Antidote To Assisted Suicide: Good Pain Management & Hospice

I never thought that I'd agree with UK pro-deather Debbie Purdy, but here she's right - if people with medical disabilities aren’t able to get medications they need, they may well consider more drastic actions like assisted suicide and euthanasia. That’s why medical pain management and hospice are so important.

Access to MS treatment criticised

Multiple sclerosis patients could be driven to suicide by a lack of access to treatment, a campaigner will tell MPs.

Debbie Purdy says that guidance on assisted suicide issued in 2009 is being "undermined" because the quality of life of MS sufferers is being damaged by inconsistent access to medication. more

Duh: They're Already Killing Patients In UK Hospitals

Say it ain't so!!! Euthanasia being done on the quiet at UK National Health Service hospitals?? Who would have thunk it?? Well, duh, the pro-deathers are going to use this to call for immediate legalization so that the killing can be "regulated." That's exactly how things went in the Netherlands.

Catholic Medical Association head: 'Unofficial euthanasia practiced in NHS'

The president of the Catholic Medical Association, Dr Clare Walker believes that euthanasia is being quite widely practiced in the NHS in an unofficial way. more

Opposition To Assisted Suicide Collapses In Brit National Health Care Service

So the Brit dominoes continue to fall. Now the UK's National Health Service has declared that it's not opposed to assisted suicide. The NHS, as you know, controls health care in the UK. Something is seriously, seriously wrong when medicos formally see assisted suicide as part of "health care."

NHS chiefs back calls to reform assisted suicide law

One of England’s largest health authorities has said it is not opposed to assisted suicide and called for a change in the law to give patients more “choice” over how they die.

The current law, under which helping someone commit suicide is illegal, is not fit for the 21st century, according to the West Midlands NHS Strategic Health Authority.

Pauline Smith, the end of life care lead for the region, said it was “not good enough” that only those who could afford to travel to Dignitas suicide clinics in Switzerland were able to control their own deaths.

Her comments will be seen as a boost for the right to die campaign, as West Midlands has become the first health authority to back calls for a change in the law to date. more

So It begins: UK Doctor Wants Limited Treatments For Elderly

So it continues in the UK: Now the medicos are calling for discriminating against the elderly by suggesting the NHS give them less care (cost cutting, anyone??). Can making a similar argument for people with disabilities be far behind?

Call for less aggressive treatment for elderly

A leading public health expert has called for the NHS to give elderly people less treatment as they approach the end of their lives.

Professor Phil Hanlon, a former adviser to the Scottish Executive, believes the health service is in danger of collapse unless drastic action is taken to halt its soaring costs.

In a controversial new book, he argues the elderly should be prescribed far fewer drugs and given fewer tests and procedures as they reach serious physical decline. more

Don't Worry - Assisted Suicide Now A Fait Accimpli In The UK

Well, of course Nicklinson wants to go to Swiss pro-death clinic Dignitas to die. He lives in the UK, where the propaganda to kill yourself if you’re not absolutely perfect is a reality now. He’s also worried that of he does, his wife might be prosecuted when she returns to the UK. He needn’t worry – earlier this week the British Government made it clear that they’re already turning a blind eye to the goings-on in Switzerland.

'Locked in’ father: I will go abroad to die unless law changes

Civil engineer Tony Nicklinson, 56, lost all movement in his body from the neck down after suffering a sudden catastrophic stroke on a business trip to Greece in 2005.

He is confined to a wheelchair and can only communicate through moving his head and eyes. Mr Nicklinson wants wife Jane, 55, to help him in a 'mercy killing' but fears she could be prosecuted if she does.

He has vowed to fly out to the assisted dying group Dignitas in Switzerland if an unofficial review chaired by Lord Falconer fails to bring a change in the law. more

NHS Nightmare: "If We Say You're Dead, You're Dead - Don't Argue"

This would be funny if it weren’t so serious, AND a good look into the kind of bureaucracy-gone-mad socialized health care known as the UK’s National Health Service. It’s a very similar system, by the way, to what Obamacare will turn out to be. Run away! Run away!!

Sorry, you can't have an appointment... you're dead!': Hospital refuses to see cancer sufferer because he's 'deceased'

A cancer sufferer was told he could not book a hospital appointment - because records showed he was dead.

Alan Campbell rang a booking system phone line after becoming worried that the disease may have spread to his throat.

But when he tried to make an appointment with the NHS Choose and Book system, a telephone operator informed him their records showed him as 'deceased'. more

UK: National Health Service Brutality II

Well, as we know, socialized medicine never rations care – uh huh. Read this piece, where a Scottish study found that for women, the older they were, the less likely they would be offered some treatments for breast cancer. That’s exactly what Obamacare will do here in the US, trust me.

patients receive 'lower level of treatment', claims charity

OLDER breast cancer patients are much less likely to receive surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy as part of their treatment, a charity claimed today.

Breakthrough Breast Cancer said it is "wrong" that not all women have equal access to such care.

The charity is calling on the Scottish Government to ensure older patients are treated on the basis of clinical need.

About 4000 women in Scotland are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, with the disease claiming more than 1000 lives annually.

However Breakthrough Breast Cancer said patients aged 80 or above are 40 times less likely to be treated with surgery than younger patients.

Older women with cancer are "significantly less likely" to get chemotherapy and radiotherapy. more

UK: National Health Service Brutality I

For those of you who think nationalized medicine is such a brilliant idea that we in the US should get it too, read this – a UK mom, terminally ill, is being refused an expensive drug because it’s not going to make her better. The fact that it may well give her enough survival time to see her son go to school is completely ignored by the NHS murderers.

Family 'just wants more time' with mother denied costly cancer drug

A devastated family today attacked doctors for refusing to give a mother life-prolonging drugs that could let her live to see her son start school. more

UK Nurses Back Off Pain Meds = Ignorance Of Palliative Care

Let’s see how long it takes the pro-deathers to take this information and morph it into another rationale for legalizing assisted suicide. Basically, the piece reports a survey of UK nurses who apparently go easy on pain meds because they fear being accused of assisted suicide if the patient dies from the meds. Well, the glaring point here is that these nurses appear to be so poorly trained that they haven’t a clue about the differences between involuntary euthanasia and palliative sedation. Another fine flub by the UK’s National Health Service.

Dying patients refused pain-relief because nurses fear prosecution for assisted suicide

Dying patients are being refused pain-relief because nurses fear they will be prosecuted for assisted suicide, a poll has found.

More than one in 10 nurses say they have held back treatment such as morphine on terminally-ill cancer sufferers in case they are implicated with hastening their death.

Many admit they are leaving their patients in agony but fear they will be charged with giving an overdose if medical records are later scrutinised. more

Good Analysis Of UK's Clarification Of Assisted Suicide Laws

Here’s a good analysis of the clarification of assisted suicide law in the UK. What it did, essentially, is make the matters even cloudier. Read on . . .

UK: Assisted Suicide

Assisted suicide has become a controversial and provocative legal topic around the world, particularly in the European Union. JURIST has reported on assisted suicide law and policy in the United Kingdom since 2006, and scholars, legal practitioners, and the public have commented extensively on the new assisted suicide guidelines for England and Wales released on February 25, 2010. These guidelines were made public by the Director of Public Prosecutions of England and Wales (DPP), Keir Starmer, as the result of consistent pressure from citizens seeking clarification of the law. Prior to the introduction of the new guidelines, public confusion existed over when people would face criminal prosecution for assisting in another's suicide under the Suicide Act of 1961 ("the Act"). The DPP's role in criminal prosecutions for assisted suicide cases is critical because his permission is required for a case to be brought before the court for prosecution. more

What Government-Run Health Care really Looks Like

While the crazies running the US government are hell-bent on taking our medical system back to the Stone Age, they’d be well advised to see what that actually means. Here’s a piece from the UK of patients lying in their own feces, starving, dehydrated, and helpless – all the good ship National Health Care System sails merrily on. From the UK's MailOnline this is what government-run healthcare looks like. more