Legal action brought by a locked-in syndrome sufferer, who wants a doctor to be able to end his ‘intolerable’ life lawfully, can go ahead following a judge's ruling today. The Ministry of Justice had previously argued that the case should be struck out on the grounds that it is a matter for Parliament, rather than the courts, to decide. But the judge's ruling today means that Mr Nicklinson's case will go to a full hearing, where medical evidence can be heard.
Tony Nicklinson is 57 and paralysed from the neck down after suffering a stroke. I have blogged on this case in some detail previously so will not review the background again here. Nicklinson's legal team will be arguing:
In 2010 the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs published an FAQ about Dutch euthanasia. This is a very useful document as it provides an authoritative reference for defining exactly what happens there. It covers such issues as euthanasia of demented patients (not in principle, but there are exceptions), of chronic psychiatric patients (not prohibited in all cases), of minors (between 12 to 15, parental permission required), and of infants (never, except of newborn infants suffering extreme pain and discomfort).
An American doctor argues in the latest issue of the leading journal Bioethics that artificial nutrition and hydration should be withdrawn from all patients in a permanent vegetative state – unless there is clear evidence that they want to be kept alive.
Dr Catherine Constable, of New York University School of Medicine, studied bioethics at the Ethox Centre at Oxford University. She argues that the current presumption in favour of maintaining ANH is misguided. It is not in the interests of the patient nor, because of its cost, in the interest of society.
However, her argument is not based upon cost, but upon Peter Singer’s analysis of what it means to be a person. An individual in a PVS has no consciousness and therefore no interests. In this case, whether or not he or she is alive is irrelevant.
Dutch Prince Johan Friso, brain-damaged after being buried by an avalanche in Austria last month, has been transferred to Wellington Hospital, in London. Doctors believe that the 43-year-old is unlikely to recover consciousness, although will be weeks before they have a clear idea of his prospects.
Prince Friso is the second son of Queen Beatrix but is not in line to the throne because of his marriage to a controversial commoner. He has been working in London as the financial director of a company producing enriched uranium.
The Netherlands does not have specialised centres for treating brain-damaged patients over 25, so the royal family has been forced to seek treatment abroad. It appears that the standard for care in the Netherlands is different than in neighbouring Germany, for instance. German doctors use biological life as the standard, while Dutch doctors use “brain death”. If Dutch patients are permanently neurologically unresponsive, they are allowed…
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Although it is not widely known in the international bioethics community, Australian Rules Football is the World’s Greatest Game. Without defending this thesis with the vigour it deserves for lack of space, we note that there are two ways to score: through the goal posts for a 6 point goal, or on either side, for a 1 point behind.
So when US presidential hopeful Rick Santorum described the state of euthanasia in the Netherlands on February 3 in a forum in Missouri, he failed to kick a goal. In fact, the Washington Post fact checker, who is the son of Dutch migrants and whose uncle was euthanased, disparaged his “bogus statistics” and awarded him four Pinicchios. He was ridiculed in the New York Times and on Radio Netherlands.
Intriguingly, however, the Dutch embassy declined to scold Mr Santorum for the inaccuracy of his remarks. Instead it passed on to the Times a bundle of “documents and…
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The number of patients in Switzerland who killed themselves with the help of assisted-suicide organisations rose significantly in 2011, new figures show. Exit, which caters exclusively to Swiss residents, announced on Monday that it had helped 416 patients to kill themselves last year. Of those deaths, 305 occurred in the country’s German-speaking region, up from 257 in 2010, and 111 occurred in the French-speaking areas, up from 91 in the previous year. The organisation also saw a boom in new memberships. It now has 75,000. In 2011, Dignitas, Switzerland’s other major assisted-suicide organisation, helped 144 people kill themselves – a 35% increase as reported by the Sonntag Zeitung.
Dr Jérôme Sobel, president of Exit for the French-speaking cantons, said the increase in assisted suicides directly correlates with the increase in memberships.
“Never suggest an inquiry unless you know the outcome beforehand.” A commonly used phrase in politics and, most likely, the kind of advice Sir Humphrey Appleby might have given Jim Hacker MP in the British political comedy, Yes Minister!
Whether a dictate of modern politics or not, the idea that one could ‘engineer’ the outcome of an inquiry towards a preconceived end must be a significant temptation for those who hold the levers of power. Though possibly nothing more than a utilitarian ‘shortcut’ to some ‘good end’ for some, the danger remains that contrary voices are not heard and that the public is hoodwinked into accepting a false outcome as being the result of a robust review.
I write with two reports in mind. Both focussed on what we might broadly call ‘end-of-life issues’ and both recommending the legalisation of assisted suicide.
The two candidates in France’s presidential election are using euthanasia as one of the defining differences in the campaign. In a wide-ranging interview in Le Figaro, President Nicolas Sarkozy explained why he would not back it:
“Legalized euthanasia might lead us to dangerous excesses and would be contrary to our understanding of the dignity of human beings. The Leonetti law is perfectly balanced, establishing a principle, that of respect for life. It leaves room for a dialogue between the patient, his family and his physician. This demonstrates understanding and humanity. We do not have to legislate everything all the time.”
His opponent, François Hollande, a Socialist, recently revived France’s simmering euthanasia debate in a TV interview. A spokesman told Reuters that the exact protocols had not been worked out yet. ~ cross posted from BioEdge.
Not a good look” said euthanasia activist Philip Nitschke to an ABC news journalist. He was referring to the fact that Merin Nielsen, the man convicted last week in a Brisbane court of the assisted suicide of Frank Ward in 2009 was the sole beneficiary of Ward’s estate.
Nielsen will serve only six months of a three-year sentence, but Nitschke said it was ‘dreadful’ that he would serve anytime at all. “He’s a person who’s now a significant criminal in the eyes of the law...although he was acting out of concern for Frank Ward.”
Concern and compassion are worthwhile emotions, but the law can never be based on emotions because they are fickle, as this case clearly shows. The law can only be based upon the reality of an action or actions and their effect upon the safety, life and property of others. Certainly, the courts can exercise leniency in sentencing, as seems…
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China has admitted that it harvests organs from condemned prisoners, but very little information about the practice has emerged in the press. Executed prisoners are believed to account for two-thirds of all transplants, although the government apparently wants to promote a voluntary scheme.
But who are these prisoners? Even less information is available about this, although the Falun Gong, a persecuted indigenous group, claims that its members are being killed for their organs.
A frightening article in the Weekly Standard sheds some light on the situation. Investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann interviewed several Uighur refugees now living in the West who had witnessed the process of organ transplantation. They tell stories of ghastly abuses of political prisoners.
The Uighur ethnic minority live in Xinjiang, the vast, arid Western province of China. They are not Chinese but Turkic; most are Muslims and a few have joined terrorist groups. To…
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A thought experiment about marriage
24 May 2012
A world in which sexual intimacy could not produce children would never have come up with the idea of marriage.
10:55:15 AM
The two candidates in France’s presidential election are using euthanasia as one of the defining differences in the campaign. In 
China has admitted that it harvests organs from condemned prisoners, but very little information about the practice has emerged in the press. Executed prisoners are believed to account for 
