Fabian Nunez, Lloyd Levine and Patty Berg Align With HMO Lobbying Group Promoting Assisted Suicide in California

    SACRAMENTO, March 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Assemblymembers Lloyd
 Levine, Patty Berg, and Speaker Fabian Nunez announced Wednesday that
 California Association of Physicians Groups (CAPG), an organization
 representing HMO's, are in support of assisted suicide legalization, AB
 374. Managed care corporations represented by CAPG include the Northern and
 Southern Permanente Medical Groups, Sutter Medical Groups, Sharp Medical
 Groups and numerous others -- even including big pharmaceutical companies
 such as GlaxoSmithKline, Merck & Co., Pfizer, and Amgen.
     In a desperate attempt to pass Assisted Suicide in California, after a
 crushing defeat in the progressive state of Vermont, this HMO lobbying
 group is going public with their support of legislation that would bring
 assisted suicide to the millions of uninsured and underinsured
 Californians, some of whom are their own members.
     "This endorsement truly clarifies the complete implications of assisted
 suicide legalization," said Marilyn Golden, Policy Analyst at the
 Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund.
     "We intend to increase our fight against assisted suicide and mount an
 aggressive protest and information blitz against every member of California
 Association of Physicians Groups. The public must know what this would do
 to the most vulnerable of our society -- a quick hundred dollar lethal
 prescription is vastly cheaper than offering long term care."
     Disability rights organizations have long said that assisted suicide
 would bring a low-cost alternative to providing quality medical care for
 people with chronic or terminal disease or disability. Fortunately this
 argument was acknowledged by numerous progressive legislators and has led
 to the defeat of assisted suicide in 2005 and 2006.
     "While we don't contribute the enormous funds to political campaigns
 like these HMO groups and their lobbyists, we do have the ability to make
 our voices heard, protest these legislators and corporations, and once
 again defeat assisted suicide," added Ann Guerra, president, California
 Foundation for Independent Living Centers.
 
 

SOURCE California Disability Alliance