The International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide has changed its name to the Patients Rights Council to better reflect its mission.  From the Council’s statement:

Those familiar with the work of the International Task Force know that we’re committed to providing  documented research and information on euthanasia and doctor-prescribed suicide, practices that abandon patients when they are most vulnerable. But the actual scope of our work is even broader than that.  It encompasses all end-of-life issues – from the withholding of food and fluids from vulnerable patients to the denial of wanted, life-saving treatment deemed futile by health care providers; from the creation and dissemination of our state-specific durable power of attorney for health care (the Protective Medical Decisions Document to publication of the book Power over Pain: How to Get the Pain Control You Need.

What all of this has in common is our strong commitment to protecting patients’ rights. That’s why, starting in January 2011, the name, International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, changed to the Patients Rights Council.

I have assisted the work of the Task Force–now the Council–as a lawyer and communications consultant since 1993 or 94. I can’t tell you how impressed I am with the commitment of Council head Rita Marker (who inspired me to this work) and the Council’s officers and staff to the cause of protecting the vulnerable and promoting ethical medical practice. But my, my: How time does fly.