The former volunteer media coordinator, spokesperson and webmistress of the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation has -- along with a number of volunteers -- launched an online effort (forethics.com) intended to provide public education in the matters of patients’ rights.

Pamela Hennessy, who volunteered for the family of Terri Schiavo from November 2002 until February 2006, has formed a grassroots coalition, called the Partnership for Medical Ethics Reform, with the objective of providing a repository of information for those wishing to protect their rights to receive wanted healthcare and medical intervention.

The Partnership’s website, launched March 13 and still in the construction stages, provides visitors with a listing of state laws dealing with healthcare rights, a directory of state and federal representatives’ contact information, updates on proposed legislation over healthcare and the withdrawal of medical intervention, action items for concerned consumers and online forums for caregivers and disabled individuals.

The Partnership is designed to be a non-partisan coalition and Hennessy hopes to bridge the gaps between the medical, disability rights and elder rights communities.

Again using the internet as a vehicle, Hennessy and her team of volunteers hope to bring as much attention to the need for self-advocacy as was brought to the Schiavo case throughout 2003 and 2005.

As part of its mission, the Partnership opposes care rationing, euthanasia, deprivation of patient privacy by the courts and what they see as the dehumanization of elderly, disabled, terminally ill and vulnerable persons.

Statement of Pamela Hennessy, Founder - The Partnership for Medical Ethics Reform:

“I continue to be troubled over the events of the Schiavo case, not just because I personally felt the circuit court violated Terri Schiavo’s privacy in ordering that ordinary care be withheld from her without proof of her consent, but because I now believe case law is in place to make the act easier to do to others. If the law dictates that you control your medical treatment and healthcare course, then you should also have the tools to advocate for wanted and necessary care.”

The Partnership for Medical Ethics Reform is a grassroots, non-profit group of volunteers dedicated to providing you the tools you need to make informed and intelligent choices for yourself, preserve your rights to healthcare and involve yourself in the legislative process so that you - and every citizen - receives the healthcare that is wanted and deserved (www.forethics.com).

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