Tag Archives: Topic: Euthanasia

LifeSiteNews: Euthanasia is hardening from a medical option into an ideology. Belgium’s euthanasia doctors even believe they are being humane because they are liberating people from their misery. Fundamentalist humanists go further and describe euthanasia as the ultimate act of self-determination. The opinion of the patient’s family has no weight whatsoever.

LifeSiteNews: Nearly 2000 people converged on the Quebec Capital on a brilliant spring Saturday afternoon to March against a government plan to legalise euthanasia in the province.

Daniel Doherty at Townhall: Catherine Glenn Foster, litigation counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom and a Townhall columnist, explained some of the problems with the bill mere hours before the initiative passed the state legislature . . .

LifeNews: With Governor Peter Shumlin’s signature on a bill the state legislature approved, Vermont today becomes the third state after Oregon and Washington to legalize assisted suicide.

Christian Institute: Two severely disabled men are pushing the courts to legalise euthanasia and assisted suicide, while a ‘carefully timed’ Bill proposing a similar change was tabled in the House of Lords today.

LifeSiteNews: France’s “Terri Schiavo” shall live. A young man left to die of hunger because his doctor decided his quality of life after a car accident would no longer improve is being fed and hydrated again since Saturday, when his father and mother and two of his siblings obtained an emergency ruling. That ruling ordered the hospital where he is staying to restore all normal care.

AP: An elderly Swiss woman who would rather end her life now than decline further in health found sympathy Tuesday from the European Court of Human Rights, which called on the Swiss to clarify their laws on so-called passive assisted suicide. | Gross v. Switzerland, 67810/10

Christian Concern: The Court of Appeal is this week hearing the cases of two paralysed men who are seeking to change end of life laws.

LifeNews: The Vermont state legislature approved a measure to make the state the third to legalize assisted suicide, following Oregon and Washington.

The Telegraph: Terminaly ill patients will be able to ask their doctor for a lethal dose of drugs to end their lives as part of a major new push to change the laws on assisted suicide.

LifeSiteNews: Euthanasia claimed its most famous victim last Saturday. At the age of 95, Belgian Nobel laureate Christian de Duve was killed with a lethal injection. He died in his home, surrounded by his four children.

Charisma: Suffering patients need understanding and sound medical treatment, not encouragement to kill themselves,” says Litigation Counsel Catherine Glenn Foster. “Even in Oregon, where doctor-prescribed death is already legal, studies show that depressed patients often don’t end up killing themselves when they get counseling and good pain management.”

Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter Friday to all Vermont legislators to explain the negative consequences of a bill that would allow doctor-prescribed death.

Catherine Glenn Foster at Townhall: Some Vermont state lawmakers are pushing to pass S.77, a bill that legalizes “physician-assisted suicide” under the familiar guise of “choice.” Their bill is an attack on human life generally, and especially on elder adults and disabled individuals.

LifeSiteNews: Progressive think-tank Australia21 has released a report that calls on Australia’s parliaments to embrace euthanasia and assisted suicide.

AP: The U.S. military’s highest court has reversed a Marine’s conviction for a suicide attempt. | U.S. v. Caldwell

LifeNews: The House Judiciary Committee, after declining to hear from expert witnesses who asked to testify, rubber-stamped the House Human Services language to restore Oregon-Style doctor-prescribed suicide to, and then voted 8-3 to move, S.77 out for a full vote of the House of Representatives.

Christian Concern: A 57 year old man is seeking a court order that would allow doctors to end his life after joining forces with the family of Tony Nicklinson. The two cases will be heard together in the Court of Appeal on 14 and 15 May.

Wesley J. Smith at NRO: Assisted suicide is not about terminal illness. It is about creating a legal right to be made dead. In the USA, this agenda is more hidden than elsewhere, but anyone with eyes to see can discern that truth.

National Review: On Monday, the Montana state senate voted 27–23 to defeat a bill that would have definitively outlawed doctor-assisted suicide in the state.

Ruth Institute: You may consider the following headline from a leading US newspaper blog last week to be rather extreme: “The British Embryo Authority and the Chamber of Eugenics”. But when it is followed a week later by a news report in a British newspaper saying: “Lord Robert Winston warning over child ‘eugenics’”, should we then take more notice?

C. Wayne Mayhall at Christian Research Institute: Christianity claims that suicide is atheism exemplified—simultaneously denying the true God and putting oneself in His place. Most people probably are unable to organize their thoughts well enough to navigate the complex metaphysical maze of theological reasoning before killing themselves, but, in their violent deaths, they nonetheless put themselves in the place of God as master of life and death

LifeNews: Liberal billionaire George Soros has apparently found a new cause to put his money behind, having already supported President Barack Obama, liberal candidates and abortion. His new venture appears to be assisted suicide.

Wesley J. Smith at Life News: Centralized control of health care is catastrophic. The classic example is the Liverpool Care Pathway, originally created to ensure that NHS patients receive good pain control, under centralized control it often became a form of connect-the-dots medicine, even, back door involuntary euthanasia.

WWMT.com: The legislation will require “any health facility–at the patient’s request–to put in writing, services that they can receive to save their life.”

Guardian: This British doctor specialises in resurrection and insists outdated resuscitation techniques are squandering lives that could be saved.

Peter Saunders at CMF Blog: In other words legalised abortion will lead to legalised euthanasia as a cost-saving and population-control measure. The Political blog ‘Turtle Bay and Beyond’ reported last week on an interview with CFAM’s Susan Yoshihara on the population crisis in China. ‘Demographic trends are poised to spoil Beijing’s plans for a Chinese century,’ said Yoshihara, co-editor (along with Douglas A. Sylvia) of the book, ‘Population Decline and the Remaking of Great Power Politics.’

LifeNews: We are 112 Montana physicians who have joined together to support HB 505. House Bill 505 is a short and simple bill that will clarify the law of physician-assisted suicide by clearly providing that physician-assisted suicide is not legal in Montana.

Christian Institute: Patients as young as 16 in Scotland would be able to tell their GP about their desire for assisted suicide, under controversial proposals from an MSP. Margo MacDonald MSP has been criticised for a revised assisted suicide Bill which would enable people aged 16 and over to have their end-of-life wishes on record.

On March 19, 2013, Christian Legal Fellowship (CLF) appeared before the BC Court of Appeal in the Carter appeal regarding assisted suicide.

LifeNews: Lawmakers in the Connecticut legislature have introduced a bill to legalize assisted suicide, in what would make it the third to do so. Defeating this anti-life bill will be the highest legislative priority of the Family Institute of Connecticut Action in 2013.

Evangelical Fellowship: The British Columbia Court of Appeal is hearing a case that challenges Canada’s laws prohibiting assisted suicide. The EFC submitted written arguments in Carter v. Canada in December and its oral presentation before the court is scheduled for this evening. Learn more at theEFC.ca/carter.

Wesley J. Smith at LifeNews: But back to Switzerland. Their suicide clinics seem to accept all comers, and the Swiss refused to shut the suicide tourism down. Which is why I call it Kevorkian as a country.

Scotland Herald: His actions were against the law, and should not be encouraged. Having worked as a medical practitioner in the NHS for 40 years I recognise that some patients do indeed suffer severely as they approach death. However, the way forward is not to take life but to do all in our power to mitigate their suffering and to compassionately care for the dying.

LifeNews: House Bill 505 will end the confusion over assisted suicide in Montana. The bill’s other purpose is to prevent the legalization of physician-assisted suicide.

Wesley J. Smith at LifeNews: Latest example, Belgium is getting set to legalize euthanasia for children–since it is being done anyway despite the “guidelines.” From the AFP story . . .

LifeNews: The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC), an intervener in the assisted suicide case at the BC Court of Appeal, wants the BC Court of Appeal to reverse the errors in the Carter decision concerning assisted suicide and euthanasia in Canada.

LifeNews: California, a state with an aging population, falling birth rates, and rising welfare rolls, now has a super majority of Democrats in the state legislature with a Democrat as governor. The legislature has the best opportunity it has ever had to pass whatever legislation it wants. And, what it has wanted since at least 2000 is assisted suicide.

Christian Institute: A man who has locked-in syndrome says it’s possible to “find meaning” despite being in a “shell of a body”. He wants to shift the focus of the assisted suicide debate and create a world where people like him feel encouraged to live.

LifeSiteNews: A group of Quebec physicians have formed an alliance to convey their outrage over the pending legalization of euthanasia by the government.

Catherine Glenn Foster at Christian Post: Connecticut state senator Ed Meyer’s bill to create “physician-assisted suicide” is not simply an attack on human life generally, but on elder or infirm adults and otherwise-disabled individuals especially. And it is certainly a step too far for Connecticut citizens who appreciate life.

LifeNews: “The Vermont Senate today voted not to accept the Senate Judiciary Committee’s recommendation that Senate Bill 77 be rejected,” Mary Ann Beerworth of Vermont Right to Life told LifeNews. “Thirteen senators voted to reject the bill, while 17 voted not to reject the bill. As a result of today’s vote, debate on the Bill will continue. S.77 is now scheduled for further debate on Thursday, February 14th, at 1:00 p.m.”

Washington Post: A Canadian Medical Association survey found that 16% of 2125 doctors who completed a survey would be willing to euthanize a patient, if legal, while 44% said that they would refuse requests for euthanasia. 26% of the doctors were unsure how they would respond to requests for euthanasia and 15% of the physicians did not respond.

Vermont Public Radio (includes audio): The Vermont Senate Health and Welfare and judiciary Committees have been holding hearings this week on whether to allow terminally ill patients to get a prescription to legally end their own lives. Supporters call it Death with Dignity, opponents refer to it as Physician Assisted Suicide.

LifeNews: The number assisted suicide deaths were: 77 in 2012, 71 in 2011, 65 in 2010 and 59 in 2009. There has been a 30% increase in the number of assisted suicide deaths in Oregon since 2009.

LifeSiteNews: The political arm of Canada’s pro-life movement is urging the federal Justice Minister to use “whatever legal or punitive measures are necessary” to prevent Quebec from “legalizing euthanasia” and thereby violating the country’s Criminal Code.

CNSNews: Taro Aso, Japan’s 72-year-old finance minister, says he’s worried about the financial burden that end-of-life care is placing on his country.

LifeSiteNews: Twin brothers, 45, who were born deaf, were euthanized in Belgium last month after they learned that they would soon go blind.

Adam McLeod at Public Discourse: To its detriment, Howard Ball’s new book on end-of-life law focuses more on the emotions and biases of the law’s defenders than on law’s history and content.

LifeNews: The following article was written by Seattle lawyer, Margaret Dore and published on December 31 on the Missoulian website under the title: Oregon, Washington assisted suicide laws include no protections for patients. Margaret Dore indicated that she had titled the article: Assisted suicide in Washington and Oregon: A recipe for elder abuse and cloaked in secrecy.

Wesley Smith at National Review: Belgium has jumped head-first off a vertical moral cliff with its euthanasia law. As I have documented here and elsewhere, the Belgians have permitted joint euthanasia deaths of an elderly couple and now couple organ harvesting with the euthanasia killings of people with disabilities and even, mental illness.

AP: Members of a national right-to-die group are challenging Minnesota’s assisted-suicide law, saying it violates constitutional rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association.

LifeSiteNews: Belgium legalised euthanasia in 2002, with a law containing strict controls to protect the vulnerable. (This is the text of the law in English.) The Belgium-based European Institute of Bioethics has just released a study (link to English translation) of the experience of ten years of euthanasia. It claims that the results are far from encouraging.

LifeSiteNews: Despite strong opposition from pro-life forces and a recent high-profile defeat in neighboring Massachusetts, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin said last week he is confident the state legislature will pass a bill legalizing assisted suicide during the next session.

LifeNews: In the past year there have been three reports and two court cases concerning the legalization of euthanasia and/or assisted suicide in Canada and the UK. All three reports concluded that euthanasia and/or assisted suicide can be safely legalized and one of the court cases came to the same conclusion.

LifeNews: Vermont Governor, Peter Shumlin, has stated, once again, that Vermont will legalize assisted suicide in the 2013 legislative session.

LifeNews: Attorneys Greg Jackson and Matt Bowman did an extensive analysis of the case and concluded it “did not legalize assisted suicide and it continues to carry both criminal and civil liability for any doctor, institution, or lay person involved.” The Montana Lawyer, the official publication of the Montana State Bar concluded the issue is open to argument, confirming that the legislature needs to clarify the issue this coming session.

Wesley J. Smith at National Review: Har de har: The BBC is creating a comedy series called Way to Go about friends who establish an assisted suicide business. “Way to go:” Get it?

BBC: A Canadian man who was believed to have been in a vegetative state for more than a decade, has been able to tell scientists that he is not in any pain.

“Suffering patients need understanding and sound medical treatment, not encouragement to kill themselves. The people of Massachusetts were right to reject this attempt to masquerade doctor-prescribed death as compassion.”

LifeNews: With 87% of all votes recorded, Question 2 is behind 51-49 percent, losing by about 29,000 votes out of approximately 2.5 million cast.

LifeNews: With 87% of all votes recorded, Question 2 is behind 51-49 percent, losing by about 29,000 votes out of approximately 2.5 million cast.

Telegraph: The majority of NHS hospitals in England are being given financial rewards for placing terminally-ill patients on a controversial “pathway” to death, it can be disclosed.

LifeSiteNews: A group of pro-life physicians and other professionals, as well as the Catholic archbishop of Southwark, and innumerable patient’s families, are now being joined by the UK Health Secretary in calling for a thorough, independent review of the reported abuses of the Liverpool Care Pathway, a controversial end-of-life medical care protocol. A public outcry is growing after news media have revealed that doctors are using the LCP as a method of passive euthanasia, in some cases for financial reasons.

LifeSiteNews: The American Nurses Association has released a drafted position statement that explains its “strong” opposition to nurse’s participation in active euthanasia and assisted suicide. At the same time, a leading anti-euthanasia campaigner has expressed concern about what he says is ambiguous language in the document on the withdrawal and withholding of nutrition and hydration.

LifeSiteNews: The 750% increase in assisted suicides amongst Swiss nationals since 1998, along with the disturbing 18% annual increase in euthanasia in the Netherlands over the last year will sound strong alarms to legislators in Britain that we should not be contemplating going down this route.

Boston Globe (AP): The Minnesota Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of a former nurse convicted of searching out suicidal people in online chat rooms and encouraging them to commit suicide. | Related Wikipedia entry

LifeNews: There they go again. The central planners at the NHS want GPs to make a list of patients likely to die so they can receive differing care.

Daily Mail: Accordingly, when relatives have been asked to sign up to the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP), that’s precisely what they thought they were agreeing to . . . In practice, however, the LCP has turned into something quite different. For while in some cases it has been used properly as intended, with numerous others it has become, instead, a backdoor form of euthanasia.

Turtle Bay and Beyond: Deaths from “voluntary euthanasia” in Belgium are approximated at 2 percent, – 2,000 annually. At a recent conference in Brussels, a Belgian doctor reported that organ transplants are being done on euthanized patients and that Belgium leads in this practice.

LifeSiteNews: Quebec’s newly elected government announced that it plans to table legislation legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide as early as next spring, even though Canadian federal law prohibits the practice.

Tadeusz Pacholczyk at Wall Street Journal (via Google): Why should doctors have a monopoly on undermining public trust in their profession by aiding suicides? Police and lifeguards could help out too.

LifeNews: In article written by Rochelle Baker and published in the Abbotsford Times entitled: “Abbotsford man convicted of manslaughter now accused of steering woman to suicide,” reports that Kenneth William Carr (53) has been charged with counselling a person to commit suicide.

Christian Concern: The High Court has refused to permit the case of Tony Nicklinson, who died after losing his legal battle to end his life, to go to the Court of Appeal.

The Christian Institute: Dozens of psychiatric and dementia patients had their lives ended under the Netherlands’ controversial euthanasia laws last year.