UK: More Eroding Of Medical Ethics

So the dominoes fall in the UK. First the government “clarified” that laws prosecuting assisted suicide would not be enforced, and now the medicos have conveniently come out with guidelines as to whither doctors can be prosecuted for assisting in a suicide. Prediction: They will say that, in some form, it’s ok for doctors to engage in medicalized killing.

Assisted suicide cases guidelines issued by GMC

The General Medical Council is launching its first ever guidelines on assisted suicide.

The new guidelines will help the GMC decide if doctors should face a disciplinary panel if they are alleged to have encouraged or assisted suicide.
A draft version is to be subject to a three month public consultation period. more

Why Canadians With Disabilities Need To Be Wary Of Medicalized Killing

Here’s a good take on what legal medicalized killing means to people with disabilities in Canada.

Euthanasia: Another word for murder?

Euthanasia is once again in the spotlight.

The Carter case, now before the courts in B.C., seeks to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada. It’s a constitutional challenge which seeks to legalize these practices as medical treatment and to be regulated within provincial health-care regulations.

On April 21, 2010, Canada’s parliament soundly defeated Bill C-384, which sought to amend the Criminal Code, allowing the right to die with dignity. It was a bad piece of legislation which, had it passed, would have directly threatened the lives of persons with disabilities.

We won this battle. However, Canada’s right-to-die lobby aren’t giving up that easily. more

UK: Has The Slippery Slope To Death On Demand Begun?

Here’s a piece that will undoubtedly be the beginning of the slippery slope to death on demand in the UK. The Falconer report suggests that terminally ill people in the late stages of their disease be allowed assisted suicide. Remember this. I predict that this time next year there will be many people calling for the expansion of medicalized killing.

Allow assisted suicide for those with less than a year to live

The independent Commission on Assisted Dying, whose members include several prominent peers and medics, wants GPs to be able to prescribe lethal doses of medication for dying people to take themselves.

The report, published today, calls for the “inadequate and incoherent” law against assisted suicide to be scrapped following a series of high profile cases where patients have used the Dignitas suicide clinic to take their own lives. more

UK: Doctors Abuse Elderly Via Do Not Resuscitate Orders

I'm not surprised. Medicalized killing continues in the UK (can we say slippery slope, anyone?). The elderly are routinely abused by medicos adding Do Not Resuscitate to patients' charts even though the patient or their guardian ever requested it. Beware the doctors; many are pro-death, as outlined in this article.

Elderly patients condemned to early death by secret use of do not resuscitate orders

Elderly patients are being condemned to an early death by hospitals making secret use of "do not resuscitate" orders, an investigation has found.

A charity for the elderly said the disclosures were evidence of 'euthanasia by the backdoor,' with potentially-lethal notices being placed on the files of patients simply because they were old and frail.

The orders – which record an advance decision that a patient's life should not be saved if their heart stops – are routinely being applied without the knowledge of the patient or their relatives.

On one ward, one-third of DNR orders were issued without consultation with the patient or their family, according to the NHS's own records. At another hospital, junior doctors freely admitted that the forms were filled out by medical teams without the involvement of patients or relatives. more

Aussie: Some Doctors Seek To Legalise Medicalized Killing

Again from Aussie. Think about this: More than a few doctors have signed a petition supporting making euthanasia legal. Lesson: make sure that YOUR doctor isn't a pro-deather!!!

Thirty doctors support euthanasia bill

MORE than 30 doctors across Australia have backed a proposed law which would give doctors a defence to provide treatment that shortens a person's life.

The state branch of the Australian Medical Association and the Law Society last week issued a joint statement condemning the Bill - one of two relating to voluntary euthanasia introduced by Labor's Stephanie Key.

Emeritus Professor of Medicine John Willoughby, from Flinders University, said yesterday the arguments against the Bill were not arguments but statements "unsupported by anything".

"Quite frankly, it is crap to say there is no need for this legislation," he said. more

"Euthanasia Blues" - Always Relevant

If you read this blog, you'll have a decent understanding of the shenanigans of the pro-deathers, so it's always good to post an oldie but goodie - Euthanasia Blues. This pretty much says it all about what the pro-deathers are trying to accomplish.

Netherlands: Killing Patients Now Part Of Medical Mainstream

No!! Sat it ain’t so!! Euthanasia now part of Dutch medicine? I'm shocked, I tell you!! I remember years ago the pro-deathers insisting that legalizing euthanasia wasn’t a slippery slope. Turns out it really is. Here's a useful summary of what the Dutch medicos are now saying about medicalized killing.

Euthanasia becoming integral part of Dutch medicine

Dutch doctors have a professional obligation to refer patients who request euthanasia to a compliant colleague if they object, says the national doctors association, the KNMG. more