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ANAHEIM PRESS
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 - FEBRUARY 8, 2015
anaheimpress.com
Californians Can Soon Vote on Death with Dignity by nick kipley Having once failed in the polls, voters in the State of California will soon be able to decide again whether or not a patient of a terminal disease can electively end his or her own life under new, “Death With Dignity,” legislature. The measure, which has seen various revisions from the time it has been up for debate in 1992, 2005, and 2007, is gaining in support after 29-year-old Brittany Maynard, a California resident, moved to Portland in order to electively end her life, which she succeeded in doing on the 1st of November, last year. Oregon, Washington and Vermont have voted into their state legislation the right for a patient of an end-stage terminal disease to take a deliberate overdose of a heavy sedativehypnotic—typically a mixture of barbiturates—slip into a coma and die peacefully. Maynard had been diagnosed with a particularly aggressive form of brain cancer whose prognosis indicated irreversible physical and mental scarring if she were to undergo even the most successful treatment. Even
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With hungry school children, one answer includes dinner by Vickie Vértiz
defendant, who entered pleas of “not guilty” and “not guilty by reason of insanity,” was found to be legally sane at the time of the murder by the jury on Oct. 31, 2014. At approximately 6:30 a.m. on Sept. 16, 2009, Le spent the night at a family member’s home with her children, 5-year-
To bring attention to a new meal plan in Anaheim, the Orange County Register describes a school day as it ended: “As the sun began to set, an afterschool worker rolled out carts onto the courtyard to rows of students and started handing out meals – salami, turkey and ham sandwiches, baby carrots, ranch dressing and fatfree milk.” The children were eating at picnic tables at Mann Elementary School in Anaheim, said the paper where they took the packages of food, balancing their small milk cartons on them. The Register noted that there were about 120 students in attendance who would finish their dinner before heading home. As part of the after-school program in the Anaheim City School District, the schools started to serve dinner during the weekdays to their elementary school students. The districtwide effort acknowledges the statistics on hunger most recently reported by the Washington Post and the Huffington Post: the majority of public school students is from low-income families and is frequently hungry. For that reason, Anaheim is providing after-school meals by using federal funds, part of a county-wide effort that is growing across the country so to support children academically. “It’s good for kids to eat
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- File photo by Terry Miller
worse, it was feared that, after months of these personalityaltering treatments, the radioactive waves would fire through her skull and kill her. “I considered passing away in hospice care at my San Francisco Bay-area home. But even with palliative medication, I
could develop potentially morphine-resistant pain and suffer personality changes and verbal, cognitive and motor loss of virtually any kind,” she said in a final statement released to CNN on the 2nd of November. Please see page 2
Mother Sentenced for Attempting to Murder Her Two Children On January 23rd, a mother was sentenced to 11 years to life in state prison for attempting to murder her two young children by stabbing them while they were asleep. Thuy Thi Le, 43, Westminster, was found guilty by a jury Feb. 4, 2014, of two felony counts each of attempted murder, and child abuse and endangerment with sentencing enhancements for the personal use
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of a deadly weapon and committing great bodily injury. On Oct. 27, 2014, a unanimous jury found the sentencing enhancement for premeditation and deliberation for the attempted murder charge to be true following a retrial of the sentencing enhancement as a former jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict, finding 11 to one for the sentencing enhancement to be true. The
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“Because the rest of my body is young and healthy, I am likely to physically hang on for a long time even though cancer is eating my mind. I probably would have suffered in hospice care for weeks or even months. And my family would have had to watch that,” she added. Oregon’s forms “To Request To End My Life In A Humane and Dignified Manner” read: “I am suffering from _________________ , which my attending/prescribing physician has determined is a terminal disease and which has been medically confirmed by a consulting physician . . . I have been fully informed of: my diagnosis; prognosis; the nature of medication to be prescribed and potential associated risks; the expected result; and feasible alternatives, including comfort care, hospice care, and pain control.”
As a seeming counterpoint to the argument that this law might result in physicians or cruel family members, “putting down,” elderly patients unable to pay for treatment, Oregon paperwork has been designed to be a lengthy, complex, bureaucratic procedure. The form requests two separate witnesses who are not in any way related to the patient, that they are the patient’s physician, and that they will not befit monetarily from the patient once they are deceased. These two witnesses must indicate that the patient is in sound mind, that they know the patient personally, and that they aren’t employees at a health care center where the patient is receiving treatment. The Doctor’s consultation form for this procedure is much longer, requires two separate visits and for the patient to re-
ceive the proverbial “go ahead” from a psychologist. Then, the acquisition of the drugs from the pharmacy requires a couple of days. The whole process requires of the patient, “to be logical to the bitter end.” And, probably for this reason, of the patients who have filled out the prescription to end their life in Oregon, only about two thirds have gone through with it. Julie Sosa, a Registered Nurse and the Clinical Supervisor at Five Star Home Hospice in Pasadena, said that patients have voiced their wish to die because of unbearable pain. Because the majority of these patients are under the influence of mind-altering medication, they would not fall under the “Death With Dignity” legislation. However, Sosa has “always supported this” proposed law for California.
At the Hospice, the nurse also cares for many Alzheimer patients, who “lose the ability to remember where [they] are, forget how to talk, how to walk, how to go to the bathroom . . . [and finally] how to chew and swallow food.” Those are not eligible under Oregon’s law to electively end their own lives; however, for them, Sosa claims that the Hospice is the best alternative to intensive care. The Hospice’s “job is to make them comfortable so they can prepare to die.” Some would see this as a total loss of dignity, dying choking on your food. Some would see wasting away in hospice care in your early thirties (Maynard) as a loss of all dignity. But what it comes down to, both in a philosophical sense and in a medical-terminology sense, is how comfortable you want to feel in the end.
Muzeo Celebrates Valentine’s Day & The Close Of The Quilts Exhibit With Several Events and Workshops MUZEO has a large list of fun, affordable things to do this Valentine’s Day: Workshop: From Fabric to Art - Creating Fabric Collage Art 11a.m. - 1 p.m. $45 fee includes registra-
tion and materials. Workshop by Loretta Alvarado. In this hands-on workshop participants will create a unique piece of art using fabric scraps. This project is for intermediate to advanced quilters
and requires the use of a sewing machine and an iron. Participants will need to bring their sewing machine. Workshop: Stitch & Sip 6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. $20 per ticket, two tickets for $35 Ditch the dudes and grab your gal pals. We’re celebrating “Gal-entine’s Day” with a special event: “Stitch & Sip”. Bring your UFO’s (Un-Finished Objects) or start something new at this fun sewing workshop. Local costume designer, Bronwen Burton, will be here to help. Sewing machines are not provided, please bring your own if you need one. Tickets to both workshops are available on www.muzeo. org. Downtown Anaheim’s Art Crawl Experience (ACE) 6 p.m. - 10 p.m.
This free event features over 50 outdoor and indoor art displays, performances and handon art experiences. To coincide with Valentine’s Day, the theme for ACE is "Your Arts Desire." MUZEO Museum will be participating in the Downtown Anaheim’s Art Crawl Experience (A.C.E.). with the following activities and special events: •$5 admission to the Quilts exhibit (closing February 15). •Free admission to Marc Plouffe Photography exhibit. Marc Plouffe will be here to talk to guests about his technique and creative process. •Anaheim Ballet will perform in the Carnegie Plaza at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. ...and more. For more information including group rates and membership information, please visit www.muzeo.org or call 714-956-8936.
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Orange County Wind Symphony Presents “Theme and Variations” The Orange County Wind Symphony (OCWS) will present the third concert of its 2014-15 season on Sunday, February 8, 2015, featuring music based on the idea of “Themes and Variations”. The program begins with The Variations on a Korean Folksong by John Barnes Chance. Arnold Schoenberg composed his “Theme and Variations, Op. 43a” in a somewhat tonal manner and, in his words, giving the bands “something better to play”. The first half concludes with the “Variations on America” by Charles Ives. Mark Camphouse composed
“Whatsover Things…” as a tribute to John P. Paynter, Director of Bands at Northwestern University. The concert concludes with the “Fantasies on a Theme of Haydn” by Norman Dello Joio. The concert starts at 7:00 p.m. with a pre-concert lecture at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 for general admission, and $15 for seniors and students. For February only, concerts will take place at the Church of Power, 1026 So. East St. The Orange County Wind Symphony is a regional semi-professional Wind Ensemble serving a metropolitan
area of approximately 3 million people. The OCWS is honored to be part of the Anaheim community and in July 2011 was designated, along with the OCS as the Resident Wind Symphony for the City of Anaheim. The Wind Symphony is led by Dr. Anthony Mazzaferro, an accomplished Wind Band & Orchestral conductor, who currently serves on the faculties of the music departments of Fullerton College, Cal Poly Pomona, and Irvine Valley College. For more information, visit: www.ocsymphony.org
Mother Attempts to Murder Children Continued from page 1
old Child Doe #1 and 3-yearold Child Doe #2. Her boyfriend, who is the father of the children, was at work. Le slept with her two children together on a mattress in the family room. The defendant went into the kitchen, picked up a knife from the sink, walked back over to the children, stabbed each of them in the chest, and then stabbed herself nearly 25 times. She then called 911. Child Doe #1 suffered a stab wound to the chest and the knife penetrated her heart. Child Doe #1 was sent to University of California Irvine Medical Center and underwent emergency open-heart surgery to save her life. Child Doe #2 suffered a stab wound to the chest area, but the stab wound missed any vital organs. Senior Deputy District Attorney John Christl of the Special Prosecutions Unit prosecuted this case.
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Assemblyman Mike Gatto Introduces DNA Privacy Bill A government repository of the DNA of all children born? Actually, millions of newborns each year provide a blood sample to the state, to be screened for congenital disorders. But what happens to it next is alarming. The blood (and DNA) samples are deposited into a biobank where they can be used by outside researchers (who pay), for tests that few parents know about or consent to. These samples contain the most sensitive personal information: our children’s genetic information. And the state is storing that information and selling it to outside entities. Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Glendale) introduced legislation today to protect the privacy of California’s citizens. The bill, AB 170, would strengthen the notice requirements when dried blood spot (DBS) samples are taken from newborns to screen for diseases. Gatto’s proposal would re-
quire that parents be provided information regarding the retention of DBS samples, including the parents’ right to request the destruction of their child’s DBS. The bill would further permit children to request the destruction of their DBS when they reach adulthood. “Whenever data is stored, data can fall into the wrong hands. Imagine the discrimination a person might face if their HIV status, or genetic predisposition to a mental disorder were revealed to the public,” said Gatto. “Parents should have the right to protect their children and people should have the right to control how their personal medical records are used once they reach adulthood.” All 50 states operate newborn screening programs to screen for certain metabolic, endocrine, or hemoglobin disorders, as well as genetic disorders including cystic fibrosis,
phenylketonuria, and severe combined immunodeficiency. California, which screens over 500,000 newborns each year, provides one of the largest population-based screening programs in the world. Early detection and treatment of these disorders can prevent serious medical problems such as intellectual disabilities and lifethreatening diseases. The test is administered by taking a few drops of blood from the baby’s heel and placing the blood spots on special filter paper that is then sent to a state-approved lab for testing. California is one of just four states where the DBS becomes the property of the state -- and therefore a de facto, government-owned-and-operated DNA repository. Furthermore, the California Department of Public Health loans DBS samples to researchers, for a fee. These retention and loan practices have raised concerns that
a person’s personal medical information, contained in their DBS, could become public. Current laws do not mandate that parents to be provided information regarding the retention of DBS, nor their right to request the destruction of their child’s DBS. It also does not allow for the person whose blood was taken as a newborn to request destruction of their sample once they reach adulthood. “Newborn screening is an incredible tool that has saved millions of newborns. But during an era of omnipresent intrusion in our lives, policymakers must take steps to safeguard our personal information, especially medical records, which are particularly personal,” said Assemblyman Gatto. “AB 170 will ensure that parents can protect their children’s privacy and can destroy infant-screening records after they have served their purpose.”
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here so that their parents won’t have to buy food for them,” Jimmy R. told the Register. He is nine years old and a fourth grader. The Register claimed that about 85 percent of the students in the district qualify for free and reduced price lunches, seven percent of whom reported not
having enough food at home. Superintendent Linda Wagner wants her students to have enough to eat, said the paper, and suggested that dinner be served during the after-school program in addition to breakfast and lunch. The program is called Anaheim Achieves, an after-school program that the
Anaheim Family YMCA runs and started in three schools last fall. Since the beginning of this January, all 24 district campuses offered the dinner after-school, according to the Register. An after-school program began on a limited basis more than twenty years ago in 1994 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the paper added. In 2010 the department expanded the meals to cover dinner across all states. According to The Associated Press, in 2014 more than 100 million dinners were served, more than five times what it was, 19 million, just five years before in 2009. The Anaheim dinner program serves 2,000 meals a day with more students requesting the food, Cristina Casas, Anaheim Family YMCA food program coordinator, told the paper. The YMCA is gets reimbursed $3.22 for each meal
through the federal funding initiative, she added. Mann Elementary has 1,100 students and most come by 7:30 a.m. for breakfast. They also eat the hot lunch, Principal Amanda Segovia-Hale told the paper. The Register said all of the meals must include “lowfat milk, two servings of fruit or vegetables, wheat or whole grains and protein.” “They don’t have things that are nasty,” Isaac De Jesus, 12, a sixth grader, told the paper. “They have things that the kids like.” “String cheese, strawberrybanana yogurt, chicken-tender sandwiches and sunflower-seed butter and jelly cups,” plus grapes, nectarines, and graham crackers are on the menu, noted the Register. Ever since the dinners began, the paper claimed, attendance improved in the program.