Dear Editor,
A food review of our business, Out Of The Box, recently stated that our burger patties are obviously pre-made. This is true; they are made by hand, by us. Although, as reported, our bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich is both popular and a frequent first choice for new customers it is not the centerpiece of our menu. Our menu is centered on our burgers; made from 100 percent pasture raised, grass fed and finished Black Angus beef from New Zealand. EU-certified and free of antibiotics, hormones and steroids, the farming cooperative purchases carbon offsets before shipping the beef to the US. We grind the beef ourselves and form 1/4 lb. patties by hand, using an old piece of technology called a mayonnaise lid. Being a little ignorant of the bar scene, perhaps someone can tell us which bars in Anchorage (or all of Alaska for that matter) are serving a grass fed burger made with this much dedication from farm to table, starting at $7. Perhaps the uniform shape of the patties confused the reviewer but a simple question could have remedied that. Regardless, we want everyone to know that our burgers have always been made this way and we will continue this practice. Anyone wishing to know more about our beef can contact us at 903-1203, or visit newzealmeats.com.
Thank you.
John and Denise Dennis
Out of the Box
Hunter Marshall questioned the factual basis of my op-ed regarding assisted suicide in his letter of March 26, 2015 to the Anchorage Press.
I want to take this opportunity to respond to Mr. Marshall’s assertions.
Mr. Marshall says I failed to acknowledge that Brittany was an advocate for assisted suicide. Britney was an advocate for assisted suicide after she learned of her terminal illness. But, that doesn’t mean that Compassion and Choices isn’t exploiting her tragic death to advance the cause of assisted suicide.
Mr. Marshall perpetuates the belief that there are real safeguards in assisted suicide legislation. He states that a person interested in assisted suicide needs two physicians to certify that the individual has six months or less to live. Diagnoses and prognosis of terminal illness are often wrong, leading people to give up on treatment and lose good years of their lives, and endangering people with disabilities, people with chronic illness, and other people misdiagnosed as terminally ill.
Finding two doctors to write a prescription for the lethal dose of drugs necessary to commit assisted suicide is not a safeguard. Take the case of Oregon patient Kate Cheney, who was 85. Her doctor refused to prescribe lethal drugs, because he thought the request actually resulted from pressure by her adult daughter who felt burdened with care giving. So the family found another doctor, and Ms. Cheney soon used the lethal prescription, and died. This practice is called “doctor shopping.”
Sadly, elder abuse is becoming increasingly common and adding assisted suicide to the mix places seniors at greater risk of harm and abuse.
A good example of the deadly mix of elder abuse and assisted suicide is the case of Thomas Middleton, who was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease. He moved into the home of Tami Sawyer in July 2008, and died by assisted suicide a couple of weeks later. Middleton had named Sawyer his estate trustee and put his home in her trust. Two days after Thomas Middleton died, Sawyer listed the property for sale and deposited $90,000 into her own account. It took a federal investigation into real estate fraud to expose this abuse. Sawyer was indicted for first-degree criminal mistreatment and first-degree aggravated theft, partly over criminal mistreatment of Thomas Middleton. But the Oregon state agency responsible for the assisted suicide law never even noticed because the agency has no enforcement authority to ensure assisted suicides are free from abuse or suffering caused by botched assisted suicides.
Mr. Marshall says the patient must self-administer the medication and if someone else administers the medication, they are subject to criminal charges.
In Oregon, Patrick Matheny received his assisted suicide prescription by Federal Express. He couldn’t take the drugs by himself so his brother-in-law helped. Commenting on the Matheny case, Dr. Hedberg of Oregon Department of Human Services said that “we do not know exactly how he helped this person swallow, whether it was putting a feed tube down or whatever, but he was not prosecuted …” Proponents of assisted suicide, like Mr. Marshall, stress self-administration of the lethal dose of drugs is a critical safeguard. About half the people reported to die by assisted suicide in Oregon did not have a health provider present at the time of death. With no independent witness, there is no evidence that they self-administered the lethal drugs, or even that they consented at the time of death.
There is so much secrecy regarding what actually takes place in assisted suicides that we don’t really know the full extent of the abuse and suffering endured by people dying of a lethal dose of drugs. What we do know, we learn from media accounts.
The American Medical Association (AMA) opposes legalizing assisted suicide and I hope the Alaska Legislature will follow their lead.
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