Tag Archives: Topic: Euthanasia

Christian Concern: The Archbishop of Canterbury has warned that any legalisation of assisted suicide or euthanasia would be a “disaster” for Britain, creating circumstances where life would be “legally declared to be not worth living.”

NYTimes.com: The Georgia law, which made the act of promoting assisted suicide an element of the crime, was deemed a violation of free speech rights. | Final Exit Network v. Georgia

Telegraph: Two senior judges ruled it would be “manifestly unjust” to stop them helping him prepare a legal challenge to the law on assisted suicide – even if doing so could assist his suicide, which would be illegal.

Christian Concern: Margo McDonald, the independent MSP, has re-launched her effort to secure legislation which would make assisted dying legal in Scotland, unveiling a new consultation on the issue.

LifeNews.com: The ECLJ welcomes the adoption, by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), of a Resolution setting the principle that “Euthanasia, in the sense of the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit, must always be prohibited.” This is the first time, in the past decades, that euthanasia is so clearly rejected by a European political institution.

AP on My Way News: To try to ensure that whoever ends his life won’t be jailed, the 57-year-old Nicklinson recently asked Britain’s High Court to declare that any doctor who gives him a lethal injection with his consent won’t be charged with murder. This week, the court will hold its first hearing on the case.

Hertfordshire Mercury News : THE chief executive of a Hertfordshire charity supporting the elderly has defended current legal guidelines for helping seriously ill people to commit suicide.

The Christian Institute: A contentious plan which would allow terminally ill people to undergo an assisted suicide is not without risk, its own chief architect has admitted.

Adam J. MacLeod at Public Discourse: Aiding the deliberate destruction of human life has no place in the doctor’s job description.

Daily Mail Online: A report sponsored by the former Euthanasia Society was never going to come to any other conclusion: it recommends that assisted dying should be legalised.

ChurchofEngland.org: The commission undertook a quest to find effective safeguards that could be put in place to avoid abuse of any new law legitimising assisted suicide. Unsurprisingly, given the commission’s composition, it has claimed to have found such safeguards. Unlike the commissioners, we are unconvinced that the commission has been successful in its quest.

Christian Concern: Lord Falconer’s ‘Commission on Assisted Dying’ released their proposals today (5 Jan) and recommended that doctors should be allowed to assist terminally ill patients to kill themselves, as long as the patients had less than a year to live, and provided they meet certain criteria.

LifeSiteNews.com: The Forum Research poll, conducted on Dec. 13th, found that 67% support legalizing physician-assisted suicide, while 21% oppose it, and 12% are undecided.

ADF at LifeNews.com: Depressed patients need understanding and sound medical treatment, not encouragement to kill themselves. State law reflects this, and no one should believe the recent falsehoods that pro-death proponents have spread about the law. The Hawaii attorney general has clearly concluded that state law does not permit doctor-prescribed death and that any physician who participates in it can be prosecuted,” said Honolulu attorney Jim Hochberg, one of nearly 2,100 attorneys in the ADF alliance.

WorldNetDaily: “Depressed patients need understanding and sound medical treatment, not encouragement to kill themselves. State law reflects this, and no one should believe the recent falsehoods that pro-death proponents have spread about the law. The Hawaii attorney general has clearly concluded that state law does not permit doctor-prescribed death and that any physician who participates in it can be prosecuted,” said Honolulu attorney Jim Hochberg, one of nearly 2,100 ADF attorneys.

LifeNews.com: A 21-year-old man has awaken from a coma just hours before doctors were ready to shut off life support and take his organs for donation purposes.

Doctor-prescribed death is illegal under Hawaii law despite what a pro-death group has argued, according to a newly authored legal opinion issued by Hawaii Attorney General David Louie to Sen. Josh Green, M.D.

Guardian.co.uk: General Medical Council says law is clear but additional guidance is needed to deal with any complaints against doctors

Turtle Bay and Beyond: Belgium’s chairman of the Federal Committee on Euthanasia, Wim Distelmans, sent an open letter to Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo last month “asking him to re-open a national debate on euthanasia” and update the parameters that qualify a person to be euthanized.

The Christian Legal Fellowship (CLF) will present its written and oral arguments on December 14, 2011 in the Carter euthanasia and physician assisted suicide case before the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

Wesley Smith at Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: This letter to the editor from a physician about the failure of Oregon’s doctor-prescribed suicide guidelines to protect a vulnerable patient is poignant, but ultimately, irrelevant. All that matters is a desire to die by the patient coupled (for now) with a terminal diagnosis.

LifeSiteNews.com: The Argentinean province of Corrientes has declared itself to be officially “pro-life,” in a statement signed by Governor Ricardo Colombi.

News from The Associated Press: One of Gloria Taylor’s greatest fears is suffocating before she dies. It’s part of the reason the 63-year-old grandmother has “gritted her teeth” to appear before a British Columbia Supreme Court judge on Thursday in her quest for the right to a doctor-assisted suicide.

James Hochberg at Honolulu Star-Advertiser: On Oct. 5, state Rep. Blake Oshiro hosted a panel discussion on the legality of doctor-assisted suicide in Hawaii. The keynote speaker for the discussion was attorney Kathryn Tucker, director of legal affairs for Compassion & Choices, an advocacy group intent on convincing our population of the legality of doctor-prescribed death for terminally ill patients within the state. With her was the president of that group, Barbara Combs Lee.

Express.co.uk: A PARALYSED man has taken his case to allow a doctor to “lawfully” end his life to the High Court.

LifeSiteNews.com: With a court battle over Canada’s laws against euthanasia and assisted suicide proceeding just north of the border, a lawyer in Washington State has proposed that his state expand their Death with Dignity Act.

LifeSiteNews.com: The report, titled ‘”Not to be Forgotten: Care of Vulnerable Canadians,’” calls for “quality end-of-life care for all Canadians.”

State Senator Jim Shockley and Margaret Dor at the Montana Lawyer at p. 8 (Nov. 2011): Attorneys Greg Jackson and Matt Bowman provide this analysis: If the idea of suicide itself is suggested to the patient first by the doctor or even by the family, instead of being on the patient’s sole initiative, the situation exceeds “aid in dying” as conceived by the Court. If a particular suicide decision process is anything but “private, civil, and compassionate,” . . . , the Court’s decision wouldn’t guarantee a consent defense. If the patient is less than “conscious,” is unable to “vocalize” his decision, or gets help because he is unable to “self-administer,” or the drug fails and someone helps complete the killing, Baxter would not apply. No doctor can prevent these human contingencies from occurring in a given case . . . in order to make sure that he can later use the consent defense if he is charged with murder. (Analysis of Implications of the Baxter Case on Potential Criminal Liability, Spring 2010, at www.montanansagainstassistedsuicide.org/p/baxter-case-analysis.html)

LifeSiteNews.com: A report from the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) saying that assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia should be “legally permitted” is nothing more than a “sham,” according to Alex Schadenberg, executive director of Canada’s Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC).

LifeSiteNews.com: A study published in one of the most respected medical journals in the world this month has found that many “vegetative” patients are in fact fully conscious and aware.

The Christian Institute: A Dutch woman suffering from severe senile dementia has become the first person in such a condition to have her life ended by doctors in the Netherlands.

The Vancouver Observer: “Sue Rodgriguez, who suffers from Lou Gehrig’s disease, is arguing for her right to an assisted suicide. It’s a debate that divides the country.”

Scotsman.com: Church leaders have called on the police to investigate an event in Edinburgh where people will be given advice on “DIY” euthanasia.

LifeNews.com: A new Environics poll conducted for the pro-life group LifeCanada finds Canadians would rather kill the pain of patients rather than patients themselves, as they support palliative care and hospice over euthanasia.

LifeNews.com: The Prime Minister, John Key, has forfeited his right to govern New Zealand because of his support for legislation that would permit doctors to kill their patients or assist in their suicide.

Atlanta J. Constitution: Georgia’s highest court on Monday will hear a challenge that seeks to strike down the state’s assisted-suicide law, passed by the Legislature almost two decades ago to punish people like the late Jack Kevorkian who helped people kill themselves.

Delmarvanow.com: Cox is a member of the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian-based legal network that was also involved in Schiavo’s case.

MiamiHerald.com: Attorney Daniel Cox, representing Sanger’s mother Phyllis of Colonial Beach, Va., and brother Mark of Eugene, Ore., also declined to comment. Cox is a member of the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian-based legal network that was involved in Schiavo’s case.

ABA Journal: Sanger’s brother and mother are represented by Daniel Cox, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund. Cox says Daniel Sanger told his mother he wanted to live before his health declined due to complications from a bed sore. An alliance press release says Sanger became unconscious after expressing a desire to live.

News from The Associated Press: An attorney for the wife of 55-year-old Daniel Sanger said the wife called him Wednesday morning to say her husband died overnight.

The Associated Press: Daniel Cox, the attorney for Mark Sanger and his mother, is a member of the Alliance Defense Fund. The Christian-based legal network says it is dedicated to protecting the sanctity of life and also was involved in Schiavo’s case.

LifeNews.com: The Dutch Medical Association is seeking to expand the practice of Euthanasia in the Netherlands to include more people under the “unbearable suffering” that allows physicians to kill patients and the elderly.

This is cause for great worry, for, once a society embraces doctor prescribed death as an acceptable answer to human suffering or as some kind of fundamental liberty right, there are no brakes.

Scotsman.com: Independent Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald has taken the first step towards a new version of her Bill on assisted suicide.

North Country Gazette: But after six days without food and water, Sanger began responding to hospital staff and the Life & Hope Network, with the help of attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund, obtained a court order to reinstate the food and water tube on behalf of Sanger’s mother and brother.

Wesley J. Smith at Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: The ADF is at it again, at least temporarily saving the life of a man who was temporarily unconscious from a heart attack. From the ADF press release:

The Frederick News-Post Online: Cox said he was not aware of the organization’s involvement, but he said he was referred to the case by the Alliance Defense Fund. The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network said in the news release it is working with the Alliance Defense Fund.

NRL News Today: “Everyone deserves a chance to recover,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “There is no question that Daniel expressly stated his desire to live, and yet he was denied the food and water he needed to survive. His wishes should have been followed. ADF sees far too many situations involving hasty decisions to pull the plug on a human life.”

OneNewsNow.com: ADF attorney Matt Bowman tells OneNewsNow they were successful in obtaining a court order to keep Sanger alive. “Everyone deserves a chance to recover,” says the attorney. “There’s no question that Daniel expressly stated his desire to live, and yet he was denied the food and water he needed to survive. His wishes should have been followed.”

LifeNews.com: “Everyone deserves a chance to recover,” said ADF legal counsel Matt Bowman. “There is no question that Daniel expressly stated his desire to live, and yet he was denied the food and water he needed to survive. His wishes should have been followed. ADF sees far too many situations involving hasty decisions to pull the plug on a human life.” “The court has done the right thing in granting our request to have Daniel’s food and hydration restored,” said Sanger’s legal counsel Daniel Cox.

ADF-allied attorney represents Md. heart attack victim who said, ‘I want to live,’ but had food, water cut off

LifeSiteNews.com: For all the criticism aimed at Ron Paul from both the left and right, one thing he can’t be called is incoherent.

Christian Concern: Official watchdog, the ‘Care Quality Commission’ (CQC), has found that hospitals are making use of ‘do not resuscitate’ (DNR) orders outside of medical guidelines, and that these potentially-lethal notices are being placed on the files of patients simply because they are old and frail.

Nancy Valko at Mercatornet.com: Linking the “right to die” with organ donation has opened a terrible Pandora’s Box.

Wesley J. Smith at Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: Legalized assisted suicide costs us the presence of good people, who had they been given emotional support to help them not commit suicide in their time of health extremis, would be so glad to be alive.

Guardian.co.uk: The global trend suggests a gradual shift towards the decriminalisation of assisted suicide

LifeSiteNews.com: The Holy See condemned attempts to inject euthanasia into the right to health, and Latin American and Caribbean delegations called for a new UN treaty at two recent UN meetings on the rights of the elderly.

The Christian Institute: A High Court judge has today ruled in favour of a “minimally conscious” woman whose family wanted to end her life.

Keith Cassidy at University Faculty for Life: Now two new cases, one from British Columbia and another from Quebec, are working their way through the court system and are expected to reach the Supreme Court next year. In each case a person with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has requested the right to an assisted death.

LifeSiteNews.com: Although the Portuguese parliament is currently deliberating over several bills that could legalize physician assisted suicide and euthanasia, the debate may be largely a moot point.

Christian Medical Comment: Disabled people are being put under much more pressure in the current social and economic climate.

Christian Concern: The MP for Suffolk Coastal, Dr Therese Coffey, has presented a Ten Minute Rule Bill in parliament that would guarantee access to food and water for those who are terminally ill.

Wesley Smith at Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: We often hear from doctor-prescribed death advocates that assisted suicide legalization improves palliative care. It’s not true.

News from The Associated Press: When the FBI notified police in Oregon that a Springfield man had purchased a mail-order suicide kit, officers went to his home and kicked down his door to make sure he was OK.

LifeSiteNews.com: Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston condemned the efforts of a pro-euthanasia group to legalize assisted suicide in Massachusetts in his homily at the diocesan Red Mass this past Sunday, CNA reports.

Barbara Coombs Lee at the Huffington Post: When legislators convened in Helena in January 2011, they considered two bills related to aid in dying. One would nullify the Court’s ruling and repeal the end-of-life freedom people had come to appreciate. The other itemized the steps to evaluate a request and provided civil and regulatory immunity for following them. Neither bill passed a committee or reached the governor’s desk.

LifeNews.com: I watched an old woman die of hunger and thirst. She had Alzheimer’s, this old woman, and was child-like, trusting, vulnerable, with a child’s delight at treats of chocolate and ice cream, and a child’s fear and frustration when tired or ill. I watched her die for six days and nights. I watched her suffer . . .

A pro-euthanasia group has won approval from the Massachusetts attorney general to allow voters to decide whether to allow individuals to kill themselves with the help of a physician on next year’s ballot.

The eventuality of euthanasia as the ‘final solution’ for the damaged offspring of the Boomers to be ‘rid of’ the ‘ME’ generation is real and near at hand.

LifeNews.com: Guidelines proposed by the pro-euthanasia Dutch Medical Association (KNMG) call on doctors in the Netherlands to refer patients for euthanasia — even if they have moral or religious objections to the practice of killing patients.

Daily Mail: It’s deeply worrying to discover that since 2009 – when the BBC and liberal establishment began in earnest their noisy pro-euthanasia campaign – Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer has chosen to take no action against 31 people suspected of helping another to end their life.

The Christian Institute: he Crown Prosecution Service has failed to prosecute dozens of people suspected of assisting a suicide over the past 18 months, it has emerged.

LifeSiteNews.com: prominent Quebec attorney has vowed to challenge Canadian law so that a sick woman he is representing can legally end her life.

LaTimes.com: Doctors, not health insurers, should decide how much can and should be done to extend the lives of the terminally ill.

CNN.com: “After he took the medication, he fell asleep really quickly. His body just relaxed. He went into deep snoring. There were tears, but also it felt like a real family gathering of support,” his daughter Katy, 61, remembers. “After he died you could pretty much feel the spirit kind of lift in the room. Thank goodness he’s free of that horrible suffering and pain.”