Another Happy 35th!

Eagle eye Doug Schmidt noticed that Wheel of Fortune is also celebrating a 35th anniversary this year!  Purists will know that the show was originally started by Merv Griffin in 1975 - but after a few iterations and networks, the nightly syndicated version of the show premiered on September 19, 1983 and is thusly celebrating it's 35th anniversary...And as inconceivable as it might be - that's still Vanna White as the show's hostess!!!

Tis the season...

For NHL hockey!  Andrew Nash and son frequent the SJ Sharks games and recently scored big!

Focus on the 35th...but just for a minute!

Recent email from DA about reunions - had an easter egg in it, did you catch it?  While calling for self-nominations for reunion presenters and offering up a schedule preview of reunions (June 8-10, 2018 for us...) there was a sidebar link to a brand new web version of the DA directory info.  This info was only available via a mobile device until now!  Find a classmate, take him to lunch, then send me the picture! (If you didn't receive this email - be sure to update your email address at "alumnirecordsATdeerfield.edu".)

With Thanks...

Happy Thanksgiving!  We hope some time with family reinvigorates your soul...But if not, feel free to try again by attending our 35th reunion June 8-10, 2018!

Enjoy the photo gallery and video of the recent Choate Weekend where DA prevailed 6-3-3.  Remember when we had 13 soccer teams alone???

Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/deerfieldacademy/albums/72157689609859125/with/38441225041/


Choate Day 2017 from Deerfield Academy on Vimeo.

Seen in NYC - Reunion is June 8-10, 2018

Boston Strong!

So you can probably imagine the conversation that happened in the hallway at the Santander Bank office in Boston a few weeks back.  Bob Fitz is heading to the men's room and Will Wolf is headed to the water fountain.  They bump into each other and finally remember that they work in the same building!  Then they do what 83ers do when in good company, they wonder who else they can include in a gathering.  So they get Townsend and Clark on the line and compare address books for DA 83* and hatch a plan to hang out.  And then it happened!

Kudos to the organizers and the attendees, with special nods to Beaubien and Crow who made the big travel efforts to be present.

Here's the lineup at Ginger Man - Boston:

Front (LtoR): Peter Crow, Bob Fitzpatrick, John Cianciolo, Peter Townsend
Back (LtoR): Will Wolf, Mark Beaubien, Nelse Clark

*As a reminder, remember that DA has a mobile app with most of us in it.  Learn more here.

PS - Hope to see these faces again June 8-10, 2018 at our 35th!

Next film role for Nottage

Keep an eye out for your favorite Pierce Brosnan lookalike as he appears in a new movie soon...(but not in the trailer FYI)



And here he is at the Bahamas premier with his wife, Kara...

"It's a story of human smuggling through The Bahamas of Haitian nationals hoping to reach the United States. The story revolves around a struggling Bahamian fisherman who can't afford the life he wants for his family. He turns to human smuggling at the suggestion of a friend and at the hands and as operator for a nefarious human smuggling agent as a way to make ends meet.

I play an intercepting US Coast Guard officer when he's driven to take smugglers all the way to the US mainland after stepping stone trips do not work out well."

Annual Trip

Paul Magee made his annual pilgrimage from Mexico and connected with Mark Beaubien at the Inn...

Legal Help

Eddy D'Alessandro had a rough case recently in NJ.   Here's the link and some of his comments from FB and then the entire article posted below.

http://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/2017/10/24/parents-may-force-feed-anorexic-20-year-old-daughter-judge-ruled/792150001/

"This case was difficult because I was assigned a client who did not want further treatment.  I was faced with the ethical dilemma of being assigned a client and having to not follow her wishes.  The medical record was clear that she had not reached a position of futility where there was no hope for recovery.   Because she is young, had no other medical issues and loving and supportive parents the Court with my support appointed her parents to empower them to help their daughter.  For those who follow my sporadic posts last year I advocated for the right of  a 29 year old who had so many other health issues secondary to her 20 plus years of Anorexia to discontinue treatment.  She died and is at peace.  I can only hope my current client opens up to the treatment so there is a better outcome.  Thanks all for the support."

MORRISTOWN — Desperate to save their anorexic 20-year-old daughter from death, a Parsippany couple petitioned the court to appoint them her guardians, which would give them power to make medical decisions on her behalf, including force feeding.

Superior Court Judge Paul Armstrong, no stranger to the situation, granted the parents their wish on Tuesday by declaring S.A., as the woman is referred to in court documents, incapacitated and incapable of making her own decisions. The parents were appointed co-guardians of the Parsippany High School graduate.

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Attorney Susan Joseph, representing the parents and Edward D'Alessandro Jr representing a 20-year-old anorexic woman and her desire to stop eating. During the hearing in front of Judge Paul Armstrong, the young woman's parents wish to become her legal guardians to have her artificially fed. October 24, 2017. Morristown, New Jersey  (Photo: Bob Karp/Staff Photographer)

"This is a case that makes other parents hopeful," said S.A.'s mother following the ruling. The mother, who did not wish to be identified by name, said the petition for guardianship "is a tool for parents to keep our kids alive." The parents asked that S.A.'s identity not be made public.

The ruling comes on the heels of the death of a 30-year-old Morris County woman named Ashley in February. She also suffered from severe anorexia nervosa and refused to eat.

The landmark Karen Ann Quinlan "right to die" case was decided by the N.J. Supreme Court 40 years ago. March 31, 2016 William Westhoven/DailyRecord

Armstrong, who also presided over the Ashley hearing, ruled that she could not be force-fed at Morristown Medical Center, a decision supported by her parents, the hospital's bioethics committee and all her treating physicians. Ashley had undergone a decade of treatment that did not work, according to court documents.

Unlike S.A.'s parents, Ashley's parents wanted their daughter to continue treatment, but wanted to respect her wishes to stop eating and to refuse a feeding tube.

Julia Quinlan, mother of Karen, reflects on 40-year milestone

Ashley suffered organ damage and was far more debilitated by malnutrition than S.A.  In deciding that S.A.'s parents can make her medical decisions that would include force-feeding, Armstrong cited the Journal of Psychiatric Practice that opines that compulsory feeding in early stages of severe anorexia, before organ failure, can be effective.

S.A.'s physical condition reached a crisis point in June when she weighed 60 pounds and her brother found her after she collapsed in their Parsippany home. She was rushed to Morristown Medical Center, transferred to Overlook Hospital and finally transferred to the Eating Disorders Center at University Medical Center of Princeton, Armstrong said. 

Karen Ann Quinlan legacy finally has a home

Through attorney Susan Joseph, S.A.'s parents in June petitioned the court to be her guardians. S.A. was assigned a court-appointed lawyer, Edward D'Alessandro Jr., who met with her multiple times.

Hearing judge Armstrong made national history in the 1970s when he successfully represented the parents of Karen Ann Quinlan in their court battle to have their daughter removed from life support so she could "die with dignity." Karen, who was in a persistent vegetative state, was removed from life support but lived several more years before her death at Morris View Nursing Home in Morris Township.

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A young woman parents listen during a hearing in front of Judge Paul Armstrong involving their 20-year-old daughter, an anorexic woman and her desire to stop eating. Her parents seek to become her guardians and have her artificially fed against her wishes. October 24, 2017. Morristown, New Jersey (Photo: Bob Karp/Staff Photographer)

In the hearing involving S.A., Armstrong met with her, her treating physicians and mental health workers in Princeton, where she was undergoing treatment including artificial feeding with a PEG tube in her stomach against her wishes. Though she gained about 15 pounds since June in the clinic setting, she told her lawyer and medical staff she can manage her eating disorder on her own and wanted to return to Parsippany, Armstrong said.

S.A. repeatedly told her attorney she was an adult, could make her own decisions and didn't want her parents to act as guardians, Armstrong said.

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Attorney Susan Joseph, representing the parents and Edward D'Alessandro Jr representing a 20-year-old anorexic woman and her desire to stop eating. During the hearing in front of Judge Paul Armstrong, the young woman's parents wish to become her legal guardians to have her artificially fed. October 24, 2017. Morristown, New Jersey  (Photo: Bob Karp/Staff Photographer)

The medical doctors and S.A.'s psychiatrist said S.A. is delusional and in denial about her risk of dying, the judge said. S.A. has stated, he said: "Being in treatment is torture." She has said she would choose death over treatment, the judge said.

Armstrong said the physicians all opined that S.A. does not understand what the risks to her life are by not eating.

Armstrong concluded S.A.'s parents are loving and want the best for their daughter, even though she has occasionally claimed they were abusive by forcing her to eat at home. Citing medical reports, the judge said S.A. has suffered from anorexia nervosa since she was 13 years old and her body has not gone through puberty because of her condition medically recognized as a psychiatric illness.

The Journal of Psychiatric Practice, in a treatise titled "Caring for Patients with Severe and Enduring Eating Disorders," states anorexia nervosa has a high mortality rate.

"The body image distortion inherent to this disorder and the impaired judgment and cognition due to malnutrition frequently result in patients refusing treatment. Treatment is most effective if patients are treated early in the course of their illness and undergo a full course of treatment. Involuntary treatment may therefore be both life-saving and critical to recovery," the article states.

The judge noted S.A., though seriously ill, still has a chance of recovery through the guardianship of her parents who will see that she receives continued treatment at the Princeton facility and then at a long-term residential facility.

When in Lexington...

Tom Perry appears to be making the most of his recent trip to Lexington, KY...