February Archive

Paternalism in the Apple Isle

Paul Russell | 09 February 2013

Anyone who follows Australian politics and politics in general knows the old saying: never run an inquiry if you don’t know the outcome.

October Archive

Big rise in Dutch euthanasia deaths

Michael Cook | 08 October 2012

Just-released statistics for Dutch euthanasia in 2011 show that the number of psychiatric patients who died has skyrocketed from 2 in 2010 to 13 last year. Euthanasia for people with dementia also rose substantially, to 49.

September Archive

Elder Abuse: Our most appalling crime

Paul Russell | 29 September 2012

Congratulations to the Tasmanian Government for their announcements this week of an initiative to fight Elder Abuse in the island state. The 12 month project funded by the State Government to the tune of $120,000 will attempt to gauge the extent of the problem.

Swiss parliament rejects more regulation of assisted suicide

Michael Cook | 28 September 2012

The lower house of the Swiss parliament has declined to tighten controls on assisted suicide. MPs felt that self-regulation by groups like Exit and Dignitas was enough.

New first for Belgium: prisoner euthanasia

Michael Cook | 16 September 2012

No doubt about it: Belgium is the place to be for creative applications of legalised euthanasia. Last year Belgian transplant surgeons revealed that they had harvested organs from four people who were voluntarily euthanased. Now it appears that one prisoner, a rapist-murderer, has already died after voluntary euthanasia and another has requested it.

Nitschke and Exit must answer questions

Paul Russell | 05 September 2012

The roll out of Exit International and Dr Philip Nitschke’s latest project, the provision of kits that include a nitrogen cylinder to bring about death by suffocation, should ring alarm bells with the Australian public and regulatory authorities.

A taste for (a healthy, happy long) life: an Italian Family!

Vincenzina Santoro | 05 September 2012

Meet Italian siblings who, collectively, are aged 846 years old.

August Archive

Tasmania launches elder abuse initiative

Paul Russell | 29 August 2012

It's time for Premier Giddings to rethink her commitment to euthanasia legislation.

Euthanasia denied to two paralyzed British men

Michael Cook | 18 August 2012

Two severely paralyzed British men have lost a High Court case to allow doctors to end their lives without fear of prosecution.

Prosecute police, says Dignitas. They stopped our suicide

Michael Cook | 17 August 2012

The Swiss group Dignitas has filed a complaint against the Zurich prosecutor’s office for interrupting an assisted suicide. On August 2, a 67-year-old woman suffering from a genetic disease who weighed only 35 kilos attempted to kill herself at a Dignitas clinic.

American sailor jailed over assisted suicide

Michael Cook | 15 August 2012

Google "assisted suicide" on Google News and you can scroll through a number of current cases which have been discribed as "assisted suicide" or "mercy killing". As a particularly sordid example of how assisted suicide can be abused, consider the case of Gerard Curran and Paul Stephen Bricker, two American sailors living in Virginia.

German government wrangling over assisted suicide

Michael Cook | 15 August 2012

A close friend should be allowed to help someone commit suicide, says the German Justice Minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger.

South Australia: going for Gold!

Paul Russell | 14 August 2012

With the London Olympics coming to a close and the questions about Australia’s overall lack of performance against high expectations, two South Australian MPs look certain to make sure that at least one Australian state holds a world record. If The Hon Bob Such Mp and Steph Key MP are true to their words on the ABC 7:30 Report (SA) recently, then they will both be introducing new euthanasia bills into the parliament when sitting resumes in September. These will be the sixth and seventh bills introduced since this parliament began in March 2010.

Lessons from Bonanza about mercy killing

Michael Cook | 09 August 2012

The classic 60s family-friendly cowboy TV series Bonanza, about a patriarch and his three sons on a half a million acres in 1870s Nevada may not seem like a place to look for lessons about euthanasia.

Leading Massachusetts doctors go mano a mano over assisted suicide

Michael Cook | 05 August 2012

On election day in November, Massachusetts will also vote on a referendum on assisted suicide – or, as its supporters call it, assisted dying. On July 31 Boston Globe featured parallel statements by a leading advocate of the measure and a leading foe.

Page 1 of 11 pages  1 2 3 >  Last ›