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

Dutch Doctors Reluctant To Report Killing Babies With Disabilities

I’m shocked, I tell you!! Looks like doctor perceptions in the Netherlands see killing infants with disabilities as not worthy of reporting under the Netherlands laws for reporting euthanasia. Researchers posed an fictitious case to doctors & asked them how they would react. Read this (a Google translate of the original Dutch) and weep for the poor children.

Euthanasia for babies reported

Termination of life in severely disabled babies is rarely reported. more

Those Creepy Dutch Pro-Death Doctors . . .

This is the beginning of a long address by a Dutch doctor about how peachy everything is in the Netherlands regarding assisted suicide and euthanasia. It’s persuasive enough that if you didn’t know the truth of what’s happening in the Netherlands, this guy sounds perfectly reasonable. Creepy, just creepy.

The Dutch Way. The solution in the Netherlands.

Mister Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen.

To start with:

“Euthanasia, if allowed by the law, should never become an answer to failing care or fear of loneliness”!

Gerrit Kimsma told me once that to him the real value of euthanasia comes not from the act itself, but from the ability for the doctor and the patient to speak openly about it.

I am very honoured to be asked to contribute to this meeting of the French National Ethical Committee. more

Murdering Patients Is OK As Long As "There's No Other Option" Really?

Under Swiss law, this doctor is a murderer. But wait!! She pleaded not guilty because she had “no other choice” but to kill her patient. See? Argue that you’re powerless (except for being able to kill) and hey, presto!! You’re off the hook!! I’ll bet nobody challenged the good doctor about her knowledge of palliative care and pain management.

Case puts assisted suicide at a crossroads

The acquittal of a doctor accused of euthanasia has rekindled the debate on assisted suicide in Switzerland, ahead of votes at the cantonal level on the issue.

A regional criminal court in Boudry, canton Neuchâtel, ruled in December that the doctor had no choice when she took the final step to end the life of a terminally ill patient. The acquittal was made definitive in a ruling issued on Tuesday.

Direct active euthanasia is illegal in Switzerland but assisted suicide and passive euthanasia (mercy killing) are not. more

Make Sure You & Your Doctor Agree About Euthanasia

Well, whichever side of the euthanasia debate you’re on, you’d better make sure your doctor sees the world the way you do.

Euthanasia & Physician-Assisted Suicide...What Are Doctors Thinking?

Have you ever wondered about the opinions of practicing doctors toward euthanasia (the doctor deliberately hastens the death of a terminally ill patient) and physician-assisted suicide (the patient hastens his or her own death, with the help of a doctor).

To achieve a better understanding of doctors' attitudes and practices regarding these highly controversial societal issues, the American Society of Clinical Oncology surveyed 3299 U.S. cancer doctors. Cancer doctors (oncologists) were questioned because in the U.S. these specialists more commonly address these issues than do other doctors.

The researchers reviewed the doctors' attitudes in relation to a theoretical patient who had terminal cancer of the prostate with unremitting pain. They were also questioned about how they felt about requests for and their participation in euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

The results of the study were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine 2000;133:527-532.

Of the U.S. cancer doctors that were surveyed, 25% supported the use of physician-assisted suicide for a terminally ill patient with unremitting pain, while 6.5% supported euthanasia. more

Well, My Patient Asked Me To!

Ah, I see. “Your honor, I had no choice but to kill my patient because he asked me to.” Remember what your parents taught you about following your friends in jumping off a bridge??? But then again, this IS Switzerland, after all.

Doctor cleared in assisted suicide case

A high-ranking doctor in the canton of Neuchâtel has been cleared of wrongdoing, after she took the final step in the suicide of a terminally ill patient.

The appeals court in Boudry ruled that Daphné Berner, the canton’s former chief medic, had no choice but to administer a lethal IV transfusion. more

Doctors Increasingly Think Euthanasia OK

Ya think? After constant drumming by the pro-deathers, surprise (not): Many more doctors these days see euthanasia as OK. This from the Journal of Medical Ethics:

Abstract

In most European countries the attitudes regarding the acceptability of active euthanasia have clearly changed in the population since World War II. . . . Acceptance of active euthanasia increased from 16.3% to 29.1% to 49.5% in the periods from 2001 to 2003/04 to 2008/09. . . . The survey period from 2001 to 2009 reveals a massive change in medical students' attitudes towards active euthanasia under medical supervision. Ethical convictions of medical doctors seem to fall back behind a higher valuation of the autonomy of the patient. more

Disabled: Let's Kill You - It's In Your Best Interests, Really!!

Ah, yes, it’s in your best interests for us to kill you – at least says a Belgian court. Unborn child has a disability, undetected. Child born with said disability. Parents sue hospital, because the medicos missed the disability, thus, the parents now have a child that should have been detected and aborted. That is, killing the unborn child would have been in the child’s best interest rather than subjecting the child to the “hell” of living with a disability. Breathtaking. Rough Google translation:

. . . This is the first time in Belgium that an appellate court receives such a wrongful life action (wrongful life). Previously, a trial court of first instance of Brussels, released April 21, 2004, had adopted a similar solution, about a child with Down syndrome. more

Oldy But Goody (And Educational): Euthanasia Blues

Euthanasia Blues has been around a while, but it's absolutely spot-on. It's an education in under 8 minutes.

Medical Ethical Debates About Euthanasia Are So Much Hot Air

Yes, yes, the handwringing continues. Why don’t we cut the balderdash and say, “Yeah, we’re doctors, we can turn your machines off any anytime. You die, we move on, have a nice day . . . “

Turning off heart devices near life's end stirs ethical, legal debates

A survey shows that nearly all physicians approve of turning off a defibrillator, but nearly a third say withdrawing a pacemaker amounts to assisted suicide.

Many physicians believe that deactivating heart devices is a form of physician-aided death, according to a survey published in the November Mayo

Clinic Proceedings.

"Almost one-third of medical professionals surveyed considered withdrawal of a pacemaker in a pacemaker-dependent patient as physician- assisted suicide or euthanasia, but only a very small percentage believed the same about an ICD," said Samuel J. Asirvatham, MD, the study's lead author and an electrophysiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. more

Does Your Doctor Favor Euthanasia? Better Check!

If this piece tells me anything at all, it’s that you better have a little heart-to-heart with your doctor to make sure your views about end of life issues are in sync with yours, because if they aren’t, things might be a tad iffy if you ever are in need of end of life information.

Exclusive Ethics Survey: "Doctor, Will You Help Me Die?"

Doctors are sharply divided over the question of physician-assisted suicide.

In August-September 2010, Medscape electronically surveyed over 10,000 physicians representing all specialties. Respondents answered a series of ethics questions, including the following: "Are there situations in which physician-assisted suicide should be allowed?" Of the more respondents, 45.8% answered "Yes"; 40.7% answered "No"; and 13.5% said "It depends." more

Doctors: Patients' Wishes Be Damned - Die!!

Well, a little macabre chuckle here – are there still people who think that doctors respect patients' wishes when it comes to doing everything to keep them alive? Of course, if they want to kick the bucket, then patients’ rights are to be respected. However, if their wish is to stay alive – the heck with them – issue “do not resuscitate “ orders anyway. Patients be damned. Welcome to the world of Doctor Power.

Doctors 'must consult' about resuscitation orders

When doctors believe a patient is too sick to be resuscitated, they must consult with relatives, the head of the Bioethics Centre says.

The comments come after the Manawatu Standard revealed yesterday that an 85-year-old woman, Juanita Wallace, had a `not for resuscitation' order placed on her file at Palmerston North Hospital against her wishes – and without discussion with her son.

MidCentral Health has launched an investigation into the case and a spokesman said the DHB was unable to comment until it had been completed.

However, Dunedin Medical School Professor of Medical Ethics Grant Gillett said doctors could only issue a not for resuscitation order without consulting the patient or family if the patient couldn't communicate and relatives couldn't be contacted. more

UK's Christina Odone Effectively Denting The Pro-Deathers

Christine Odone in the UK is emerging as a powerful voice opposing assisted suicide and euthanasia. And she has a very valid angle: Legalized killing is oppression of many, including the sick and terminally ill.

Assisted suicide: a wealthy elite will push vulnerable people to premature death

If we were to overturn the present law banning assisted suicide, 1,000 Britons would die in this way every year. Living and Dying Well, the new think tank that has made this calculation, is right to raise the alarm.

But my concern is not the numbers who would turn to assisted suicide; rather, I am worried about who these potential suicides are.

Prompted by a harrowing experience with my father, who asked me to help him die when he lay suffering in a hospital ward, I’ve spent the past year researching a pamphlet on this issue. I became more and more convinced, as I spoke to doctors, nurses, and lawyers, that the push for assisted suicide came from a strident elite. This group, articulate, well-off (or at least well-educated) and very much part of the system, knows exactly how to protect their interests. No one can push them around — certainly no one can push them into dying prematurely. more

Michael Caine's Unconvincing Backtracking On Euthanasia

Michael Caine is walking back what he really means – that euthanasia is OK – because he got called out by the opposition. I would have had more respect if he’d stuck to what he write 20 years ago, which leaves little doubt in my mind that he and the doctor colluded in killing his father.

Sir Michael Caine sets record straight at Cheltenham Literature Festival

​SIR Michael Caine used his Cheltenham Literature Festival appearance to set the record straight about his father’s death after newspaper headlines at the weekend put him at the centre of a euthanasia row.

In a radio interview, repeated in the tabloids on Saturday, the double Oscar winner had spoken of his father’s death from liver cancer at St Thomas’ Hospital in London in 1955.

“It must have been a very slow news day yesterday,” he said at The Centaur.

Anti-euthanasia campaigners had reacted to the story which the 77-year-old actor said he first spoke about more than 20 years ago. more

Shocker: (not): Euthanasia Goes Unreported In Belgium

A new study of euthanasia in Belgium has just been published in the British Medical Journal. Surprise!!! Not all euthanasias are reported (duh). Among the reasons why not: Well it seems that some doctors who do the killing don’t think they are euthanizing patients, so hey, what’s to report? Ah yes, remember the pro-deathers bending over backwards to convince us that that’s why we needed to make euthanasia legal in the first place. So that this kind of thing wouldn’t happen?

Reporting of euthanasia in medical practice in Flanders, Belgium: cross sectional analysis of reported and unreported cases

Conclusions One out of two euthanasia cases is reported to the Federal Control and Evaluation Committee. Most non-reporting physicians do not perceive their act as euthanasia. Countries debating legalisation of euthanasia should simultaneously consider developing a policy facilitating the due care and reporting obligations of physicians. more

We're In trouble When Medicos Seek Laws Allowing Them To Kill Their Patients

Yes, so the dominoes fall. Now we have doctors & nurses in the UK pushing for the right to kill their patients. Horrifying, just horrifying.

Doctors and nurses launch campaign for right to help terminally ill to end their lives

Leading doctors who endorse assisted dying for the terminally ill will this week launch an unprecedented campaign to change the law on the right to die.

Healthcare Professionals for Change, a group of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, says it wants to challenge bodies such as the British Medical Association, which opposes any change in the law that would allow others to help terminally ill people to die. more

Marketing Euthanasia In Aussie

Here's the banned Aussie euthanasia TV ad and sponsored, of course, by Aussie Dr. Death Phil Nietschke. God help us all.

Ah, You See, It's Not Murder, It's Pain Relief!! Yeah, Sure . . .

Wanna see the sinister evil of euthanasia? Read this whole piece. A health minister says he’s opposed to euthanasia, but then euthanatizes a patient. He says he was relieving pain, and that a side-effect was death. Uh-huh. If this hogwash holds, then all those people who are suddenly murdering others and claiming they were putting them out of their misery should go free.

Health Minister Hames helped patient die

As the euthanasia bill is debated in the West Australian parliament, state Health Minister Dr Kim Hames has revealed he helped a terminally ill patient die with a lethal dose of morphine. . . . .

Speaking to ABC radio on Wednesday, Dr Hames, who is opposed to euthanasia, said he had helped a patient pass away by issuing a strong dose of morphine. . . . .

"What I did was give pain relief, and the side effect of that pain relief resulted in that patient dying then rather than in half an hour's time," he said.

"That's very different to me putting in a drip and administering a concoction of drugs deliberately to take the life of that patient." more

The Negative Effect Of A Doctor Calling For Legit Euthanasia

Just as I predicted – authority-figure-doctor-terminally-ill calls for euthanasia, and a newspaper then polls whether euthanasia should be legalized. Hey presto!!! The public agrees. What a shock, I tell you!!

Legalising euthanasia wins huge support

Dr John Pollock says euthanasia should be a basic right.

Legalising euthanasia has won huge support from readers of the nzherald.co.nz, reflecting the earlier findings of scientific public opinion polls.

By last night, 82 per cent of nzherald.co.nz poll respondents said euthanasia should be legalised.

The poll was started after 61-year-old Auckland GP Dr John Pollock, who has just months to live after being diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, spoke out in favour of voluntary euthanasia. more

NZ Terminally Ill Doctor Advocates Euthanasia

Here we go again – this time in New Zealand. A terminally ill doctor pushes for euthanasia. When this happens, because the advocate is a physician, it has more authority to sway people to the por0death side than an ordinary citizen. We need more doctors speaking up for our side!!

Doctor With Cancer Lobbies For Euthanasia

Wellington, July 29 NZPA - A doctor who has terminal cancer is calling for the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) to accept euthanasia as ethical.

John Pollock, a former GP from Auckland's North Shore, was working as a part-time locum when he was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma last December. He initially received chemotherapy, but had since stopped the treatment, New Zealand Doctor reported.

Dr Pollock said his recent experiences had prompted him to talk more about his concerns over the current euthanasia laws, although he had always been a strong advocate of legal euthanasia. more