‘The Journey Through Terminal Illness’ at the Lopez Library, Sept. 29

Submitted by the Lopez Island Library

On Saturday, Sept. 29, at 3 p.m. the Lopez Library presents Kathryn Tucker, executive director of the End of Life Liberty Project. A Lopez resident, Kathryn Tucker is an attorney who has been at the forefront of nearly every effort to expand end-of-life liberty. She will be speaking about the rights of the terminally ill, end of life care, planning, options, and considerations in the library’s community room.

Tucker’s presentation at the library will address why knowing your rights, options, and having a choice at the end of life matters. The default response to terminal illness in the modern American medical system is more interventions and more treatments. If you do not want the default, careful consideration, planning and advocacy are necessary. Tucker’s expertise and experience will be a valuable resource to any and all attendees at this program.

Tucker founded the End of Life Liberty Project during her tenure as executive director of the Disability Rights Legal Center (DRLC) at the UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science and Health Policy. Tucker served two decades as director of advocacy and legal affairs for Compassion and Choices at the DRLC, working to improve care and expand choice at the end of life. Tucker served as lead counsel representing patients and physicians in two landmark federal cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, Washington v. Glucksberg and Vacco v. Quill, asserting that mentally competent, terminally ill patients have a constitutional right to choose aid in dying. These cases are widely acknowledged to have prompted nationwide effort and much-needed attention to improving care of the dying, and to have established a federal constitutional right to aggressive pain management. In April 2014, Tucker was named a Fulbright specialist by the U.S. Department of State and the Institute of International Education to share her scholarship abroad at the Universities of Auckland, Canterbury and Otago.

Tucker’s presentation is part of the ongoing library speaker series, “Know Your Neighbor,” which features the expertise, publications and skills of Lopez residents. If you would like to participate in this series, please send a brief statement of interest to Malia Sanford, programs and art coordinator, at malia@lopezlibrary.org. All library programs are free and open to the public.