A New Jersey woman who chose to undergo assisted suicide due to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) had her decision promoted in a pro-death puff piece for CBS News.
Beginning with a scene of loved ones in 83-year-old Barbara Goodfriend’s house, the article noted that her home was “full of life” despite the imminent death about to happen. “It’s been a week of family, friends. We’ve done a lot of crying, all of us, but we’ve laughed. We’ve enjoyed being together,” Goodfriend said.
After being diagnosed with ALS, Goodfriend chose to undergo assisted suicide when a doctor said she wouldn’t survive through the fall. The reason why, though, was not because Goodfriend was afraid to die. Instead, her reasoning seemed to be avoiding life, albeit life with a disability.
“What am I going to give this up for? To be in a wheelchair? To have a feeding tube? I wish I had more time to live, but I don’t want more time as a patient,” Goodfriend said, calling assisted suicide a “privilege.”
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“I hope that something will get done, something will be accomplished,” she said, “so that others can have the privilege that I’m having.”
That mindset is deeply damaging, and one that many disability groups, like the United Spinal Association, fight against.
Jose Hernandez, the NYC Advocacy Coordinator for the United Spinal Association and president of its New York chapter, is paralyzed. He pointed out that legalizing assisted suicide threatens the lives of people with disabilities like him. “Our home care is under attack constantly,” he said. “If it becomes legal in New York, are you going to continue to cut vital services making the way for people with disabilities to become terminal?”
Goodfriend, however, shrugged that idea off. “If it’s not a good idea for you, don’t consider it, but there has to be a way for those who want it,” she said, and then further reiterated that it was disability she seemed to want to avoid. “I’m not afraid of dying… I was afraid of living.” She ended her life in November.
Though assisted suicide advocates routinely claim the deadly practice needs to be legalized so people can avoid a prolonged, painful death, Goodfriend’s reasoning is much more common.
People overwhelmingly cite a “loss of autonomy” as their reason for wanting to die, in numerous reports, as well as not wanting to be a burden on their loved ones. It seems, then, that assisted suicide thrives on the inherent ableism and fear of disability that continues to linger throughout our society — encouraging death whenever disability is suspected, both in the womb and at the end of life.
