Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Canadian Pro-Deather: Do As I Say, Not As I Do


Two interesting points about this Canadian story. First, the woman who died (naturally) was a pro-deather who was charged a while back with aiding and abetting two suicides. Why didn’t she choose that for herself? Second, it’s another case of people becoming pro-death after watching someone “suffer horribly.” Do dying people sometimes suffer horribly? Well yes, some do, but that’s because the boneheaded medicos aren’t up to speed on state-of-the-art palliative care. Blame the medicos if you will, but don’t use these difficult circumstances to justify killing.
B.C. woman acquitted in assisted suicides has died
VICTORIA • Evelyn Martens, the Vancouver Island woman who made national headlines when she was charged in 2002 — and later acquitted — of aiding in the suicide of two women, has died. She was 79.
Ms. Martens’ son, Les Poelzer, said his mother died late Sunday in Misericordia Hospital in Edmonton from complications likely from a gall bladder infection.
She had been visiting another son in Hinton, Alta., during the previous week when she began to feel ill, he said.
In October 2004, Ms. Martens went on trial for helping two women to kill themselves. Both offences carry a maximum sentence of 14 years. She was acquitted after 14 days. more

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