DISABILITY ADVOCATES' LISTINGS

DISABILITY LAW NEWS & VIEWS ARCHIVES

DISABILITY LAW NEWS & VIEWS

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May 2008

FLORIDA

Man defends suits for disabled access

By Jane Musgrave The Associated Press

5-15-08 -- Do not let the wheelchair fool you. Allen Fox is a one-man demolition crew. . . . Just ask the nearly 140 targets of his wrath. With rare exception, they have been forced to spend thousands of dollars to rip out, tear down, rebuild or renovate their businesses after the 65-year-old suburban West Palm Beach man kicked about barriers that made it difficult, if not impossible, for him to get inside. . . . "He's a maverick," said attorney Samuel Aurilio, who has been Fox's all-important sidekick in his crusade to get businesses to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act. . . . Others who have sparred with Fox use far less generous terms to describe him. . . . "He's what we like to call a professional plaintiff," says attorney Joe Fields, who has represented many of the business owners, and views Fox's activities as more of a shakedown than a humanitarian campaign. . . . After six years and 139 lawsuits, Fox is not surprised -- or dismayed -- by such assertions. . . . "I have no problem being accused of being a professional whatever," said Fox, whose childhood polio returned to put him in a wheelchair about 10 years ago. "I do this because I don't want the disabled people who come after me to go through what I've had to go through."

MICHIGAN

Wheelchair user alleges bias in suit against airport authority, carrier

By Lisa Roose-Church • Daily Press & Argus

5-12-08 -- A Pinckney resident is one of five Detroit-area residents suing Northwest Airlines Corp. and the Wayne County Airport Authority for alleged discrimination against disabled fliers. . . . According to a 29-page lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, James Keskeny of Pinckney, who uses a wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis, alleges he has been physically transported in a "degrading manner" by untrained airport personnel. . . . Keskeny, who has flown on Northwest for business and vacations, alleges he was tilted parallel to the floor as he was wheeled down the aisle of a plane by airport personnel and that airline employees broke his wheelchair while handling it. . . . Keskeny said a lot of his trips were frustrating in a number of different ways, including long waits to get in and out of the restroom, or to get off the plane, or not having proper access for wheelchair storage.

March 2008

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT

Supreme Court Hears Case Involving Mentally Ill Defendants Representing Themselves

Tony Mauro, Legal Times

03-27-08 -- When mentally ill defendants are found competent to stand trial, does that also mean they are competent enough to represent themselves in court? . . . The Supreme Court struggled with that question Wednesday during an oral argument that weighed the Sixth Amendment right to self-representation against a state's interest in not having trials "descend into farce." Along the way, some lawyer jokes were also cracked. . . . The issue in the case Indiana v. Edwards is whether a state may impose a higher standard of competence for self-representation than the fairly minimal test for deciding if a defendant is competent to stand trial. The Indiana Supreme Court ruled that Ahmad Edwards, diagnosed as a schizophrenic, was denied his right to represent himself at a 2005 trial for a department store robbery and shooting. . . . The trial judge had determined that while Edwards met the standard for competence to stand trial -- he understood the proceedings and could assist his lawyer -- he did not have the additional competence to represent himself. . . . Indiana, backed by the Justice Department, argue that in the interest of protecting both the reality and appearance of fairness and dignity of the courts, states should be allowed to set higher standards for self-representation. . . . "If the public sees the spectacle of a mentally ill defendant ... attempt to communicate to the jury on his own in a very delusional way, it really casts the justice system into disrepute," Deputy U.S. Solicitor General Michael Dreeben told the justices.

GEORGIA

Government Concedes Vaccines May Have Injured Ga. Girl; Impact on Autism Claims Unclear

Marilynn Marchione, The Associated Press

03-07-08 -- Government health officials have conceded that childhood vaccines worsened a rare, underlying disorder that ultimately led to autism-like symptoms in a Georgia girl, and that she should be paid from a federal vaccine injury fund. . . . Medical and legal experts say the narrow wording and circumstances probably make the case an exception -- not a precedent for thousands of other pending claims. . . . The government "has not conceded that vaccines cause autism," said Linda Renzi, the lawyer representing federal officials, who have consistently maintained that childhood shots are safe. . . . However, parents and advocates for autistic children see the case as a victory that may help certain others. Although the science on this is very limited, the girl's disorder may be more common in autistic children than in healthy ones. . . . "It's a beginning," said Kevin Conway, a Boston lawyer representing more than 1,200 families with vaccine injury claims. "Each case is going to have to be proved on its individual merits. But it shows to me that the government has conceded that it's biologically plausible for a vaccine to cause these injuries. They've never done it before."

NEW YORK

East Meadow bars boy's service dog despite order

By Carl Macgowan

03-07-08 -- Despite a state order in his favor, a hearing-impaired Westbury teenager was barred Tuesday morning from bringing his service dog to school. . . . John Cave, 15, his mother, his twin sister and a family attorney were met at the entrance of W. Tresper Clarke High Scool in East Meadow by principal Timothy Voels, who refused to allow the dog inside the school. The Caves and attorney Paul Margiotta then left, and John Cave did not return to school. . . . "I don't think they know what they're doing," John Cave said of school district officials, who have said the dog, Simba, poses a safety threat to other students. "I think they're going to be in big trouble with the state." . . . The incident was the latest salvo in a year-long battle between the Cave family and the East Meadow School District over John Cave's desire to bring Simba to class.

IDAHO

Ammon Elementary Student Invents 'Diabetic Dress'

Reporter: Kristi Henderson

03-07-08 -- An 11-year-old Ammon Elementary student turned a school project into a mission to help her little sister live a more normal life. . . . Kailey Caldwell designed a diabetic dress and recently placed third in the Invention Convention in Boise. . . . Whitlee Caldwell is just like any other 5-year-old, enjoying reading a story with her mom and big sister. . . . But a year ago, Whitlee was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. She now uses an insulin pump, and for a little girl, the device came with a major drawback. . . . Kailey Caldwell, Diabetic Dress Inventor: "They have a little belt with a pack on them that you can wear with skirts and pants, but when you try and wear them with a dress it makes a bulge and it doesn't feel very comfortable and you still have to lift your dress up to give yourself insulin."

February 2008

NEW JERSEY  

Class Action Seeking Insurance for Eating Disorders Can Go Forward

Henry Gottlieb, New Jersey Law Journal 

02-29-08 --In a case being watched by advocates for patients with anorexia and bulimia, a federal judge in Newark, N.J., has ruled that class action lawyers can pursue an attempt to compel Aetna Inc. to improve benefits for eating disorder victims. . . . U.S. District Judge Faith Hochberg on Wednesday denied a dismissal motion, in which the insurer argued the coverage dispute should be decided by state regulators or by its own internal review process on a case-by-case basis. . ..  It wasn't totally bad news for Aetna. Hochberg dismissed the plaintiffs' state-law claims. ERISA, the federal benefits act, will govern the case, which means the plaintiffs aren't entitled to punitive damages or a jury trial. . . . The ruling, in De Vito v. Aetna Inc., 07-0418, is likely to serve as a guide in a similar case against Horizon Blue Cross of New Jersey that is also before Hochberg.

NORTH CAROLINA

Drawing the Line: Treatment or Prison

By NC WANTED Staff

02-27-08 -- Every day, judges send mentally ill people to prison for crimes they committed without taking their medication or visiting mental health professionals on a regular basis. . . . Lawmakers and the criminal justice system in North Carolina are struggling to address this complicated problem in a political climate that lends little priority to mental health issues. . . . As some of the state’s most vulnerable people have fallen through the cracks of society and had difficulty getting the treatment they need, many have found themselves in trouble with the law. . . . State-run mental hospitals have more admissions than ever, and North Carolina’s overcrowded prisons and jails have become treatment centers by default. When a person with mental illness is arrested for a crime, law enforcement officers aren't always prepared to deal with a mentally unstable person.  The mentally ill person moves through the system along with criminals considered lucid and sane. . . . “What has happened systemically and throughout our country is our jails are getting full of people with mental illnesses and we’re spending a lot of corrections money on them and they’re not getting any better because that’s not where they belong,” said Debbie Dihoff, director of North Carolina’s chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “They belong in treatment facilities.”

FLORIDA

Hillsborough wheelchair incident now focus of Attorney General

Reported by: Cary Williams

02-15-08 -- An incident involving a man dumped from his wheelchair by a Hillsborough County deputy now has the attention of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. . . . McCollum says he is "appalled" and has forwarded evidence to his Office of Civil Rights for immediate review.  He has asked the Director of the Office to take appropriate action. . . . If his office finds deputies violated Brian Sterner's civil rights, it could sue on his behalf for up to $10,000 per infraction. . . . Sterner, who is a quadriplegic but still able to drive, was arrested in January for fleeing and alluding law enforcement.  During the course of his paperwork at the jail, a video camera clearly captures a Sheriff's employee dumping Sterner out of his wheelchair onto the floor and searching him. . . . The Sheriff's Department has suspended the deputy, a 22 year veteran, without pay.  Two corporals and one sergeant are suspended with pay. . . . The incident has drawn national attention.

January 2008

FEDERAL COURTS

4th Circuit Delivers FedEx a Loss in Disability Case

Court: Sufficient evidence for jury to find managers 'had acted reprehensibly' regarding worker's need for ADA accommodations

Brendan Smith, Legal Times 

01-25-08 --The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a jury award of $100,000 in punitive damages against FedEx. for discriminating against a former package handler who is deaf. In a unanimous ruling Wednesday, the court affirmed both the punitive damages and $8,000 in compensatory damages for Ronald Lockhart, who is fluent in American Sign Language but cannot speak or read lips. . . . From 2000 to 2003, Lockhart worked part time as a package handler at FedEx's Baltimore-Washington International Airport facility while he was attending the University of Maryland. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed the suit on Lockhart's behalf, found in July 2002 that FedEx had violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by repeatedly refusing to provide a sign-language interpreter and other accommodations for Lockhart during employee meetings and trainings, including briefings after Sept. 11 about security issues including potential anthrax exposure, the ruling states.

Urge Your Representative to Attend January 29th ADA Restoration Hearing

January 23, 2008--Next Tuesday, January 29th at 9:30am, the full House

Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing on the ADA Restoration Act (H.R. 3195). All members need to hear the powerful testimony. If your Representative is a member of the committee (see list below), please call and urge him or her to attend the hearing in 2175 Rayburn House Office Building. And if you can, try to attend yourself. . . . Please tell your Representative that restoring Congress' original intent for the Americans with Disabilities Act is necessary to create an equal playing field for people with disabilities and stop disability discrimination in the workplace and elsewhere. See the Bazelon Center's July 23, 2007 Action Alert for more information about H.R. 3195. For additional background, visit the Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities Rights Task Force and the National Council on Independent Living's ADA Restoration Action Hub.

ILLINOIS

Legal clinic for blind's vision: justice for all

Veteran jurist helps the visually impaired with legal troubles. His insight? He's blind too.

By Bonnie Miller Rubin | Tribune reporter

01-16-08 -- Courthouse regulars might recognize Nicholas Pomaro from his almost 30 years on the bench, where he handed down thousands of rulings. . . . But the judge's greatest decision came after he retired from the Cook County Circuit Court in 2005. That's when Pomaro launched what is thought be the only legal clinic for the blind in the country. . . . "It turned out to be the best thing I've ever done," he said about the clinic, which just marked its 250th case. "People are just so grateful for even the smallest bit of assistance ... it's really rewarding to be able to help." . . . Pomaro, 70, has a special affinity for this clientele because he is blind himself -- and doesn't have much tolerance for obstacles, intentional or not.

FLORIDA  

Paralyzed gunshot victim jailed by judge

By Mike Clary | Sun-Sentinel.com

Victoria Sando, a paralyzed gunshot victim, remained in the Broward County jail for the 13th day Wednesday despite a flurry of legal wrangling between the state and lawyers for the county Public Defender's office who argue that her incarceration for criminal contempt is unlawful. . . . "She's holding up. Anxious, but holding up," said chief assistant public defender Steve Michaelson, who said he talks to Sando several times a day. . . . Skirmishing over the fate of the 55-year-old Dania Beach woman is taking place before the 4th District Court of Appeal. . . . Sando, who is self-sufficient with the aid of a motorized wheelchair and a service dog, Fudge, was ordered jailed by Circuit Court Judge Marina Garcia-Wood after she failed to show up for a Dec. 11 hearing on a domestic abuse complaint. . . . In a writ filed last week, the public defender argued that the judge violated Sando's constitutional rights since she was never brought before a judge before being taken to jail. . . . "Despite the fact that the trial court was aware … that [Sando] was a paraplegic confined to a wheelchair who has several other health issues, the trial court failed to advise [her] of the accusation against her, failed to give [her] any opportunity to show cause why she should not be held in contempt…" wrote assistant public defender Sarah Sandler.

October 2007

ALABAMA

Attorney says city not in compliance with disability law
By Evan Belanger

10-29-07 -- Ten months after a disabled Decatur resident filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice, the city is still out of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, an attorney said. . . . But city officials say they have not been confronted with any specific noncompliance issues to correct. . . . In January, disabled Decatur resident Rayburn Rogers filed a discrimination complaint against the city with the U.S. Department of Justice. In it, he complained there were too few accessible parking spaces at City Hall and other city properties. . . . Decatur City Hall has two accessible parking spaces compared to about 165 general-access spaces. The ADA requires two accessible spaces for every 25, leaving the city about five spaces short. . . . While the Justice Department declined to take action on the matter, the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program picked up the case, initiating communication with Mayor Don Kyle and City Attorney Herman Marks Jr. earlier this year.

FLORIDA

Lawyer: Refund disabled fees

Placard charge ruled unconstitutional

By Heather Scofield, Staff Writer

10-29-07 -- Two attorneys are demanding that Flagler and the rest of Florida's counties refund fees collected from handicapped drivers since 2002. . . . That's a daunting challenge, said Carl Laundrie, Flagler County spokesman. . . . "Sorting out who to refund and where they are now would be a Herculean task," Laundrie said. . . . Tallahassee attorney Karen Gievers said she isn't concerned how it gets done, just that it does. . . . The local governments were taking money they shouldn't have, and she has little sympathy for complaints about how difficult it will be to give the money back, Gievers said in a telephone interview recently.

FEDERAL COURTS

Judge back in public eye for all the wrong reasons

Nottingham has undercut his reputation by illegally parking in a handicapped spot and dropping thousands at a strip club.

By The Denver Post Editorial Board

10-23-07 -- Chief Federal Judge Edward Nottingham was in the news again over the weekend, and again the reports were disappointing for someone of his stature. . . . Nottingham illegally parked in a handicapped parking space in September. A woman who uses a wheelchair describes a contentious scene with the judge. He has said little publicly, other than to broadly dispute her version of events. . . . It's impossible from our vantage point to know the truth of what happened after he parked illegally. That will be something for judges in the disciplinary process to determine. But it's distressing to hear Nottingham was again involved in a situation that puts him in the public eye for all the wrong reasons. . . . In August, we learned Nottingham had dropped thousands of dollars in one night at a strip club. Granted, so far as we know there was nothing illegal about what he did. He was embarrassed about the revelations, which came out of a bitter divorce, and said they were a matter of "human frailties and foibles." . . . In the most recent incident, Nottingham parked in a handicapped space outside the Walgreens on Colfax Avenue and Race Street. He said he was making a quick stop to pick up a prescription. A woman who uses a wheelchair blocked Nottingham's SUV from leaving the spot and contends he put the car in reverse and threatened to have federal marshals remove her. . . . The woman, Jeanne Elliott, was a lawyer in an Arapahoe County courtroom in 1986 when she was shot and paralyzed by an angry litigant. She has filed a complaint about the parking incident with the 10th U.S. Court of Appeals. . . . In a brief and broadly worded statement, the judge admitted the parking violation but disagreed with the rest of Elliott's description of how the events unfolded. . . . Were he an ordinary guy, a strip club visit and a parking ticket wouldn't make for much news. But Nottingham is not just another guy. . . . Federal judges have great power to decide the fate of people and cases that come before them. We look to them to decide some of the most important issues of our day. They should abide by the law, even simple ones, such as where to park.

CALIFORNIA  

Blinded teen seeks to compel use of unpublished court rulings

By Michael Doyle | McClatchy Newspapers

10-10-07 --An errant paintball partially blinded Joshua Hild. It also opened his eyes to how courts work. . . . Hild of Fresno County, Calif., won $704,633 in a civil lawsuit, only to lose the award in appeals court. Now, in a potentially ground-breaking federal lawsuit, the former resident of tiny Big Creek is challenging how judicial opinions are used while he gets a crash course in the law. . . . "I've learned that it's not always just," Hild said Tuesday. . . . The 19-year-old restaurant worker is suing the California Supreme Court to reverse its practice of largely ignoring unpublished court opinions. In California, these opinions disposing of routine cases can't be cited as precedent. They also become difficult to appeal. . . . They're very common. States and the federal government, though, are starting to diverge in how they handle unpublished opinions. . . . California courts of appeal issued 11,852 opinions during the 2004-2005 fiscal year. Of these, only 1,047 were published. . . . About one-third of federal appellate-court decisions reviewed in 2002 came in unpublished opinions. . . . "We're brought up in this country that you have a right to trial and then, in case you have a bad opinion, you have a right to have it heard by a higher court," said Brian Chase, Hild's attorney. "People like Josh should not be left subject to a clearly flawed opinion."

CALIFORNIA

Judge allows class action against Target Web site

10-3-07 -- (Reuters) - A federal judge in California certified a class action lawsuit against Target Corp brought by plaintiffs claiming the discount retailer's Web site is inaccessible to the blind, according to court documents. . . . Judge Marilyn Patel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California also rejected Target's motion for summary judgment in the case, according to the ruling filed October 2. . . . According to the ruling, plaintiffs -- including the National Federation of the Blind -- claim Target.com violates federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination against the disabled. . . . "This is a tremendous step forward for blind people throughout the country who for too long have been denied equal access to the Internet economy," Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation for the Blind, said in a statement.

September 2007

FEDERAL COURTS

3rd Circuit: Some ERISA Cases May Need More Scrutiny

Shannon P. Duffy, The Legal Intelligencer 

9-17-07 -- Insurers regularly use video surveillance in disability cases to ferret out bogus claims, but a federal appeals court has now ruled that when the surveillance is continued even after it has garnered no evidence of fraud, the insurer's ultimate decision to cut off benefits may be subject to "heightened scrutiny." . . . "While surveillance is an aggressive tactic, nothing prohibits its use," U.S. Circuit Judge Thomas L. Ambro wrote in the 57-page opinion in Post v. Hartford Insurance Co. . . . But Ambro found that plaintiff Carol Post made a valid argument when she complained that Hartford continued to investigate her claim despite its surveillance revealing that she did not leave her home. . . . "The fact that Post did not leave her home while she was under surveillance is perfectly consistent with, and corroborative of, her claim for disability. Yet Hartford was undeterred in continuing to pursue evidence that Post was not disabled," Ambro wrote. . . . “Indeed, the very fact that its employees characterized the results of the surveillance as 'unsuccessful' suggests that its motive was to find evidence to deny Post's claim," Ambro wrote in an opinion joined by Judge Theodore A. McKee Jr.

GENERAL

Companies, Courts Debate Whether ADA Applies to Web Sites

Advocates for the disabled are pressing companies to make their Web sites more accessible

Sherry Karabin, Corporate Counsel

9-7-07 -- Does the Americans with Disabilities Act apply in cyberspace? Without clear guidance from the courts, companies are deciding for themselves. Pressured by advocacy groups, some businesses have already taken steps to make their Web sites more accessible to the disabled. But other companies have said that while they'll voluntarily alter their sites, they aren't required to do so by the ADA. . . . RadioShack Corp. is the latest company to reach an agreement with advocates for the disabled. On June 13, the Fort Worth, Texas-based electronics retailer announced that it would make several improvements to its Web site for users who are visually impaired. The agreement grew out of negotiations between RadioShack and the American Council of the Blind and the American Foundation for the Blind. . . . "RadioShack believes that its products and services should be accessible to individuals with disabilities," says Mickey Clark, a senior litigation attorney at the company. "It was apparent that RadioShack and the [blindness organizations] shared a common goal, and we decided to work together to come up with a sensible solution."

MARYLAND   

Attorneys defend suits on ADA compliance

Business owners often resent lawsuits, lack of time given to remedy violations

By Ben Mook, The (Baltimore) Daily Record

9-7-07 -- Jeri Wasco, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, visited a Hyattsville shopping center recently and found curb ramps that were too steep and no elevators going to the second floor. . . . She filed a federal lawsuit against the center's owners, one of four she filed last week against Maryland businesses, alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. . . . Counting those four, Wasco has been a plaintiff in 38 lawsuits alleging violations of the ADA in Maryland. She has also been involved in another nine ADA cases filed in the District of Columbia. . . . Depending on who is asked, lawsuits like Wasco's are either a fair and effective way to bring businesses into compliance with the law, or "drive-by" litigation spurred by filing mills in which attorneys glean high legal fees for quickie lawsuits. . . . "The whole goal of the ADA is accessibility, not to make a few unscrupulous attorneys rich," said Melvin R. Thompson, vice president of government relations for the Restaurant Association of Maryland.

Courting Trouble: The document granting
'power of attorney' often leads to abuse

First of a series

By Dennis B. Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

9-2-07 --  Across the country -- and notably in Western Pennsylvania, where the number of vulnerable elderly has compounded the problem -- a simple legal document called a power of attorney is disrupting the ever-lengthening lives it was supposed to benefit. . . . A durable power of attorney, known less formally as a POA, allows people too busy, too old, too ill or too far away to designate an agent to take care of financial and property transactions. The POA may authorize an agent to pay bills, change documents, write checks, enter into contracts or buy and sell their house. The purpose is to help people unable to attend to their own affairs. . . . In most cases, it works. When it goes wrong, lives can be ruined, families torn apart and, wealth and savings lost in a mist of legal wrangling and dubious transactions. . . . "Once you give people unlimited authority, greed can overcome goodness," said Neil Hendershot, a Harrisburg attorney who has lobbied in the past for reforms in the law. Precisely how many times powers are abused is unclear because no one knows how many power of attorney documents exist. No court requires that they be filed when created, and in many instances, abuses are never uncovered. . . . Sometimes it's hard to distinguish outright abuse from misunderstanding or incompetence. But motive ceases to matter when the result is chaos.

August 2007

FLORIDA

Terri Schiavo and False Campaign Rhetoric

Daniel Downs

8-27-07 -- As presidential campaign rhetoric spews across America’s airwaves, liberals of all stripes and special interests fault Republican’s for their zealous efforts to defend Terri Schiavo’s right to life. Even the prestigious financial publication, The Economist, got in on the act recently. The liberal spiel is that the federal government had no legal right to interfere with a state judicial matter. More important to Michael Schiavo and supporters is the view that family not government should decide such medical matters. . . . What is missing in liberal rhetoric is the interest of Terri Schiavo. In her Slate article Not Dead at All, Harriet McBryde Johnson, a disability-rights lawyer, argued that Congress did have a right to defend Terri. Because she was neither terminally ill nor was the Florida court deciding on an end-of-life decision making issue, congressional legislation giving the federal court the last word was proper procedural law. Johnson wrote that Terri had “a federal constitutional right not to be deprived of her life without due process of law.” She also had “a statutory right under the Americans with Disabilities Act not to be treated differently because of her disability.” Because “killing is not ordinarily considered a private family concern or a matter of choice,” it was appropriate for Congress to give federal courts jurisdiction to make sure state courts respected her federally protected rights.

NEW YORK

Frank Bowe, deaf NY professor who fought for disabled, dies at 60

8-27-07 -- (AP) _ Frank Bowe, a deaf professor who helped win civil rights protections for the disabled and advised Congress on how to better serve people with disabilities, has died at age 60. . . . The Hofstra University special-education professor had been battling cancer that had spread throughout his body, one of his daughters said Monday. He died Aug. 21 at a hospice in Melville. . . . Bowe, deaf from childhood, was the first executive director of the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities, helping to direct the 1977 sit-ins that led to federal enforcement of the first major law to bar discrimination against the disabled. . . . The law required federally funded institutions to make it possible for the disabled to access services and public places, and it paved the way for the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.

WISCONSIN

Wisconsin Attorneys Quit Bid to Subject Disabled Patient to Euthanasia

by Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com Editor

8-20-07 - In a surprise move, attorneys representing a La Crosse family asked a judge for a dismissal of their motion to remove a feeding tube from a woman who is not terminally ill and not dying. Their original request invited legal action from pro-life groups interest in helping the woman not be subject to euthanasia. . . . The attorneys for the woman, named Marilyn, filed their new request in a La Crosse circuit court late Friday afternoon. . . . The lawyers admitted they would not likely win their case, but they reserved the ability to file the motion again at a later date. . . . Barbara Lyons, the director of Wisconsin Right to Life, told LifeNews.com the unexpected withdrawal of the motion "is excellent news for patients all over the state who are in similar situations." . . . Lyons' group filed a legal motion last week to attempt to intervene on the behalf of the disabled woman. . . . "The La Crosse case was being set up as a test case to change state law via the courts to allow the removal of food and water from many vulnerable patients," Lyons explained. "We empathize with the family of the woman in question as they struggle through this difficult time. Our prayers are with them." . . . Had the attorneys for the guardian prevailed in the case, Marilyn could have been subjected to the same painful starvation and dehydration death that took Terri Schiavo's life in March 2005.

The New Right to Life

Roger Pilon Commentary

8-10-07 -- The wheels of justice turn slowly, especially for the dying. On Tuesday the D.C. Circuit, sitting en banc, reversed a 15-month-old decision by a panel of the court that had recognized a constitutional right of terminally ill patients to access potentially life-saving drugs not yet finally approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Given the poor quality of Tuesday's opinion in Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs v. Eschenbach -- "startling," said the dissent -- one wonders why it took so long. The opinion's one virtue is that it brings out clearly how far modern "constitutional law" has strayed from the Constitution, a document written to protect liberty, not federal regulatory schemes. . . .Represented by the Washington Legal Foundation, Abigail Alliance is named for Abigail Burroughs, a 21-year-old college student who died of cancer in 2001. Their argument could not be more simple or straightforward, nor could Tuesday's dissent, written by Judge Judith Rogers and joined by Chief Judge Douglas Ginsburg, the majority in the earlier opinion. Citing the Fifth Amendment's right to life, the Ninth Amendment's assurance to the Constitution's ratifiers that the rights retained by the people far exceed those named in the document, and the Supreme Court's "fundamental rights" jurisprudence, Judge Rogers argued that the right to life, the right to self-preservation, and the right against interference with those rights -- which the FDA is guilty of -- are of one piece. They are deeply rooted in common law and the nation's history and traditions, implicit in the concept of ordered liberty, and thus "fundamental."

NEW YORK  

Judge Spotlights Shortage of Interpreters for the Deaf

By Alan Feuer

8-10-07 -- The prevailing custom in the New York courts is for sign language interpreters to work in tandem: one translates the rapid-fire arguments of courtroom life, while the other gets to rest weary hands. . . . There is, however, a shortage in the courts of sign language interpreters, so this buddy system does not always work, according to court officials. Yesterday, a judge in Queens took note of the shortage, writing a memorandum that explained why he had awarded an interpreter who was forced to work alone twice his daily rate of pay. . . . The judge, Justice Charles J. Markey of State Supreme Court, gave the higher rate to Gabriel Grayson, a certified American Sign Language interpreter. It was after Mr. Grayson had translated for a deaf plaintiff at a six-day civil trial in June involving a personal injury case. Mr. Grayson had told the judge and other court officials in Queens of the normal two-interpreter setup, but agreed to work alone, for a bit more money, after officials could not find another interpreter to relieve him.

MISSISSIPPI

Jackson criticized for lack of amenities for disabled

By Kathleen Baydala

8-3-07 -- About once a month, Dr. Scott Crawford's craving for a fast-food burger gets the better of him. That leads him to make the dangerous trek down Northside Drive to McDonald's. . . . Why so dangerous? . . . Crawford must rely upon a motorized wheelchair to do the job his legs used to because of his multiple sclerosis, a disease that attacks the nervous system's defenses. On long stretches down Northside, his obstacles are cracked sidewalks, steep curbs, mud, tree roots, heavy traffic and the heat. . . . Those stretches are some of the reasons he's pushing Jackson officials to improve public transportation for the disabled. Since December, he has written several letters to the mayor's office and City Council members asking them to create or repair sidewalks and increase bus service hours for disabled riders. . . . The solution should be simple, those who work with the disabled say: More buses, better maintenance and more training. . . . Becky Pierson, spokeswoman for JATRAN, the city's transit system, responded: "We are aware there are some people who want more services and longer hours, but that would have to be taken care of by the city." . . . JATRAN is funded with local and federal dollars but is run by a private company. . . . Crawford said he relies on JATRAN because he has no other option, adding he has problems getting door-to-door pickup. He is not able to drive, and long trips in the wheelchair zap his energy.

OHIO

The 'medical miracle' that brought near-vegetative brain
back to life

Mark Henderson, Science Editor

8-3-07 -- The mother of a man who was left in a near-vegetative state by a serious assault spoke yesterday of her joy at the “medical miracle” that has allowed him to speak and eat again — and which could benefit tens of thousands of people in a similar condition. . . . The severely brain-injured patient, who is now 38, was unable to communicate, swallow or make co-ordinated movements for six years, before doctors revived him from this minimally conscious state (MCS) with a revolutionary therapy. . . . Since his skull was implanted with electrodes to stimulate a deep-lying and undamaged part of his brain, he has improved so dramatically that he can now feed himself, brush his hair and recognise and talk to his parents and doctors. . . . “My son can now eat, sleep, watch a movie without falling asleep, he can drink from a cup, he can express pain, he can cry, and he can laugh,” his mother said. . . . “He can say, ‘I love you, Mommy’. God bless those wonderful doctors who believed in my son, and gave their time and effort to help my son.” . . . One of his most impressive achievements has been to say from memory the first 16 words of the Pledge of Allegiance, which is recited daily by American schoolchildren.

IDAHO  

Transgender inmate wins hormone therapy

By Rebecca Boone, Associated Press Writer

8-2-07 -- An inmate who castrated herself with a disposable razor blade after prison officials refused to treat her for gender identity disorder should have female hormone therapy paid for by the state, a federal judge said. . . . Jenniffer Spencer, who was born biologically male, sued the Idaho Department of Correction and its physicians, claiming that her constitutional rights were violated and that she was subjected to cruel and unusual punishment when the doctors failed to diagnose gender identity disorder and treat her with female hormones. Instead, the department and its doctors repeatedly offered Spencer the male hormone testosterone. . . . A trial over the lawsuit has not been scheduled, but U.S. District Judge Mikel Williams ruled Friday that the state must provide Spencer with psychotherapy and estrogen pending trial. Williams also noted that Spencer is scheduled for release in two years, and that getting the lawsuit to trial could take that long or longer. . . . The state's attorneys contend that prison doctors did not find conclusive evidence that Spencer, 27, has gender identity disorder. It would be unethical for the doctors to prescribe a drug that wasn't needed and that could do harm, attorney John Burke said. . . . The judge disagreed.

Judge's decision 'normalizes' transgenderism
Family values group criticizes ruling taxpayers must fund treatment
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

8-2-07 -- A family values organization is criticizing a judge's ruling that taxpayers must pay for a sex-change treatment for a state prison inmate. . . . According to Associated Press reports, the inmate, Randall Gammett, demanded a name change to Jenniffer Spencer while in