Groups Opposing Active Euthanasia for Robert Wendland On September 29, 1993, Robert Wendland, then 42 years old, was involved in an automobile accident. He remained in a coma for 16 months. In January 1995, Mr. Wendland emerged from a coma, but remained severely cognitively impaired. He is paralyzed on the right side. Communicate using a “Yes/No” communication board. He receives food and liquids through a feeding tube. During rehabilitation, he was able to perform activities such as catching and releasing a ball, operating an electric wheelchair with a joystick, moving in a manual wheelchair with his left hand or foot, balancing himself momentarily in a " standing structure" while grabbing and pulling "thera-putty", draw the letter "R" and choose and replace the required color blocks from several color choices. The Probate Court has appointed Robert Wendland's wife, Rose, as conservator of his person under the Probate Code. Rose asked for court permission to remove the feeding tube, starving him. Robert's mother (Florence Wendland) and sister (Rebekah Vinson) objected. Various groups opposed to active euthanasia got involved in the case with amicus briefs: Not Dead Yet is a national grassroots organization of people with disabilities formed in response to the growing popularity of, and laws permitting, physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in the United States and around the world. Not Dead Yet's mission is to advocate for the legalization of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia and to bring a disability rights perspective and awareness of the effects of discrimination into the legal and sociological debate about euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. Founded in 1996 in Illinois, Not Dead Yet has worked to educate, advocate, coordinate, and lead the disability community's efforts to prevent the "right to die" from becoming a duty to die or a right to kill. While it is impossible to determine how many people with disabilities, family members and allies call themselves members of Not Dead Yet, members have undertaken specific activities in the organization's name and in support of its mission in at least 30 states. Not Dead Yet has testified three times before the U.S. Congress, once before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and twice before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Constitution. When members of Not Dead Yet attended the long-awaited 1999 trial of Jack Kevorkian (the first after three years of non-prosecution and dozens of assisted suicides of people with non-terminal disabilities) and silently asked for equal protection of the law, he was convicted.