Last updated on: 7/30/2018 | Author: ProCon.org

Kristen Hanson Biography

Title:
Community Relations Advocate for Patients' Rights Action Fund
Position:
Not Clearly Pro or Con to the question "Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal?"
Reasoning:

“I know this. I am the widow of JJ Hanson, a vibrant 36-year-old father who died of terminal brain cancer less than 4 months ago. I can assure you, as he was dying, my husband wanted, and needed, better access to in-home hospice services, but he couldn’t get it. Where was his choice?… New York ranks 48th among the 50 states for hospice utilization and it has the second-lowest number of providers per beneficiary. The State Legislature should be promoting better access to hospice and palliative care, rather than pushing assisted suicide.”

Marian Hetherly, “Medical Aid in Dying Hearing Bringing Busloads to Albany,” news.wbfo.org, Apr. 23, 2018
Involvement and Affiliations:
  • Community Relations Advocate, Patients’ Rights Action Fund
Education:
  • None found
Other:
  • Hanson’s husband, JJ, was diagnosed with a Grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme (a terminal brain cancer tumor) in May 2014. He died on Dec. 30, 2017 at the age of 36, leaving behind his wife and sons James and Lucas.
Quoted in:
  1. Would Legalizing Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS) Encourage the Healthcare Industry to Promote PAS, Endangering Vulnerable Groups?