Dr. Mark On The Andy Caldwell Show Tonight

I'll be on the Andy Caldwell Show (am 1440 central coast) from 7.30 - 8 pm eastern time tonight. I'll be doing a wrap-up of the important stories around disability, assisted suicide, and euthanasia for 2011.

Aussie: Great Example Of Pro-Deather Spin

Here’s an Aussie piece trying to assert  that legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia will solve everyone’s problems. Read carefully, and see how fast and loose they play with facts. One: In countries where assisted suicide and euthanasia are legal, abuse is rife, not all peachy as this article suggests. Two: For the umpteenth time: Montana HAS NOT legalized assisted suicide. If they can’t get the basics right, why should we trust their opinions? (Hint: we shouldn’t).

Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill 2010

The Greens’ Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill 2010 will enable terminally ill patients, of sound mind and whose pain and suffering cannot be alleviated, to voluntarily request and receive assistance from a medical practitioner to end their own lives.

Unfortunately the best palliative care does not provide relief for approximately five percent of terminally ill patients, who suffer excruciating pain at the end of their lives. This bill enables those small numbers of terminally ill people to take control of their own dying if that is their wish. more

Images Of The Terminally Ill Are Biased Towards The Pro-Deathers

Look carefully at these images. These are the kind of images that are most likely to accompany articles related to assisted suicide or euthanasia. Now, death and dying are hardly likely to generate “happy” images, but it’s equally true that many terminally ill people die comfortably at home, comfortable, and surrounded by the love of their families and friends. Where are those images? Think about this the next time you read a piece on assisted suicide or euthanasia. I think these images reinforce the pro-deather side of the argument.

Canada: Should Assisted Suicide Poll Be Trusted?

Polls can always be shaped to suit the sponsor’s purposes. Without more info about the people polled (were they mostly pro-deathers, for instance) it’s hard to tell whether these results are accurate.

67% of Canadians support legalizing assisted suicide: poll

More than two-thirds of Canadians support making it legal for doctors to help the terminally ill kill themselves, a new poll suggests as the assisted-suicide issue once again provokes heated debate across the country.

Advocates on both sides of the question say the findings from a Forum Research survey are no surprise, but argue public opinion should not be the guiding force in deciding whether to change the current law, now under scrutiny in a closely watched B.C. court case. more

Interesting Aussie Take On End Of Life Issues

Here’s an interesting piece on the euthanasia issue.

THE LAW OF DEATH: REFLECTIONS ON THE RIGHT TO DIE

It was compelling television, including an interview with a well-educated MS sufferer, Loredana Alessio-Mulhall, who pleaded for the right to die. When asked about the risk to other vulnerable people facing death if euthanasia were to be legalised she said:

"But there's much more to it than that. My answer to that is what about what's happening to me now. Maybe this will happen ... maybe that will happen. But in (my) case it's 100% bad ... I really believe people who are against it don't want to hear what I say." more

Excellent Example Of Media Bias For Assisted Suicide

If ever you wanted an exemplar of how the media is in the tank for the pro-deathers, read this.

Death with Dignity? The Debate About Assisted Suicide

AFTER A FALL at his Florida retirement home, Lester Angell was robbed of any mobility not already lost to metastatic prostate cancer. An impending hospital admission promised to steal what little autonomy the 81-year-old had left. As the last act of an independent but terminally ill man, Angell took control of the time and circumstances of his death by reaching into his nightstand and pulling out a pistol. more

Canada: Supremes To Hear The Rasouli Case

The Rasouli case is going to the Canadian Supreme Court. Hassan Rasouli went into hospital for some relatively minor surgery and ended up severely brain damaged and supposedly sank into a “vegetative” state. His doctors want to pull the plug, his family says no.

SUPREME COURT OF CANADA AGREES TO HEAR HASSAN RASOULI CASE

Jonathan Sher writes for the London (Ontario) Free Press and has covered medical disputes that make their way into public view. In that capacity Sher has written about both “Baby Joseph” and Hassan Rasouli. In an analysis piece he wrote Monday, Sher compared and contrasted these two highly sensitive, highly important cases. more

Here’s a good commentary on the case from earlier this year:

Keeping hope alive

The family of Hassan Rasouli has been enduring a situation that any family can relate to. Their husband and father has been lying in Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre for almost nine months, in what his doctors describe as a vegetative state. He has no hope of recovery, they say. Rasouli’s wife and children disagree: they see flickers of recognition when he blinks his eyes.

The question is: who decides? Who has the right to say whether Rasouli and patients like him be kept alive or allowed to die? Doctors or families? more

Hawai: No, There Is No Legalized Killing Despite What The Pro-Deathers Say

Here’s a little more on the pro-deathers spin to assert that assisted suicide and euthanasia are already legal in Hawaii. Hint: It’s not rue.

Assisted suicide still a no-go in Aloha State

In spite of proponents' unique approach to legalize it, Hawaii's ban on doctor-assisted suicide remains in place.

Supporters of assisted suicide tried to use a 1909 law that permits the use remedies not typically authorized for terminally ill patients, but Hawaii Attorney General David Louie has responded in a legal opinion that the state law "does not authorize physicians to assist terminally ill patients with dying." Attorney Rita Marker, who heads the Patients Rights Council, tells OneNewsNow what the dated law was meant to address. more