Is Medically Assisted Dying a Right To Enshrine Or a Wrong To Forbid in Law?
January 13, 2023
8:30 a.m.
Havana Restaurant, Bar Harbor
Our Coffee Clash series returns in person at Havana in Bar Harbor.
Join us for a lively discussion along with coffee, tea, buns, and muffins. The cost is $10 per person payable in cash or check at the door.
The discussion will also be available on Zoom.
We all die. Should we each be able to choose when and how to receive medical assistance if we choose? Most of us are of an age when we now think about our endings. Sadly, many of us have witnessed loved ones die in long, painful, and sometimes degrading and expensive passages. We were taught reverence for life in church, school, or family. What does that mean for us now, as elders?
Medically assisted dying is a choice open to citizens in many states, including Maine. One must be judged to have six months or less to live by two doctors. But how should our society regard that choice? As an ethical and moral challenge or as a right to exercise within the bounds of love and community? The means of medically assisted dying are not simple but are enshrined in law in several states. What should our society say about this possible passage out?
Click to register for this event
This event is open to the public. Masks are required at all times while indoors, except while eating or drinking. The cost to attend in person at Havana is $10 per person which includes coffee, tea, and pastries.
Doors open at 8:30 a.m. and the discussion starts at 9:00 a.m.
Cookie Horner is a retired registered nurse. She has been a volunteer in palliative care and hospice for the past 16 years, following her career in Labor and Delivery at MDI Hospital and later as the MDIHS school nurse. She is a member of the Palliative care advisory at MDI hospital. For the past ten years, she has been teaching classes on end-of-life issues in Senior College courses, at local libraries and churches, and at the College of the Atlantic. She has also hosted several Death Cafes on MDI and in Ellsworth. She recently became certified as an End-of-Life Doula through the University of Vermont Medical School.
Art Blank served as President/CEO of MDI Hospital from 1999 until his retirement at the end of 2020. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Boston University, Art’s professional training and background was in Finance working in Maine since 1976 as a Certified Public Accountant and CFO of St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor among other roles prior to coming to MDI. Art is a past Board Chair of the Maine Hospital Association and currently serves as Chair of the MDI YMCA Board, and is a member of the Board of Healthy Acadia and the Maine Rural Health Network.
Click to register for this event, or email learn@acadiaseniorcollege.org
