Why Pro-Deathers Are Ignoring The Needs Of The Dying

Here’s a decent read on why the pro-death side of things isn’t the way to go.

Jesuit Physician Says Assisted Suicide Fails to Attend to the Needs of the Dying

As a Jesuit priest and a physician, Father Myles Sheehan brings a unique perspective to the debate about assisted suicide.

Fr. Sheehan recently spoke to Boston’s Catholic newspaper, The Pilot, about proposed legalized physician-assisted suicide in Massachusetts, which he considers a failure to meet the needs of the dying.

“I would like to see that people receive an approach that attends to their suffering in all its dimensions from the beginning of a serious illness,” Fr. Sheehan said.  He said those dimensions include attention to spiritual needs as well as mental and physical needs. more

An Alternative View In Vermont

I’m not quite sure what I think of this piece except that it does reinforce the idea that anyone can refuse any and all medical and other treatment if they wish to do so.

Death with dignity

The Vermont death with dignity/doctor assisted suicide bill has been in the news recently. The Legislature has made a few efforts at having discussions about related issues but they have not been able to vote on legislation. I think that may be a good thing.

I have watched hundreds of people die and I have had many conversations with dying people about how they feel about the process of death. Death is something we all have in common. It will happen to all of us sooner or later. more

Death & Dying: Culture Makes The Difference

Here’s an interesting piece on cultural differences related to death and dying. Well worth a read.

Euthanasia is a war to the death between a religious and atheistic vision of society

Having blogged last Thursday about Mark Dowd’s first programme on Radio 4 about euthanasia, “Heart and Soul”, I have now listened to his second one, broadcast last Saturday. In the first programme he interviewed Alison Davis, a Catholic convert, who suffers from spina bifida and who is a passionate opponent of euthanasia and assisted suicide. In this second episode he interviewed Edward Turner, a humanist, whose mother, Dr Anne Turner, made headlines in 2006 when, accompanied by Edward and his two sisters, she ended her life at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland. more

Severe Medical Disability Clouds End Of Life Decisions

Here’s a more-balanced-than-usual story about death and dying for someone with a severe medical disability.

Chris Woodhead: 'I don’t want to be told how I can die’

For most of the last five years, Chris Woodhead has been thinking of ways to kill himself. There is not a quietus that he hasn’t explored, from sending his wheelchair spinning over a cliff in Cornwall to slitting his wrists, attaching a hose pipe to the exhaust of his car or drinking a glass of poison. As motor neurone disease invades him, wasting and cramping his muscles, stripping him of mobility and independence, he is making plans to avoid the squalor of total physical collapse. more

Looking To The End Before The End

Here's a thoughtful piece emphasizing that perhaps we need to look to the needs of the dying way ahead of the time they will meet their end.

Baby boomers set about the art of dying well

Do you secretly hope it comes while you are sleeping, mercifully oblivious? Or amid a raucous gathering of family and friends? Is it better to go out with a bang, risking all for glory, or to slip away quietly into the dark?

There is no settled answer to what constitutes a good death, and even to ask evokes raw emotions – perhaps especially today, as we mourn so many who were denied the choice. more