Wednesday, July 21, 2010

NZ Doctor Says No Euthanasia Among Elderly - Run Away, Quick!!!


So, a geriatric physician, highly experienced, says he’s never seen or heard of euthanasia of old people. My advice: Stay clear of him, he’s obviously clueless and unobservant.
Doctor refutes claims of patient euthanasia
A specialist who has worked with geriatric patients for two decades, has said he has never seen any doctor perform euthanasia.
On Tuesday night's Close Up programme Dr John Pollock, who is terminally ill, claimed many doctors are already practising euthanasia.
"It's called pain control or anxiety control, but the reality is many of the doctors who do this are deliberately shortening the lifespan of the patient, quite rightly," claimed Pollock.
But on Breakfast today, Professor Martin Connolly from North Shore Hospital's geriatric unit, said he has never known of it. more

UK: Murky Assisted Suicide Laws Will Lead To Legalization Of Assisted Suicide


Here’s a good short piece on the current state of disarray around assisted suicide laws in the UK.
The demand for clarity on 'assisted dying' and the threat of prosecution continues
Current legal unrest suggests that the campaign for new ‘assisted dying’ laws in the UK could be gathering new momentum, since new guidelines, regarding how the actions of individuals should be judged in court, were issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer. Now the guidelines will face a legal challenge by a sufferer of ‘lock-in syndrome’, Tony Nicklinson, who since suffering a stroke is only able to move his eyes and head and strongly feels he should not be made to live an undignified life. more

The Negative Effect Of A Doctor Calling For Legit Euthanasia


Just as I predicted – authority-figure-doctor-terminally-ill calls for euthanasia, and a newspaper then polls whether euthanasia should be legalized. Hey presto!!! The public agrees. What a shock, I tell you!!
Legalising euthanasia wins huge support
Dr John Pollock says euthanasia should be a basic right.
Legalising euthanasia has won huge support from readers of the nzherald.co.nz, reflecting the earlier findings of scientific public opinion polls.
By last night, 82 per cent of nzherald.co.nz poll respondents said euthanasia should be legalised.
The poll was started after 61-year-old Auckland GP Dr John Pollock, who has just months to live after being diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, spoke out in favour of voluntary euthanasia. more

UK Counter To Killing A Disabled Man


Here’s a counter to Tony Nicklinson, who is asking that his wife kill him seeing that he can’t do it himself (see post below).
Concerns raised over new effort to legalise euthanasia
A leading anti-euthanasia group has said that a disabled man's efforts to legalise  euthanasia undermines everyone's security.
No Less Human, a group within SPUC Pro-Life representing disabled people, was responding to the legal challenge launched today by Tony Nicklinson, who is seeking voluntary euthanasia by lethal dose. more

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

UK: Here Comes A Case To Test Allowing Euthanasia Upon Request


This is going to be most interesting. While the Brits are soft-pedaling any prosecution of people who help others commit assisted suicide, the recent meal-mouthed government “clarification” of the law was clear in one respect: That helping someone commit suicide would be overlooked and not prosecuted (go figure) BUT that euthanizing someone (that is, actually killing them, not helping them do it themselves) is murder or manslaughter. That’s exactly what Tony Nicklinson wants – his wife to kill him because he wants to die but can’t kill himself because he’s paralyzed. Prediction: it’ll happen, there’ll be a video of the killing, the media will go wild, and the authorities, amidst an orgiastic tsunami of pro-death spin, will fold. Trust me.
Euthanasia: "mercy killing" law to be tested
The case of Tony Nicklinson will re-open the debate on assisted dying and so-called "mercy killing". He has locked-in syndrome, following a stroke. Unable to talk, he communicates by blinking or nodding his head. He also has a specially adapted computer with a push-button control.
Mr Nicklinson is not able to travel, but I met his wife Jane and daughters Beth and Lauren at their solicitors in London. Mrs Nicklinson read out a statement that he had dictated to her: more

NZ Terminally Ill Doctor Advocates Euthanasia


Here we go again – this time in New Zealand. A terminally ill doctor pushes for euthanasia. When this happens, because the advocate is a physician, it has more authority to sway people to the por0death side than an ordinary citizen. We need more doctors speaking up for our side!!
Doctor With Cancer Lobbies For Euthanasia
Wellington, July 29 NZPA - A doctor who has terminal cancer is calling for the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) to accept euthanasia as ethical.
John Pollock, a former GP from Auckland's North Shore, was working as a part-time locum when he was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma last December. He initially received chemotherapy, but had since stopped the treatment, New Zealand Doctor reported.
Dr Pollock said his recent experiences had prompted him to talk more about his concerns over the current euthanasia laws, although he had always been a strong advocate of legal euthanasia. more

Why Punish Loved Ones By Telling Them You're Going To Commit Suicide?


This is a tough story to read, and only partly because it describes in detail a dead man walking. What bothers me most, however, is the creepy way suicide is portrayed as a brave and logical act. It’s not, it’s selfish and narcissistic. Even Dan Treecraft admits that it’s going to be hard on  his wife. So my question is: Why would someone want to put their wife through this? Dan has no answer. Utterly predictable.
The last word against cancer: His prognosis terminal, Dan Treecraft isn’t waiting for death to come to him
Jan and Dan Treecraft share quality time at their Spokane home on June 27. Dan is suffering from tongue cancer and has decided to take his own life.
Sometimes he struggles with conversation. Droplets of spit, even blood, escape his mouth like wrong answers. He grimaces when swallowing.
He hates these moments, bringing a fist to his lips and looking away. He apologizes and then quickly leans close, eyes afire with a new thought, a new criticism of a medical system he sees as a greed-driven industry that is flipping off fate and getting rich doing it.
He frets over the idea of dying in a hospital, fed through a tube, dimmed by painkillers and hooked to machines. And the tests. Tests upon tests costing thousands of dollars that will confirm what he and everybody else already knows: Dan Treecraft, 61, is going to die. more

Tasmanian Authorities Chicken Out


Well this is how it goes . . . The pro-deathers in Tasmania have kept at it long enough that the Tasmanian Government is seriously considering legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia. And, just like in the UK, although assisted suicide/euthanasia is currently illegal and punishable, the authorities are declining to proclaim another “heroic” doctor who admits helping someone kick the bucket.
Police drop death inquiry
The news was welcomed yesterday by Attorney-General Lara Giddings and Greens leader Nick McKim, who said their proposed new laws to legalise euthanasia would end confusion for police, doctors and families.
Voluntary euthanasia advocate and Melbourne doctor Rodney Syme was investigated by Tasmania Police over the death of Allens Rivulet man Rob Cordover.
Mr Cordover, also a passionate supporter of euthanasia, died surrounded by his family in June last year after a nine-month battle with motor neurone disease.
Dr Syme admitted helping Mr Cordover to take his life by giving him advice and medication. more

Monday, July 19, 2010

Therapist: Assisted Suicide For Old Folks OK


Well.

More yadda-yadda-yadda about the Final Exit Network’s propaganda with the pro-deather billboards. However, the interesting part is some wing nut therapist who makes a slip of the tongue betraying that she’s OK for assisted suicide – as long as it’s for old folks.

Aren’t we lucky???
Right-to-Die Billboard Campaign Sparks Moral Debate
A bold sign along a busy New Jersey highway -- "My Life / My Death / My Choice / FinalExitNetwork.org" – is the signature poster of a "right to die" billboard campaign that is sparking controversy among clergy and suicide prevention organizations across the country. . . .
Springer says she's not opposed to Final Exit's mission, just how they're delivering the message.
"I visited the website and it's populated by elderly folks who are at the end of a very long life and are in pain," she said. "That's a whole different issue to me." more

The Brits Push The Assisted Suicide Envelope Even More


Well, I saw this coming. The relentless assault against reason and to legalize assisted suicide is taking a significant turn. Until now in the UK, people have gone to the Dignitas death clinic in Switzerland for assisted suicide, and the big tut-tut was that those who helped them get there might be prosecuted when they returned to the UK, where it’s a crime to assist in a suicide. That whole idea has collapsed with all the brave “heroes” ‘fessing up to having indeed aided and abetted suicide. The UK government folded, issuing a mealy-mouthed “clarification” of the law, which actually opened the door to assisted suicide even wider. NOW a guy who can’t get to Switzerland. Guess what? He wants assisted suicide in the UK. Nah, who would have ever thought this would happen (please forgive slight cynicism)?
Locked in syndrome man asks High Court for right to die
A man with "locked-in syndrome", who can move just his head and eyes, has launched a legal bid to allow his wife to end his life.
Tony Nicklinson, 56, who can only communicate by blinking and nodding at letters on a board, wants his wife to carry out a mercy killing without facing a murder charge.
He is seeking clarification from the High Court to make sure that, if he asks her to help him die, she will not be prosecuted and given a mandatory life sentence. more

The Media Lies To Spin Assisted Suicide Positively


Well, this is the state of the in-the-tank-for-the-culture-of-death media. This story takes until page 3 to get to the fact that the Final Exit Network is under Federal indictment for their actions. The piece even states that FEN does a careful examination of the persons’ mental and physical health before assigning them a guide. Bull. That’s why they’re under indictment in Georgia – the undercover agent said he had terminal cancer, and they took it at face value, then they went on to explain to him how they would hold his hands down if he tried to pull the helium mask of his face if he changed his mind about dying.
Euthanasia Billboards, Books Fight for Death on Your Own Terms
Mixed in among the billboards for radio stations and fast food restaurants in San Francisco and New Jersey are controversial roadside ads appealing to the seriously ill who want help in committing suicide.
Emblazoned with the slogan "My Life. My Death. My Choice," the black billboards are part of a larger campaign by the Final Exit Network to spur discussion and raise awareness of what it considers the inalienable right to die with dignity.
While many right-to-die advocates argue for the legalization of physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill, Final Exit Network offers "exit guidance" to those with serious but not necessarily terminal illnesses, allowing them to take their death into their own hands, either with a physician's help or not.
"We thought [the billboards] were a great way to get different communities talking about the issue. We believe that the ultimate human rights issue of the 21st century is the right to die," says Frank Kavanaugh, Final Exit's spokesman. more

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Obamacare Starts To Take It's Deathly Bite - Duh!!

Well when some of us warned a long time ago that Obamacare would mean businesses unloading their health insurance and forcing their employees into Obamacare, we were laughed at (to put it mildly). Guess what? We were right. It’s simply market forces at work – if firms pay for expensive healthcare, and all of a sudden they can save money by terminating it because a government option is available, why wouldn’t they?
Firms cancel health coverage
The relentlessly rising cost of health insurance is prompting some small Massachusetts companies to drop coverage for their workers and encourage them to sign up for state-subsidized care instead, a trend that, some analysts say, could eventually weigh heavily on the state’s already-stressed budget.
Since April 1, the date many insurance contracts are renewed for small businesses, the owners of about 90 small companies terminated their insurance plans with Braintree-based broker Jeff Rich and indicated in a follow-up survey that they were relying on publicly-funded insurance for their employees. more

Euthanasia: Fighting It Is Not Exactly New

We tend to think of the battle against euthanasia as being of recent vintage, but that, of course is not the case. Here's what G. K. Chesterton had so say about 80 years ago in Euthanasia and Murder.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Here's Why We Should Always Err On The Side Of Life


Here’s why we should never, ever, assume people in persistent unresponsive states are “brain dead,” or to use a common epithet, “vegetables.” Just before Richard Rudd’s ventilator was turned off, a doctor checked one more time. Guess what, Richard was very much alive and able to communicate.
Blink, and you live – doctors' message to man in a coma
Richard Rudd and his father at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridgeshire. Photograph: BBC Wales/Rudd family
A man who was left paralysed and seemingly unable to communicate following a traffic accident was saved from having his life support machine turned off when he managed to blink three times to tell doctors that he did not want to die. more

Thursday, July 15, 2010


Gee, I’m shocked, I tell you – another person claiming an assisted suicide or euthanasia defense for murder. Why would that be? Could it be the influence of the pro-deathers??
Edinburgh man jailed for trying to kill disabled wife
An Edinburgh pensioner who admitted attempting to murder his disabled wife has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.
John Millar, 67, claimed he was trying to end her suffering when he attacked Phyllis Millar, 65, at their home in Ravelston on 28 June 2009.
Mrs Millar, who has multiple sclerosis, denied claims by her husband that she said she wanted to die. more

Final Exit Network Heats Up The Propaganda


Here’s the prodeathers propaganda in full cry. Final Exit Network, some of its members under federal indictment, instead of hunkering down, goes on the attack with even more ads now popping up in New Jersey. Chutzpah? In spades!!!
Right-To-Die Billboard Causes Uproar In N.J.
HILLSIDE, N.J. (CBS) ― The message on a billboard in New Jersey is stirring up a lot of controversy. It centers on whether a person suffering from a painful disease has the right to take his or her own life.
The billboard looms over a busy section of Route 22 in Hillside, facing the eastbound lanes. Some drivers said they are confused by the message.
"My Life My Death My Choice. So what does that mean?" Hillside resident Steve Leo said. more

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Euthanasia Now Legal In S. Korea? Not So Fast . . .


Well, despite the media saying that euthanasia is now legal in South Korea, maybe not, because the law simply says that if a patient declines further treatment, and that that decision may result in death, then such a decision is legal. This, of course, is not euthanasia because any patient has the right to refuse any treatment. This is different from euthanasia, where someone else deliberately puts you to death.
S.Korean legalises euthanasia for terminally ill
SEOUL — South Korean doctors will be allowed to remove life support from terminally ill patients after confirming their wish to die, under new medical guidelines on mercy killing, officials said Wednesday. more

Wesley Smith Must Be Doing Something Right In Aussie


My goor friend and colleague Wesley Smith is giving the Aussie pro-deathers fits. Go Wesley!!
I’m Not “Scare Mongering,” I’m Fact Mongering
Australian pro euthanasia forces are responding to my advocacy, accusing me of scare mongering. more

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Aussie Pro-Deathers Go After Wesley Smith


Gee, what a shock, my good friend and colleague Wesley Smith, in Aussie campaigning against assisted suicide and euthanasia, is getting flack from the pro-deathers.
Anti-euthanasia campaign 'scaremongering'
Tasmania's Dying with Dignity group has accused an anti-euthanasia advocate of scaremongering about the impacts of legalising assisted suicide.
U.S. campaigner Wesley Smith has warned legislation allowing voluntary euthanasia will lead to increasing numbers of people being eligible for assisted suicide, including those who are not terminally ill. more

Monday, July 12, 2010

Where Did The Pet Euthanasia Drugs Go???


Well, who knows of this left is so that someone somewhere in Canada can have a “dignified” death. However, given the pro-deather push in Canada, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was for that purpose, and once the dastardly deed is done, that some “brave” soul comes out of the woodwork to talk about how they helped in the “dignified, loving act of assisted dying.” Sorry, excuse me while I go throw up.
Police issue warning after euthanasia drug stolen from Calgary vet clinic
CALGARY - Police say a dangerous euthanasia narcotic was among a haul of drugs stolen during a break-in at a southeast Calgary veterinary clinic over the weekend.
The Douglas Square Pet Clinic, at 11520 24 St. S.E., was broken into Saturday evening and a safe containing a large quantity of veterinary narcotics was stolen, police said.
Among them was a drug called, Euthansol, which police describe as a powerful and rapid euthanasia narcotic. more

The Euthanasia On The Spanish Plain . . .


Ho-hum. Another Euro country report that a majority want to have kicking the bucket to be a legalized, nay “dignified” event. My suggestion: Go ahead, gratify those who think we’re killing the planet because too many of us exist.
OVER HALF SPANIARDS IN FAVOUR OF EUTHANASIA
A study titled Social values and drugs presented in Madrid last Tuesday revealed that over 60 percent of Spaniards aged between 15 and 64 years of age are completely or partially in favour of euthanasia, but only 21 percent view suicide as permissible. more

Wesley Smith Slaps Down The Aussie Pro-Deathers


My good friend & colleague Wesley Smith is doing a great job taking on the pro-deathers in Aussie. Anything you can get written by Wesley – read it, he absolutely knows what he’s talking about.
Euthanasia 'bad medicine, worse policy': campaigner
An anti-euthanasia advocate from the United States wants Tasmanian politicians to reject assisted suicide legislation as bad medicine and even worse public policy.
Wesley Smith has been brought to Australia by the Right to Life lobby group to lobby in Tasmania, Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales, and Western Australia. more

Friday, July 9, 2010

Here's the answer to the pro-deathers. Part 2 tomorrow.

Montana Seeks To Formally Legalize Assisted Suicide


In Baxter v. Montana, a state judge opened the legal back door to assisted suicide perhaps becoming legal in that state. Predictably, the pro-deathers are at it again. This time they’ve convinced a state senator to introduce formal legislation to completely legalize assisted suicide in Montana. Let’s hope they fail. I’ll keep you up to date on this important issue.
Missoula lawmaker wants to implement court’s physician-assisted suicide ruling
HELENA — A Missoula legislator is having a bill drafted to implement a 2009 Montana Supreme Court decision to allow physician-assisted suicide when a terminally ill patient requests it.
Democratic Rep. Dick Barrett, who is unopposed for re-election, said he will introduce the bill in the 2011 Legislature, which convenes in January. He asked the legislative staff to draft the bill. more

Even More Ugly Euthanasia Truths From The Netherlands

My good friend and colleague Alex Schadenberg alerted us to a little bit of nasty truth seeping out of that quagmire that is legalized euthanasia in the Netherlands – that what is now law started as a behind-the-scenes movement by a very few death-doctors who were willing to do all the hard work. They succeed, unfortunately.
Dutch Doctor Reveals Euthanasia Laws Passed through Covert Planning Phase
Commentary by Alex Schadenberg, Chairman, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
July 8, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A letter written by Aycke Smook, a retired physician from Bergen Am Zee in the Netherlands, was published on the euthanasia lobby listserve to commemorate the death of Adelbert Josephus Jitta, a retired Dutch Prosecutor who had worked to change the euthanasia laws in the Netherlands.
The letter explains how Jitta and Smook worked together to change the Dutch laws by establishing euthanasia protocols in the hospital, by undermining the Dutch euthanasia law and by prosecuting cases that were designed to be struck down by the courts to establish precedents that allowed euthanasia. more

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Starving Patients A Form Of Euthanasia? Yup, Could Be


More from Scotland: NHS patients starving to death because they are not helped to eat. Now, this is obviously another triumph of socialized medicine, but if you think in at least some places there isn’t some sentiment that not helping people eat will grease the wheels to their death, I’d say you were pretty naïve.
Malnutrition of NHS patients ‘is form of euthanasia’
One of the country’s leading health campaigners has urged the Scottish Government to urgently tackle the problem of malnutrition of the elderly and vulnerable in the nation’s hospitals, likening the problem to a form of “euthanasia”.
Dr Jean Turner – executive director of Scotland Patients Association (SPA), a GP and former independent MSP – warned that hundreds of patients, particularly the elderly, are languishing in hospital beds undernourished because they are not given help with feeding. more

Don't Worry Scotland: Prosecution Probably Won't Happen


The Scots are currently getting their kilts in a knot over a proposal to legalize assisted suicide. Now the medicos are worried that if the proposal succeeds, nurses might be vulnerable to be convicted of homicide or manslaughter. My somewhat cynical view is that the medical community shouldn’t worry – once assisted suicide is legalized, the authorities will not have the you-know-what to prosecute. Look at what’s happened in England.
Warning over controversial proposals to assist suicide
Controversial proposals to legalise assisted suicide could lead to health-care workers being criminalised, it has been claimed.
The Royal College of Nursing in Scotland (RCN) fears that staff, who may feel pressurised to help a terminally-ill patient they have developed a relationship with, could be prosecuted. more

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Speaking Out Against The Tasmanian Push For Assisted Suicide


I don’t think clergy speak out strongly enough about the evils of assisted sucide and euthanasia. Here’s an exception, addressing the renewed push for assisted suicide in Tasmania.
Australian prelate speaks out against euthanasia
After Tasmania’s attorney general spoke in favor of a bill that would permit euthanasia in the Australian state, Archbishop Adrian Doyle of Hobart denounced her support of the measure. more

Assisted Suicide Against Scottish Values - Absolutely!!


This is a good piece that lays out the basic for and against arguments around assisted suicide. The Scottish author concludes that legalized assisted suicide is not the way to go.
Debate is a matter of life or death for scots
Published Date: 06 July 2010 Margo MacDonald's bid to legalise assisted dying in Scotland has reignited the debate on euthanasia. Here supporter Libby Wilson and critic Dr Rosemary Barrett debate the proposals being put before MSPs.
. . . Finally, euthanasia is not consistent with historic Scottish values. We must remember that the actions of a few profoundly affect many others. The legalisation of euthanasia would betray our Scottish values by acting in the interest of only a small segment of society.
Passing the Bill would clash with our historic standards of caring for the whole of society, not simply submitting to a vocal and influential few. more

Mission Impossible: OK Assisted Suicide & Then Review To See If It Should Continue


This piece commenting on the pro-deathers trying to legalize assisted suicide in Scotland try to be even handed, but they’re engaging in seriously wishful thinking if they think that assisted suicide could be introduced and then reviewed after a while to see if it was working or not. NOT!! Once it’s available, it’ll never get repealed.
Euthanasia - 'The issue is not going to go away quietly'
THE debate over euthanasia is one of the most complex and emotive facing society today. . . . In the circumstances, there is a lot of merit in the Royal Society of Edinburgh's proposal that the results of any introduction of some form of assisted dying should be reviewed after an agreed limited time period. It is an idea that deserves serious consideration. more

Monday, July 5, 2010

The Euthanasia Drumbeat Gets Louder


Here’s a piece I wrote over at American Thinker yesterday.
The Euthanasia Drumbeat Gets Louder
Across the world, the inexorable push for accepting the new culture of death continues unabated.
It's not a pretty picture, because whichever way you turn, there is pressure for assisted suicide and euthanasia to become an acceptable and even hallowed part of the social fabric.
While the roots of assisted suicide and euthanasia are hardly of recent vintage, the contemporary ground zero in our lifetimes is the Netherlands. more

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Hospice Fights Pediatric Nurse Whistleblower


I’m not quite sure what I think of this report of a pediatric hospice nurse accused of (and denying) overprescribing Nembutal for dying children, especially seeing that she was the whistleblower who noticed adult doses of the drug being prescribed for her young patients. It does, however, highlight the fine line between making someone comfortable while dying and actually killing them.
Fired pediatric hospice nurse fights to clear her name
. . . For 20 years, she was one of a handful of pediatric hospice nurses in the country -- caregivers who can withstand the torment of watching young lives fade. She was the only such nurse in Montgomery County. On call virtually every day, she slept with the phone beside her bed. Once, when her own daughter was sick, she hired a home health aide so she could care for someone else's sick child. "I didn't feel like a great mother, but I felt what I was doing was so important," Lark, now 52, said wistfully. "It was a calling."
On April 14, 2007, Lark was abruptly fired from Montgomery Hospice in Rockville. In a termination memo, her supervisors accused her, in essence, of being a bad nurse. Her skills were "frequently outside the acceptable and safe standards of nursing practice." She was asked for her keys and badge. Her computer was taken, and 14 minutes later, Lark was standing in the parking lot, staring with an uncomprehending gaze. more

Friday, July 2, 2010


Here’s a fine example of the popular attitude toward assisted suicide – the horror story, and then the “brave” declaration of favoring assisted suicide. It’s this popular perception that is the most effective pro-deather propaganda.
I weep to see mum like this . . . if I ever get dementia, I’ll go to Dignitas
SINGER turned reality TV star David Van Day cradles his mother's hand and speaks softly to be sure she is sleeping.
"Mum... Mum... " Penny, 83, continues to breathe deeply.
The frontman of Eighties pop band Dollar and former contestant on hit show I'm A Celebrity then makes a shocking statement.
Looking at his sleeping mother, he reveals he would take his own life if he was ever diagnosed with her condition.
Referring to the assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland, David confesses: "If this happens to me and I'm diagnosed with dementia, I'll head straight to Dignitas." more

A Good Report On The UK Status Of Assisted Suicide


Here’s a good piece from the UK that lays out the current state of the pro-death influence.
Debating death The fight for clearer rules conceals a drive for legalisation
THE argument over the ethics of assisting the terminally ill to die is sharpening, as two recent cases concentrate minds. On June 25th Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions, said that Michael Irwin and Alan Cutkelvin Rees would not be prosecuted for helping Raymond Cutkelvin, who had pancreatic cancer, die at a Swiss clinic in 2007. Prosecuting would not be in the public interest, he held: Mr Rees was motivated by compassion; Mr Irwin, a former doctor, was an elderly man; and neither had profited from the death.
In another, very different, case, the General Medical Council struck Howard Martin off the medical register on June 18th. Mr Martin admitted to hastening the death of a number of patients and said that he had not always sought consent from sufferers or their families before doing so. In 2005 he was acquitted of murdering three patients through overdoses of morphine. The police may reopen that investigation. more

UK Prof Has It Right About The Slippery Slope


This is spot-on. The pro-deathers won’t like it.
Legal assisted suicide creates 'slippery slope' to doctors killing without consent, expert claims
Prof David Jones said that if society agrees that it is in some people’s interests for them to end their own lives, it is difficult to resist the logical conclusion that others should be helped to die even if they have not made such a request.
He claimed this situation already exists in the Netherlands, where voluntary euthanasia is legal but where about 500 patients are also killed a year by their doctors without requesting to die.
Prof Jones, director of the centre for bioethics at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham, said: “My view is that it will lead from people who have asked to die, to people who cannot ask.” more

Pro-Deather Spin At Its Finest



See, this is how the pro-death spin seeps into the public consciousness. Reading this, you’d think that the PBS special on Craig Ewert committing assisted sucide at Swiss clinic Dignitas was a beautiful thing. I’ve seen the documentary several times, and it’s creepily devoid of emotion. Watch the documentary of you get the chance and tell me that if that was your loved one, that you’d behave so coldly as they decided to kill themselves. Chilling.
‘Dignity’ law could use fix
Last week’s story about a Portland psychiatrist may revive the debate on assisted suicide in Oregon. If so, it might lead to improvements in the law, which now requires people to do the act without anyone helping them. . . .
We can learn far more from a documentary that appeared last week on public television’s Frontline program. It told the story of an American in his 60s who had been teaching computer science in England and got Lou Gehrig’s disease after retiring. By the time he was filmed, he could barely move and needed oxygen from a tank. He could do nothing on his own. His wife helped with everything. But he could still speak. And he explained, eloquently, why he had chosen to end his life before he lost the ability to swallow. more
 
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