Careful!

Terrific new website to combat euthanasia in Tasmania

Fri, 11 May 2012 04:22:19 GMT

The legalisation of euthanasia is a real possibility in the Australian state of Tasmania. But today’s media launch of a stunning new website could tip the balance in favour of opponents. Hopefully it will get widespread publicity. Read more...

Let’s give intellectually disabled the right to euthanasia, say Belgian humanists

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:34:35 GMT

People with intellectual disabilities, all children and people with dementia should be able to request euthanasia, the Belgian Liberal Humanist Association (HVV) has declared. Read more...

Mickey Rooney highlights the danger of elder abuse

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 03:42:59 GMT

Mickey Rooney, the Hollywood icon who testified before the US Congress about his experience with elder abuse, stars in an 82-minute documentary, “Last Will and Embezzlement”. Read more...

Hard cases, great cases, and bad law

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 00:13:13 GMT

The UK case of the plight of Locked-In suffer, Tony Nicklinson, who is seeking to ‘change the existing understanding of the common law’ on assisted suicide (effectively, murder) is by any rendering a hard case. Read more...

Flags of convenience: autonomy, dignity

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 03:20:46 GMT

According to the newly released report, Dying with Dignity, co-signed by nine Quebec politicians, people are now ready to regard death through a new lens. Read more...

A palliative care physician says euthanasia is not needed

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 05:11:55 GMT

Here's an excellent little debate between a doctor who supports legalised euthanasia in Australia and one who opposes it. Well worth a look. Hat tip to Paul Russell, of HOPE. Read more...

How voluntary is “voluntary”?

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 04:59:00 GMT

A criminologist at the University of Tasmania doubts that many people in the community will be able to give full and voluntary consent to ending their lives through euthanasia. The growing prevalence of elder abuse suggests that aged people could easily be manipulated. Read more...

Remembering the Nazi euthanasia of the disabled

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 03:25:00 GMT

The Italian Parliament has declared January 27 a "day of remembrance" for victims of Nazi ideology. In the first place, this means the Shoah, the extermination of 6 million Jews. But thousands of disabled people were also killed between 1940 and 1941 until protests by locals and the Bishop of Münster, Clemens von Galen. This video is a timely reminder of how indifferent we can become to the lives of the disabled. Read more...

Quebec could legalise euthanasia

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 06:56:57 GMT

A parliamentary committee in Quebec has recommended the legalisation of euthanasia with strict safeguards. Its report, “Mourir dans la dignité” (Dying With Dignity), contends that dying is a part of life and since medical assistance is used to prolong life, it should also be used in extreme cases to end it. Read more...

Oregon releases murky assisted suicide stats

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 05:21:43 GMT

Oregon’s public health division has released statistics on deaths under its physician-assisted suicide (PAS)legislation for 2011. Read more...

UK locked-in patient may set dangerous euthanasia precedent

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 23:55:15 GMT

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. Read more...

Official FAQ on Dutch euthanasia

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 03:31:20 GMT

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). Read more...

Artificial nutrition and hydration should normally be withdrawn, says doctor

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 12:03:22 GMT

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. Read more...

Questions asked about euthanasia for brain-damaged Dutch prince

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 12:00:09 GMT

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. Read more...

Santorum sparks controversy over Dutch euthanasia

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 12:44:09 GMT

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. Read more...

Assisted-suicide booms in Switzerland

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 22:43:44 GMT

The number of patients in Switzerland who killed themselves with the help of assisted-suicide organisations rose significantly in 2011, new figures show. Read more...

Yes Minister’s guide to reports on euthanasia

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:37:12 GMT

“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! Read more...

Sarkozy draws line in sand over euthanasia

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:07:00 GMT

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: Read more...

“Not a good look”

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 04:58:44 GMT

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. Read more...

Is China harvesting organs from ethnic minorities?

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:13:25 GMT

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. Read more...

Debating euthanasia in the home of the bean and the cod

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 22:57:49 GMT

Choice is an Illusion, a non-profit opposed to assisted suicide, has launched a new website against the Massachusetts "Death with Dignity" Initiative. The initiative seeks to enact a physician-assisted suicide act in Massachusetts. Read more...

Is the slippery slope at work in Belgium?

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 11:08:01 GMT

The “slippery slope” is often derided as a logical fallacy. But when one of the leading advocacy groups for euthanasia in Belgium posts an article entitled “Euthanasie: tijd voor de volgende stap, Euthanasia, time for the next step”, it’s hard not to think that it may not be so illogical after all. Read more...

Massachusetts Medical Society reasserts opposition to physician-assisted suicide

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 11:04:19 GMT

The 23,000 members of the Massachusetts Medical Society have voted against physician-assisted suicide. Its House of Delegates voted by a large majority for maintaining a policy the Society has had since 1996. According to the MMS press release: “Opposition to physician-assisted suicide was part of a larger policy statement that includes recognition of patient dignity at the end of life and the physician’s role in caring for terminally-ill patients.” Read more...

Australian “ambassadors” for euthanasia

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:56:15 GMT

Your Last Right, an Australian euthanasia lobby group, has collected an impressive list of more than 100 “ambassadors” for “ the legal right to request and obtain medical assistance to end their lives with dignity”. It contains some familiar names – Philip Adams, Bob Brown, Leslie Cannold, Peter Singer, for instance. But there are some surprises, at least for me: footie legend Ron Barassi, former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, “social identity” Lady Susan Renouf, and Major General Alan Stretton. Here is the full list for those who are interested. Read more...

Bishop grilled over right to die

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 03:30:38 GMT

One of the smartest spokesmen for a Catholic stand on bioethics is Australian Bishop Anthony Fisher. Here he is interviewed by the ABC program 7.30 NSW. There are no softball questions and he hits most of them out of the park. (An analogy for American readers.) Read more...

Nitschke in headlines again

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:55:20 GMT

For some time now, Philip Nitschke has been claiming that he had ‘discovered’ a ‘loophole’ in the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s procedures and protocols that would allow him to import the drug Nembutal into Australia. Read more...

Bulgarian parliament spurns euthanasia

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 01:09:03 GMT

The Bulgarian Parliament has rejected a euthanasia bill by a vote of 59 to 13, with 29 abstentions. Read more...

The Dignity in Dying blog has opted for assisted suicide after apparently suffering unbearably

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 07:00:15 GMT

The Uk's Dignity in Dying blog has opted for assisted suicide after apparently suffering unbearably from a terminal condition. Read more...

Dutch doctors solidly behind euthanasia: poll

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 02:36:01 GMT

How much can on-line polls be trusted? Not much. An on-line poll about euthanasia? Even less. However, in view of the sketchy state of information about euthanasia in the first country to legalise it, any poll is welcome. The EinVandaag website in the Netherlands surveyed general practitioners in the last week in July and found that Dutch doctors support it, though sometimes reluctantly. (The number of official notifications of deaths by euthanasia rose 13% to 2,636 in 2009, although many deaths are apparently not reported.) Read more...

Nitschke in new ploy to import lethal drug

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 02:32:52 GMT

Euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke is trying to use a legal loophole to obtain the euthanasia drug Nembutal for two South Australians. They are among six terminally ill patients who have asked Dr Nitschke to import the sedative through the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s special access scheme for patients with a “legitimate need.” Read more...

Analysing South Australia’s muddled euthanasia bill

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 04:06:34 GMT

But before we look at the legislation itself, just think for a minute: if the bill isn’t about euthanasia, why is Phillip Nitschke in Adelaide so often? Why is he saying that he’ll set up a death clinic? Read more...

Is terminal sedation slow euthanasia?

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 04:51:45 GMT

The usual technique of euthanasia is when a doctor administers a lethal injection to a patient. However, when a doctor withdraws life-sustaining nutrition and fluid from a comatose or sedated patient, is this not a form of slow euthanasia? Read more...

A terror management strategy for dementia

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 05:00:40 GMT

When the headline act in the Nitschke travelling road show’s visit to Bendigo is titled, Voluntary euthanasia: Making choices in the context of Alzheimer’s and dementia, we need to ask some serious questions about what the real agenda might be and who gets hurt. Read more...

UK withdrawal of treatment case threatens disabled

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:51:00 GMT

Radio Four’s recent File on Four programme, ‘A Living Death’, featured four case histories of people with serious brain damage. They included Ian Wilson, an Aberdeen man in his 50s, who suffered a severe head injury in a road accident 21 years ago and is now the longest surviving patient in the UK with vegetative state. He is looked after at home by his 83 year old mother. A second patient with the same diagnosis had died after a court ruled that food and fluids could be withheld. Read more...

Will British Medical Assoc spurn “bogus” commission on assisted dying?

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:06:05 GMT

Former Lord Chancellor Charles Falconer (pictured) appeared on the Radio Four Sunday programme this morning. His controversial ‘commission on assisted dying’ will begin to consider the ‘evidence’ it has gathered this coming Wednesday. Read more...

Dignitas: not a holiday get-away

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 12:58:47 GMT

About 160 Britons have died at Dignitas, about one in six of the clients of the Swiss suicide clinic in Zurich. What is it like? London’s Daily Mail – whose specialty is first person narratives, rather than detached commentary – interviewed the daughter of a 74-year-old woman who died there in 2009. Read more...

Why the disabled fear assisted suicide: Dominic Lawson

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:43:07 GMT

Last week’s BBC broadcast of the suicide of 71-year-old Peter Smedley in Switzerland was a public relations triumph for campaigner Sir Terry Pratchett. “This has been a happy event,” he told the BBC. But journalist Dominic Lawson took issue with this in the Independent: Read more...

Advice from Vermont

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 07:25:48 GMT

True Dignity Vermont represents citizens opposed to the legalization of assisted suicide in their state. For a small site it packs a lot of punch, with well-reasoned posts. Check it out! Here TDV lists six reasons why assisted suicide should not be supported: Read more...

Russian Orthodox church speaks out on euthanasia

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 01:41:37 GMT

Euthanasia does not appear to be a very lively issue in Russia, although it has appeared in the media from time to time. Recently Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, a spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate gave the position of the Russian Orthodox Church: Read more...

Catholic bishops in Australia and US slate assisted suicide

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 14:30:38 GMT

The Catholic Church, one of the most consistent opponents of assisted suicide and euthanasia, has fired two broadsides in Australia and the US. In Sydney Cardinal George Pell, an Oxford PhD with a high profile, issued a letter denouncing euthanasia, as it is on the agenda in several Australian parliaments. He warned of a slippery slope: Read more...

20 things you might not know about assisted suicide in Europe

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 06:58:03 GMT

The Sunday Times, in line with its new editorial policy, ran a typically effusive article last weekend about last night’s ‘documentary’ in which we saw a British man, Peter Smedley, kill himself on screen by drinking poison at the Dignitas suicide facility near Zurich. Earlier this year I suggested that the BBC was acting in the role of cheerleader for assisted suicide through its partisan coverage of this issue; and I blogged earlier about how this particular programme was further evidence of BBC bias and would fuel more suicides by way of the Werther effect. But I was also interested to see Mr Pratchett’s (brief) description in the Sunday Times about how the documentary came to be made in the first place. ‘Late last year the BBC, which had earlier transmitted my Dimbleby lecture on assisted dying, asked me to "learn something about assisted dying practices elsewhere in Europe" and also to speak to Britons who had signed up with Dignitas… Of course I said yes.’ Here are twenty things the programme did not tell us about assisted suicide and euthanasia in Europe: Read more...

Is it ethical for the BBC to broadcast a suicide?

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 06:25:43 GMT

Care Not Killing, an British alliance of over 40 organisations, has called on the Uk’s Secretary of State for Health and the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, to carry out an urgent investigation into the way assisted suicide is covered by the BBC and its link to English suicide rates. Read more...

Belgian doctors are using organs from euthanased patients

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 08:35:36 GMT

Using organs from euthanased patients seem to have become a well established procedure in Belgium, only nine years after it was legalized. A press release from a team at a hospital in Leuven announced last week that it had successfully transplanted lungs from four euthanased patients between 2007 and 2009. Read more...

Millions lack access to palliative care, says Human Rights Watch

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 07:04:11 GMT

Tens of millions of people worldwide are denied access to inexpensive medications for severe pain, Human Rights Watch said in a report released earlier this month. The 128-page report, "Global State of Pain Treatment: Access to Palliative Care as a Human Right," details the failure of many governments to take even basic steps to ensure that people with severe pain due to cancer, HIV, and other serious illnesses have access to palliative care. As a result, millions of patients live and die in great agony that could easily be prevented, Human Rights Watch said. Read more...

BBC to broadcast Swiss suicide

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 02:32:33 GMT

The BBC’s decision to screen a man's dying moments at the Dignitas suicide facility in a documentary fronted by Terry Pratchett has already come under heavy criticism. A five-minute sequence in the BBC2 programme, due to be shown on 13 June, shows celebrity author Pratchett witnessing Peter, a British man in his early 70s who has motor neurone disease, taking his own life at the controversial Swiss facility. Read more...

Suicide hero Kevorkian dies at 83

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 01:35:36 GMT

At the age of 83, after helping at least 130 people to commit suicide, medical pathologist Jack Kevorkian, has passed away in a hospital bed in Michigan. He died without "assistance". Read more...

London Times errs in backing assisted suicide

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 00:26:20 GMT

The Times newspaper has this week devoted two whole pages and an editorial to the pro-assisted suicide cause just as Dignity in Dying (formerly the Voluntary Euthanasia Society) is launching its latest propaganda barrage on parliament with the mailing of a new booklet to all MPs and Peers. Read more...

What we all need is a user-friendly euthanasia clinic, says Nitschke

Thu, 19 May 2011 13:47:09 GMT

Euthanasia activist Philip Nitschke has reiterated his determination to set up “Exit clinics” where people can organise their deaths – as soon as legislation is passed in Tasmania or South Australia. Writing this week in Online Opinion, an Australian web magazine, Dr Nitschke says: Read more...

TV soaps and real life quadriplegics

Thu, 19 May 2011 02:06:42 GMT

The problem with television dramas is that they make rare events appear common and so distort public opinion on key issues. It's true of death from heart attacks. And it's true of suicide after paralysis. Read more...

Rollercoaster to death

Wed, 18 May 2011 00:36:00 GMT

“And now for something completely different” is a Monty Python catch phrase which seems both true and inadequate for the brainchild of a Lithuanian inventor at Imperial College London. Julijonas Urbonas has designed a euthanasia roller coaster. Read more...