients who qualify under Act 39, have the most experience.  

At the same time, many physicians are just now being asked by patients about medical aid in dying for the first time. That is often why it takes several conversations for people who are interested in  Act 39 to elicit a commitment from their physician to prescribe. Multiple discussions build trust in the relationship and confidence on the part of the doctor that the patient is making a well-considered and informed decision.

Picture
The PCV team crafted our How to Talk to Your Doctor page to help guide you in these discussions.  As we describe the persistence often needed, it’s not about being aggressive or demanding; it’s about helping your physician understand how important this option is to you.  

​Requesting medical aid in dying requires planning.  Start early.

In recent conversations with patients on PCV’s hotline, we are seeing that many people wait until it is too late to navigate the medical and legal process of Act 39. People assume that it will be just like requesting any other medical treatment, not realizing that the law requires multiple steps with time in between, and that if their doctor is new to medical aid in dying, multiple meetings may be needed to help them come to the decision to support their choice.  

It is also the case that some people delay end-of-life discussions because they want to be focused on living and healing rather than dying. Paradoxically, having end-of-life conversations early can relieve a lot of uncertainty and help reduce fears and concerns.  In this way, early conversations about dying are life-giving.  We strongly encourage you to share this perspective with anyone who is living with a terminal disease. We are always here to listen and help patients and healthcare providers with Act 39 conversations.

With warm regards,
Picture
​Betsy J. Walkerman, President
Please Donate, Your Generous Support is Deeply Appreciated
1 Comment

PCV Provides Act 39 Update Programs for Hospice Nurses ...and a special thank you to our terrific volunteers

8/5/2021

1 Comment

 
Picture
​Many thanks to all of you who made contributions in response to Patient Choices Vermont's (PCV's) Spring Fundraising appeal. With this strong community behind us, we can continue to offer a wide range of educational services and work to streamline Act 39. If you missed our spring communications, you can always donate online or by mail.
Click to Support Patient Choices Vermont
Patient Choices Vermont
PO Box 671
Shelburne, VT 05482

​ACT 39 UPDATE PROGRAMS FOR HOSPICE NURSES

​Patients and families who contact Patient Choices Vermont to learn more about medical-aid-in-dying almost always tell us how important and supportive their hospice nurses (and volunteers!) are. We deeply appreciate all of those who help provide hospice services. During discussions about end-of-life options including medical-aid-in-dying, Patient Choices Vermont always recommends the inclusion of hospice nurses as they are close to the patients, knowledgeable and compassionate, and able to serve as a trusted resource for discussions about end-of-life care and choices.

To support their services and expertise, PCV has been making the rounds to Vermont’s hospice programs to offer an update about what’s happening with Act 39 in Vermont. Here’s what’s included in PCV's 2021 Hospice Training and Update Programs:
  • New medication update
  • Proposed changes to Act 39 currently in the Vermont legislative pipeline
  • A "what Act 39 is and what it isn’t” review of the law’s requirements for both new and experienced nurses and volunteers
  • An opportunity to discuss situations on which participants would like guidance
Picture
If you would like to schedule an educational session for your hospice organization, contact Toni Kaeding MS RN.

Toni Kaeding, MS RN, PCV Board Chair, is a nurse whose work has spanned clinical, academic, administrative, and policy positions in Vermont. She retired from the University of Vermont where she held both faculty and administrative appointments in the College of Nursing & Health Sciences. She was founding Director of the Freeman Scholars Program. In 2012, Toni was named recipient of the Founder’s Award by the Vermont Medical Society. She enjoys cross-country skiing and running and lives at the end of the road with her family in Worcester, Vermont. Toni handles the many calls PCV receives from patients and doctors. She helps educate students and community members.


​VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT: THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE PCV THANK-YOU NOTES, DATABASE, AND MORE

​People from all walks of life are drawn to volunteering with PCV, offering expertise, time and energy.

Barbara Deal: If you have made a contribution to PCV in the past couple of years, you have received a thank-you card from Barbara Deal, a resident of Bristol, VT. Barbara was Director Addison County Hospice in the mid '90's and has a long-standing belief in encouraging people to say what they want the end of their lives to be like. She commented, "It has been an honor to serve PCV in this limited but sincere way. I have two dear friends who chose to use Act 39 and I am full of gratitude to PCV who made their choice possible."

Ann Crocker: Many thanks to Barbara as she now passes this responsibility to Ann Crocker. As Ann says, "It is an honor for me to be able to contribute to Patient Choices Vermont by thanking our donors. Each donation supports the very important work of educating Vermonters so that people who terminally ill are aware of Act 39 and the choice that it offers."

Nancy Hawley: Nancy is a business consultant specializing in business processes, systems, and information and accounting solutions. She has supported various aspects of PCV’s work since its founding in 2002. She recommended, configured and continues to maintain PCV’s supporter database. Her expertise in business data systems helps provide PCV with intelligent information for planning our fund-raising campaigns, and communicating effectively with donors. Thank you, Nancy!

Jonathan Crocker: Jonathan helps fine-tune PCV’s communications, providing editing services and expertise in story-telling for PCV videos. He also tracks donations and keeps the supporter database accurate and up to date. Jonathan says, “I am humbled and inspired by the people whose stories I have encountered in this work; by both their courage and their generosity in sharing such deeply emotional journeys. Like them, I hope these stories help spread awareness of the value of medical-aid-in-dying, and can help others through the experience.”

​Congratulations New Mexico!

Picture
​New Mexico’s new medical-aid-in-dying law just went into effect. Named for Elizabeth Whitefield, a long-time Albuquerque family law judge and attorney who did not live long enough to testify on behalf of the bill in 2019, the new law brings the option of support for peaceful death to New Mexico residents.

New Mexico is the tenth U.S. jurisdiction to enact a death with dignity law.


1 Comment

PCV is People-Powered

5/30/2021

1 Comment

 
​Thanks so much to donors from Randolph, Chester, Shelburne, Springfield, South Burlington, Hinesburg, Ferrisburg, Dummerston, Burlington, Hardwick, Newbury, Peacham, Warren, Salisbury, Underhill, East Thetford, Derby, Greensboro, Norwich, Weybridge, and many other towns.
Picture
Photo by Joe Brusky
We are very grateful to all the people who have responded to PCV’s spring fundraising letter with generous contributions. Our education programs and our work to improve Act 39 are possible only with your support. Thank you for making end-of-life choice a priority in your giving. 

In the past month, PCV board members have given five educational seminars for healthcare providers and community members around the state. We've been pleased to respond to numerous requests for our brochure, Vermonter's Guide to Medical Aid in Dying, coming from churches, community centers, and hospice organizations. 

Our Videos make up the most popular page on our website. 

As one donor recently wrote, “The video of a woman going through the actual process of using Act 39 gave me a lot of reassurance. Keep up the good work!” 

People have had a particularly powerful response to our video of Karen Oelschlaeger. Karen was extremely grateful for medical aid in dying and chose to be an advocate even in the last week of her life when she spoke to a reporter from VPR. The recent Vermont Public Radio story powerfully framed the struggle that certain parts of the Act 39 process have on people seeking aid in dying.
​“I am always deeply impacted when I hear of someone whose end-of-life was made better by their having control at the end. I am eternally grateful to Karen and her family for sharing her story and her words in the recent VPR interview to help others have a better path as they near the end of their lives.” - former Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (PCV Advisory Board Member)
Click to Support Patient Choices Vermont
May 20th was the eight-year anniversary of Act 39. Let us know that you're celebrating by making a donation of $88, or $888, or perhaps a multiple of $8, such as $48, or $96…be creative!

Many thanks, and happy spring!
Betsy Walkerman, President

Patient Choices Vermont
email: info@patientchoices.org
phone: 802.448.0542
1 Comment
<<Previous

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Events
    Media Coverage
    News
    Newsletters

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    August 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    August 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    May 2016
    May 2015


    Patient Choices Vermont
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • News
  • About Act 39
    • Text of Act 39
    • Act 39 Overview
    • PCV Guides and Resources
    • S.74 Amendments - Summary >
      • Text of S.74
    • Residency Issue
  • Resources
    • Guide to Medical Aid in Dying and End-of-Life Decision-Making
    • How to Talk to Your Doctor About Act 39
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Guide to Medical Decision-Making
    • Guide to Advance Care Planning for Dementia
    • Book Reviews
  • VIDEOS
  • Events
  • About PCV
    • Overview
    • Leadership
    • Advisors
    • Founders
    • History
    • Tributes
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Clinician's Guide