Czech Law To Provide For Advance Directives

Good for the Czechs, who are legislating what amounts to advance directives as a way of guarding against euthanasia.

Legislation to include euthanasia safeguard

A safeguard against euthanasia will be for the first time embedded in Czech legislation, in a reform bill on health services that the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of parliament, approved in the first reading yesterday, deputy health minister Martin Plisek has told CTK.

Though euthanasia is banned by the international convention on human rights and biomedicine that is binding on the Czech Republic as well, it has not yet been mentioned in the national legislation directly. more

MPs Continue To Hammer Pro-Death BBC

Brit MPs continue to hammer the BBC over its pro-death bias. Good for them - it's clear and has been for a while that the BBC pretty much sits in the pro-deather corner.

MP joins debate over euthanasia

NORTH Tyneside MP Mary Glindon is backing calls for the BBC to rethink its coverage of the ongoing debate over euthanasia.

Mrs Glindon has backed an early-day motion in the House of Commons calling on the broadcaster to ensure it remains impartial on the subject and has also added her signature to a letter to TV chiefs making the same point.

The former North Tyneside councillor said: “The BBC should be completely neutral on controversial issues such as euthanasia. more

Italian Lower House Intervenes In Euthanasia Debate

Good for the Italian politicos - starvation and dehydration are NOT medical treatments and should not be used to kill people.

Italian lower house votes to ban euthanasia

The lower house of Italy’s parliament has voted to prohibit the starvation and dehydration of patients in a move that is seen as a response to the killing of Eluana Englaro in 2009. more

Legal Euthanasia Is Out Of Control

Here's the ugly truth, folks - euthanasia is out of control in countries and states where it's legal. Duh.

The tragic reality of euthanasia

Over the past few months, a Quebec government commission has been studying euthanasia and assisted suicide. At the end of June, its members flew to Europe to examine the issue in countries where the practices are legal (such as the Netherlands and Belgium) and in a country that rejected legalized euthanasia (France).

What is the commission likely to hear? Proponents of euthanasia will undoubtedly stress that the practice is conducted only within tight guidelines. As a recent study by a Canadian doctor shows, however, these guidelines keep shifting and are of little value in protecting the rights of patients. In fact, according to an article published in Current Oncology by Dr. José Pereira, medical chief of palliative care at Bruyère Continuing Care in Ottawa, safeguards are routinely ignored and abused. more

Increasingly Disability = Death

Yes, here's the ugly truth - disability will get you killed in many areas of today’s society. This report shows that children in the UK are now being aborted for having even minor "defects." Simply depraved, no question.

Aborting abnormality

In a multi-ethnic society, we must be exposed to diversity in order to accept it without fear or hostility. No matter how friendly or open- minded we may be, awareness and exposure are the only way to make something 'new' and 'different' become normal and even mundane. more

Brit Legal System Now Aiding & Abetting Assisted Suicide

If there are still people who think the Brits will prosecute for assisting in a suicide, think again. After considerable pro-deather pressure, the government issued assisted sucide "guidelines" last year that essentially gutted any laws against someone helping to kill another.

No charges over Robert Cowie's Dignitas death

A Glasgow woman who took her paralysed son to the Swiss Dignitas clinic so that he could commit suicide will not face charges, police have said. more

Opposition To NZ Prime Minsister's Euthanasia Slant

Push back to the NZ Prime Minister’s support for considering legalizing euthanasia.

Prime Minister's Support for Euthanasia Legislation Opposed

Right to Life is disappointed at the support of the Prime Minister for Parliament to give consideration to legislation to provide euthanasia in New Zealand. At the recent New Zealand Forum on the Family held in Auckland, the Prime Minister stated that he would support a Private Member's Bill on euthanasia being referred to a Select Committee for consideration. more

Another Example Of Pro-Deather Propaganda As "News"

I keep posting these pro-deather propaganda pieces (masquerading as "news reports") because it makes readers see how transparently cookie-cutter the arguments are. Old man. Not well. Tired of living. Wants to die. Why shouldn’t he? Yadda, yadda, yadda. Same old tired talking points, I'm afraid.

Choosing when to go

When he realized that school wasn't his thing, he dropped out of the College of William & Mary and took a job with a New York City real estate company, launching a career that spanned nearly 50 years. more

The Kerfuffle Over The Phenobarbital Shortage

Just saying: Everyone is tut-tutting that Phenobarbital is in short supply for executions. Of course, the anti-execution lobby is also made up of people that think using this same drug is just peachy for an assisted suicide.

U.S. prisons scramble for new execution drug

COLUMBUS, Ohio — States not only are having an increasingly difficult time getting the injectable drugs to carry out death sentences, they're also paying as much as 10 times more for the chemicals as in years past. more

More Aussie Push-Back To The Pro-Deathers

Here's more push-back in Aussie to the apparent received wisdom that assisted sucide and euthanasia are swell.

Death talk heats up

A top Bendigo priest has called on the community to look beyond euthanasia when seeking answers to terminal illness. more

Texas: The Futile Care Debate Continues

There have been several cases like this in Texas in recent years. Texas has a futile care law which essentially states that if treatment isn't going to make the patient better, and there is no hope of recovery, treatment can be stopped. Well, what if the family doesn't want the treatment stopped? Usually the hospital wins anyway.

How Long Should Texas Docs Treat Untreatable Patients? The Debate That Won't Go Away.

Jordan Allen's case will become part of Texas' annual debate over medical futility.

​Last week, just outside of Houston, a little boy's parents were scrambling. Doctors at Texas Children's Hospital had told them there was nothing more they could do for the boy, 14-year-old Jordan Allen, whose brain is dotted with inoperable tumors. He was on a ventilator and in a coma, and further treatment would have done him more harm than good, the doctors believed. They thought it was time to let him go.

The parents disagreed. And that disagreement guaranteed the family's place at the center of a decade-old fight pitting Texas doctors and hospitals against lawmakers and activists, over how long is too long to care for a patient who appears certain to die. more

NZ Prime Minister In Pro-Deather Tank?

Well, well, the New Zealand Prime Minister says he's prepared to consider the pro-deather push for euthanasia. Is he unbiased? Time will tell . . .

John Key supports euthanasia legislation review

Prime Minister John Key has indicated he supports looking at the legislation surrounding euthanasia.

''That's because I think, while it's a sensitive issue that you would have to make sure was properly covered, I think there have also been some tragic cases where we have seen people before the courts where they have [assisted in euthanasia] at the will of the person they have ended their lives for,'' he told a Family First forum in Auckland today. more

An Antidote To Euthanasia

Here’s a very thoughtful Aussie piece on how we see euthanasia in the West & why it's wrong.

Why euthanasia now?

Why are we talking about euthanasia now? Why do we want to completely reverse our moral and medical practices at this moment in our history? more

Assisted Suicide: Just One More Slippery Slope

Here's a short but interesting piece about how assisted sucide is just one in a long line of slippery slopes.

Chris Lancelot: Assisted suicide law must include an opt-out

Who could fail to be moved by the plight of Sir Terry Pratchett, now facing early onset Alzheimer's disease?

Or those people with motor neurone disease, MS or terminal cancer? Yet at a time when politicians are emphasising the importance of choice in healthcare, the law still prevents patients from exercising the ultimate choice, to kill themselves if living becomes intolerable.

That may change. But by the same token, one person's freedom to end their life must never impinge on another's not to become involved. Any law allowing assisted suicide would have to contain cast-iron opt-out clauses for medical, nursing, pharmacy and administrative staff - as well as relatives. more

Pro-Deathers Reveal Themselves As Anti-Religion Bigots

No, prodeathers, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops got it absolutely right. This long piece puts up all kinds of red herrings that don't change the basic idea: the pro-death culture leads to the devaluing of humanity.

U.S. Catholic Bishops Misunderstand Our Death-with-Dignity Laws

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ policy on physician-assisted suicide approved on June 16 is the latest move by Roman Catholic leaders to intervene in Americans’ personal health care decisions. The eight-page policy [3], which the bishops passed 191-1 at their annual spring meeting in Bellevue, Wa., is full of inaccurate and misleading statements about the Death with Dignity laws in Washington and Oregon and the policy positions of the laws’ supporters. It ignores 14 years of experience in Oregon and two years in Washington. The head of Compassion & Choices, the main group supporting those laws, rightly criticized the policy statement as “full of reckless, unsubstantiated accusations.” more

Bulgaria Slaps Down Attempt To Intro Euthanasia Bill

Good for the Bulgarians, who have just slapped down a proposed euthanasia bill. Prediction: The pro-deathers will get to work to reintroduce the bill, trust me.

Bulgarian Parliament Committee Resolutely Rejects Euthanasia Bill

Last week socialist MP and professor of law Lyuben Kornezov tabled the first euthanasia bill in Bulgaria, which was effectivelly killed by the Health Committee of Parliament Thursday. Photo by BGNES

The Health Committee of the Bulgarian Parliament almost unanimously rejected a draft bill to legalize euthanasia in Bulgaria tabled last week by socialist MP, law professor Lyuben Kornezov. more

Washington State: The Media Just Can't Help Their Pro-Death Bias

This is a piece that purports to be down the middle. Read it carefully, however, and you'll see the pro-deather slant all over it.

Death with Dignity Act may face amendment           

Western psychology professor Ethan Remmel lived with incurable cancer for more than a year. He underwent 10 months of chemotherapy, which caused fatigue and sickness that were hard to bear. He rarely felt like himself. Whenever he stopped treatment, he faced unyielding pain, said Grace Wang, Remmel’s partner and associate professor of environmental studies at Huxley College of the Environment. more

Aussie Dr. Death's Hypocrisy

Aussie Doctor death Philip Nitschke keeps spreading the pro-deather word. I had to chuckle when I read that he's concerned that killing Alzheimer's patients might be called murder. He shouldn’t worry, it's already being done as "medical care" in the Netherlands.

Euthanasia a hot topic

EUTHANASIA advocate Philip Nitschke will meet Bendigo residents on Saturday.

Dr Nitschke will hold a public meeting and then a closed seminar on voluntary euthanasia including what drugs are accessible.

He said questions were increasingly raised about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia and it tended to be a condition that limited people’s choices. more

UK Doctors Accuse BBC Of Pro-Deather Bias

More fallout for the BBC, with physicians now accusing the BBC (rightly) about their being in the tank for the pro-deathers.

Doctors say suicide commission is biased

Doctors have questioned the “stated impartiality and independence” of a commission investigating whether to change the law on assisted suicide.

The Commission on Assisted Dying claims to be neutral, but the doctors say it is packed with euthanasia supporters. more

Brit MPs Charge BBC With Pro-Deather Bias

Fortunately the BBC is still taking flak from those who charge that they’re in the tank for assisted suicide and euthanasia. They are, and now a group of Brit MPs has made their charge public.

BBC 'biased towards law change to allow euthanasia'

The BBC was today accused of running a campaign to promote assisted suicide. more

Classic Pro-Death Propaganda From Canada

If ever you needed to see the pro-deathers unmasked, read this piece form some Canadians whose chutzpah far exceeds their jaundiced view of living.

Assisted suicide shrouded in secrecy

Nearly 20 years ago Sue Rodriguez asked: "Who owns my life?" In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada answered with a blunt "Not you." Nevertheless, Rodriguez ended her life in the compassionate presence of Member of Parliament Svend Robinson and with the assistance of an anonymous physician who broke the criminal law prohibiting assisted suicide. more

The Disabled Don't Need The Pro-Deathers

Here's a very sensible piece by someone with a severe medical disability who thinks that assisted suicide and euthanasia are not all they're cracked up to be.

No dignity in euthanasia

I am chronically ill with a progressive rheumatoid auto-immune disease that destroyed my kidneys and causes inflammation around the lungs, inner chest walls and heart, ischaemic heart disease and peripheral neuropathy. I have been dependent on dialysis for 20 years and I have undergone 15 angioplasties and the placement of eight stents to recover some blood flow after the failure of coronary bypass surgery.

The last such procedure was unsuccessful as the blocked artery could not be accessed.

I mention these matters only to establish that I am no stranger to suffering and disability and have experienced the limitations of palliative care. more

UK: Artistic Mainstreaming Of The Pro-Deathers' Worldview

The pro-deathers never quit. Here's an example: a play about assisted suicide, all in the hopes of making assisted suicide and the pro-death worldview more mainstream.

Chris Larner brings one-man show to theatre his former wife helped to set up

A play about a Bradford woman who died at Swiss clinic Dignitas is coming to a theatre that she helped to set up. more

UK: Use Palliative Care As A Cost-Cutting Device

I'd applaud this report if it addressed making palliative care better as the alternative to assisted sucide and euthanasia. Instead, the ever-hungry Brit National health Service wants to keep more terminally ill people at home to save money. Prediction: More patients will indeed stay home to die, but they'll receive very little to no care. Frightening.

100,000 terminally ill 'do not get proper palliative care'

Far more people die in hospital than wish to, and experts estimate that more than 90,000 people are not having their palliative care needs met.  Photo: ALAMY

By Andy Bloxham8:00AM BST 01 Jul 2011 97 Comments

A national payment structure would cut variation around the country in what the state pays for and what it does not, and support far more people to be cared for in their own homes, it said.

Experts behind the report say the move could reduce deaths in hospital by up to 60,000 a year by 2021, translating into savings of £180 million annually. more

UK Commission Stacked With Pro-Deathers

Here's an excellent piece outing the Falconer Commission (considering whether assisted suciide is a good idea) as stacked with pro-deathers. Lucky Brits . . .

A FOOTNOTE ON FALCONER

I  posted on Monday the transcript from Charlie Falconer’s disastrous interview with Radio Four’s Ed Stourton, where the noble Lord was forced to concede that his commission on assisted dying was stacked full of the usual suspects and was tied in verbal knots trying to explain how it was still going to deliver an objectively written report. more

German Doctors Oppose Assisted Suicide

German doctors, apparently, are more against assisted suicide than their counterparts in the UK, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

German docs keep ban on assisted suicide

After a heated debate German doctors have voted to maintain a ban on doctors assisting patients who wish to commit suicide. more

Oregon: Assisted Suicide Legal But Not Suicide Kits

OK, let me get this straight - Oregon has legalized assisted suicide but has now banned anyone buying substances or contraptions to make death happen. This all started when a 91-year-old California granny was found to be making a tidy sum selling assisted sucide kits to Oregon citizens.

Oregon Governor Signs Bill Banning Sale of Suicide Kits

Governor John Kitzhaber has put the state of Oregon in the position of allowing assisted suicide but stopping the sale of so-called suicide kits — hoods or other items people can use to kill themselves.

Oregon is the first state to pass legislation prohibiting the kits and the new law goes into effect immediately now that Kitzhaber has signed it into law. The new law makes it a Class B felony to “knowingly sell, or otherwise transfer for consideration, any substance or object to another person for the purpose of assisting the other person to commit suicide” and those who violate the law face 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. more

Scottish MP Suggests Assisted Suicide For People With Disabilities

Scottish MP Marge MacDonald is quickly moving from crackpot to sinister pro-deather. Several years ago she suggest that assisted suicide should be available for children. Now she's suggesting the same for people with disabilities. Beware!!

Let disabled people choose death, says MSP

People born with disabilities who ‘lose the will to live’ would be eligible to end their lives under controversial new legislation proposed for the Scottish Parliament. more

Pro-Death Hypocrisy: Drug Good For Assisted Suicide, But Not For Executions

Apparently the Danish pharma company that makes Phenobarbital has taken an "ethical" stance on its use for executions. Hilarious, as Phenobarbital is the very drug championed by the pro-deathers for assisted suicide. It's a staple at Swiss death clinic Dignitas. Go figure.

Lundbeck and pentobarbital: pharma takes a stand

Danish manufacturer Lundbeck has now prohibited its use in the US as an execution drug. Photograph: Alessandro Della Bella/AP

The announcement by Danish pharmaceutical firm Lundbeck on Friday that it is restricting the distribution of pentobarbital represents a landmark decision. This is the first time that a major global pharmaceutical company has taken such direct action to tighten up its supply chain to ensure that its drugs are used to benefit the health of patients, not assist in state-sponsored execution. It follows months of pressure from human rights advocates. At the end of last year, US death row states found it difficult to get access to the previous drug, thiopental, for executions following an export ban from the UK. more

Bulgarians In Public Debate About Euthanasia

As I reported earlier, the Bulgarians are considering the issue of euthanasia. I hope that the pro-deathers will be ignored and that no such law will be enacted.

According to Bulgaria’s Ombudsman euthanasia law would have burden only after referendum

An euthanasia law, if it is adopted in Bulgaria, would have burden only if it is passed after a referendum, because this is an existential issue about life and death, Bulgaria’s Ombudsman Konstantin Penchev said in an interview with Bulgarian National Television. more

Another Futile Care Battle In Texas

This happens with some frequency ion Texas, the first state in the US to articulate futile care at the end of life. It's always the same - hospital wants to let the child die, parents disagree. Media/legal fight ensues. In this case, the parents were able to transfer their terminally ill son to another facility that agreed to support him until his natural death.

Teen's move sidesteps futile-care controversy

A Sugar Land brain cancer patient was transferred from Texas Children's Hospital to a long-term acute-care facility on Thursday, beating the pediatric hospital's plan to remove his life support by five days. more

Can Aussie Pro-Deathers Really Remain Impartial?

On the face of it, this seems like a reasonable position for an Aussie pro-death politician to take - keeping his pro-death views to himself and implying that he can be neutral if any pro-euthanasia legislation appears. We'll see . . .

Baillieu backs euthanasia but won't act

Despite personally supporting voluntary euthanasia, Premier Ted Baillieu won't act on his views because it is a divisive issue.

Mr Baillieu has received a letter from terminally ill lawyer Alan Rosendorff requesting a meeting to discuss why he can't legally choose how he dies as he waits in pain for his life to end.

The premier said he had long expressed his support for voluntary euthanasia but would not be introducing any bills to the Victorian Parliament regarding the issue. more

Shortage Of Organ Donors Will Lead To More Euthanasia

See, this is how the pressure builds for euthanasia - driven by the medicos (in this instance in the UK), the pleas go out for more organ donors. Of course, in the UK, the law is that you are presumed to be an organ donor unless you officially opt out. In spite of this, the medicos are still whining about not having enough transplantable organs. Where to get more? Well, by helping people die sooner to get them, of course.

Doctors stick with opt-out organ donation policy

Doctors are continuing to support an opt-out system of organ donation following a lively debate at the annual representative meeting.

They voted against reconsidering the current BMA policy of ‘soft’ presumed consent, which considers donation the default position but takes the views of relatives into account. Donation does not proceed if a relative objects, even if the donor is not on an opt-out register. more