Dead Pro-Deather Calls For Change In Posthumous Letter

Here's a posthumous letter from a pro-deather who walked the walk, killing herself yesterday at Swiss death clinic Dignitas. I'll bet it's going to be another poster issue for the UK pro-deathers.

I am not sad that I will die today, but angry that I can't die at home

My name is Geraldine McClelland and I have chosen to die today [7 December].

I am 61 years old and am dying from lung and liver cancer, which metastasised from my breast cancer two years ago. I spent my working life at the BBC, producing programmes such as Watchdog, Food and Drink, Health Check and Crimewatch. I was fortunate to be able to retire 10 years ago and have been able to thoroughly enjoy my retirement, travelling the world. The lung cancer is now causing me serious breathing problems, meaning I am largely confined to my flat. more

Media Spin About Oregon's Assisted Suicide Statutes

Here's a piece that has the patina of balance but shows its true colors toward the end. One example: the piece cites work that says nobody in Oregon has ever undergone assisted suicide while disabled or depressed. This doesn’t square with Oregon’s own records that in most cases patients never even have a psychological consult.

Op-Ed: To be or not to be is the question, but should it be a choice?

It is not illegal in North America and many other jurisdictions around the world to kill yourself or attempt to commit suicide. However, it is illegal almost worldwide to assist a person to commit suicide. PAS is legal is just four jurisdictions around the world.

Many believe that the driving force behind the ban on PAS and euthanasia is a religious one. However, a look at what some in the medical community have to say about PAS tells a different story. more

More On The Massachusetts Medical Society's Rejection Of Legalized Assisted Suicide

Here's more on the Massachusetts Medical Society overwhelmingly rejecting legalized assisted suicide.

Massachusetts Medical Society forgoes assisted suicide option

The Massachusetts Medical Society voted last week to maintain its stance against physician-assisted suicide, according to an MMS press release.

Although MMS officials recognized patient dignity in terminally ill people as a factor, more than 75 percent of the MMS’s house of delegates voted against facilitated suicide at their assembly last week. more

If You Still Don't believe In The Slippery Slope, Read This

Just in case you still think there’s no such thing as a slippery slope (see post below), read this. Holland has gone from legalizing euthanasia for a very few to this - mobile assisted suicide killing clinics.

Death on wheels: Dutch to send mobile clinics to euthanise people in their own homes

The Dutch government is considering plans to use mobile medical teams which would administer euthanasia to people in their homes.

The units, dubbed 'grim reapers on wheels' by critics, will be called in to kill patients when their own GPs refuse to administer lethal drugs.

The mobile teams of doctors and nurses would be sent out from a clinic following a referral from the patient’s doctor. more

Yes, there Really Is A Slippery Slope

Here's an excellent piece on the legitimacy of the slippery slope argument.

Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal

Vol. 21, No. 4, 379–404 © 2011 by The Johns Hopkins University Press

David Albert Jones

Is There a Logical Slippery Slope from Voluntary to Nonvoluntary Euthanasia?

ABSTRACT. John Keown has constructed a logical slippery slope argument from voluntary euthanasia (VAE) to nonvoluntary euthanasia (NVAE). VAE if justified implies that death can be of overall benefit, in which case it should also be facilitated in those who cannot consent (NVAE). Hallvard Lillehammer asserts that Keown’s arguments rests on a fallacy. However, pace Lillehammer, it can be restated to escape this fallacy. Its validity is confirmed by applying  to VAE some well-established general principles of medical decision making. Thus, either VAE and NVAE must be accepted together or, if NVAE is regarded as unacceptable, VAE should also be rejected. more

Irish Research Challenges Perception Of Painful Death

We need more research like the work reported in this piece.

There's more to dying than death

FEW ILLNESSES are as feared as Motor Neurone Disease (MND). The autoimmune condition, which attacks the central nervous system, is irreversible, incurable and nearly always fatal. The time from diagnosis to death takes an average of between two and five years.

It is the condition most obviously brought to mind when people consider the issue of assisted suicide. . . . [and] informed the work of former nurse Sinéad O’Toole, who is now a lecturer at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems in UCD.

O’Toole has interviewed the relatives of 21 people who died from MND for her PhD. She presented the results as a paper to the Irish Association of Palliative Care (IAPC) recently. more

Massachusetts: The Assisted Suicide Ballot Initiative Debate Continues

Here's another take on the battle to get assisted suicide on the ballot next year.

Major Battle Over Assisted Suicide Brewing In Mass.

Mark my words: There’s a great big battle brewing in Massachusetts over helping terminally ill patients commit suicide. more

Canada Court Case: Pro-Deathers Disregard The Truth

As the Canadian court case seeking to legalize assisted suicide continues, the pro-deathers are starting to move beyond stretching the facts to simply discarding them. Claiming that legalized assisted suicide doesn't increase its incidence is simply a lie - one has only to look at what has happened in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Right-to-die laws don't lead to rise in assisted deaths, experts say

Jurisdictions that pass laws making euthanasia or physician-assisted dying legal do not experience any significant increase in assisted deaths, the Supreme Court of British Columbia has heard. more

Massachusetts Medical Society Votes Overwhelmingly Against Assisted Suicide

Good for the Massachusetts Medical Society, who just voted to oppose legalized killing via assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Massachusetts Medical Society Opposes Assisted

As Massachusetts voters consider the possibility of going to the polls to vote for a measure that would make the state the third to legalize assisted suicide, the Massachusetts Medical Society’s House of Delegates voted to retain its position against it.

At a weekend vote at its Interim Meeting, the Massachusetts Medical Society voted 178 to 56 to retain the Society’s long-standing opposition to physician assisted suicide. The doctors group unanimously passed additional language endorsing quality end-of-life care. more

No, Not Death, PAIN MANAGEMENT

More pro-deather poster people . . .  the latest UK case is a woman who wants assisted suicide because she has chronic pain. There's NO MENTION in the article that what's really the problem is poor pain management. There's absolutely no need for her to be in the kind of pain described in the article.

Dystonia sufferer Jackie Meacock wants assisted suicide law change

A Brighton woman with the neurological movement disorder dystonia has called for changes in the law to help people seeking to end their life at home.

Although Jackie Meacock's condition is not life-threatening, the constant pain it causes has made her want to die. more

Creepy Minnesota Nurse Calls Abetting Suicide "Free Speech"

William Melchert-Dinkel was a noose who trolled the internet looking for people he could encourage to kill themselves. Two did. He went to jail (a mere slap on the wrist of less than a year in jail). Now he wants out early because what he did was "free speech." Creepy, very creepy.

Nurse appeals assisted suicide conviction in student's death

The disgraced former Minnesota nurse convicted of assisted suicide in the death of Canadian university student Nadia Kajouji was like a good, nurturing friend, someone who wanted to watch her die via webcam “in an act of togetherness and mutual support, to avoid (her) being alone.”

That is the message contained in an appeal filed in U.S. court on behalf of William Melchert-Dinkel, the 49-year-old man who admitted to trolling online chat rooms with the aim of trying to push vulnerable participants into suicide. more

Good Discussion Of End-Of-Life Issues In Aussie

Here's an in-depth discussion of current Aussie issues around the issues of assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Do you have the right to die?

Prosecutions were pointless… the offender was already dead. Assisting anyone in any way to take his or her own life is still a serious criminal offence.

Penalty? Ten years.

So while you can take your own life, you put in jeopardy anyone you may ask to assist you in the task.

Even if the assistance is rendered for the most humane and compassionate reasons at the conscientious request of a loved one suffering through a terminal illness, the law as it stands determines that it is a crime. more

Argentine Press Confuses End Of Life Options

Here's a good example of how the press confuses things. The title suggests passage of some form of assisted suicide or euthanasia. It's not. The bill, in fact, seeks only to encode what is already available in most other countries - that the patient has the right to refuse any and all medical treatment.

Lower House passed project authorizing "dignified death"                                  
The bill authorizing ‘dignified death’ was approved on Wednesday by a large majority at the Lower House and has been sent to the Senate. The bill, with positive resolutions from the Health, Human Rights and General Legislation Committees, sets forth the informed consent for a patient to choose which practices they wish to undergo and which not. more

In Case You Missed It: Summary Of New Zealand Assisted Suicide Case

In case you missed the Davison case in New Zealand here's a fairly detailed report. The piece also discusses current legal issues surrounding assisted sucide and euthanasia in NZ.

Making a dignified exit

Public debate about voluntary euthanasia may increase following a man's conviction last week for counselling and procuring t attempted suicide of his terminally ill mother, says Picton businesswoman, grandmother and member of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society Ann David. more

California Granny Agrees To End Suicide Kit Sales

Here's the final resolution to an ongoing saga that eventually got the attention of authorities in Oregon - a California grandma who was selling sucide kits over the internet. She's finally agreed to stop doing so.

San Diego-area suicide kit seller agrees to stop sale of devices

A former schoolteacher who sold suicide kits that she once touted as leaving people "eternally sleepy" pleaded guilty Friday to a tax evasion charge and agreed to stop encouraging people to commit suicide. more

Irish Piece Plays On Fear To Justify Assisted Suicide

Here's an Irish piece in the tank for assisted suicide and euthanasia pulling at all the same old, tired story lines: Misery, fear, etc., etc.

All lives are precious, but some are not worth enduring any more

If ever a story proves just what a weird and squalid little country this can be at times, it is surely this one. It was reported earlier in the week that a woman had been found dead in her apartment in Donnybrook.

So far, so sad; nobody wants to read about someone's death and, in most cases, it is a purely private tragedy -- a case of nothing to see here, move along.

But this case was different -- I'm not going to name the woman involved because it seems wrong and exploitative to use a person who dies in these circumstances to score some sort of point but the story goes like this: the woman was in excruciating agony in the end stages of motor neuron disease, a truly terrifying condition that incapacitates and humiliates you before it finally kills you.

The woman and a friend went to a travel agent in Dublin and booked two tickets to Switzerland -- but only one of them was a return. more

UK: Liverpool Death Pathway Invites Abuse

Let's just call the Liverpool Care Pathway what it is: A roadmap to "help" people die that is a grand opportunity for abuse - none more so than in this report that says patients are being placed on the "Pathway" without the consent of family or loved ones.

NHS must come clean over use of 'death pathway'

Thousands of patients in the NHS are put onto the Liverpool Care Pathway each year in their last days and hours.

It aims to give patients a 'good death' by avoiding unnecessary and burdensome medical intervention but there have been accusations it hastens death because it can involve the removal of artifical hydration and nutrition. more

Canada: Good Response To "Back Alley" Assisted Suicides Claim

Here's a good response to yesterday's piece (see below) that claimed that not legalizing assisted suicide would men "back alley assisted suicides."

Lorne Gunter: Let me kill myself or I’ll kill myself

I fail to see what social horror is created if terminal patients are forced to seek “back alley” assisted suicides.

In his closing arguments before a B.C. federal court Thursday, lawyer Joseph Arvay warned that if the “absolute prohibition” against assisted suicides is upheld, patients such as his client, 63-year-old ALS sufferer Gloria Taylor, will be forced into back alleys for their procedures, just as pregnant teens were decades ago before abortion was illegal.

The parallel is a false one. more

Unresponsive Patients Might Actually Be More Responsive Than Previously Believed

Here's a fascinating piece that bodes well for people in nonresponsive states - many more than previously thought are minimally conscious and can communicate with the outside world.

A Drug That Wakes the Near Dead

The moment she saw him, Judy Cox knew her son was dead. It was an October morning in 2008, and she had just stepped out the door to run an errand when she found him lying faceup in the driveway, ghost white, covered in purple splotches. He wasn’t breathing, and when she couldn’t revive him, she ran screaming into the house where her husband, Wayne, was still asleep. “Chris is dead,” she cried. “Call 911!”

Wayne jumped out of bed and raced down to the driveway, where he knelt over his son’s limp frame and tried frantically to elicit a breath or a heartbeat. As he pumped Chris’s chest and scooped out the vomit that had collected in his mouth, Judy ran to the kitchen and steadied herself long enough to call for an ambulance. . . .

Chris was in a coma, the doctor said, and in all likelihood had suffered severe, irreversible brain damage. He was breathing only with the help of a ventilator and would probably have a series of heart attacks in the night. more

Canada: Back Street Assisted Suicide?

Here’s more pro-deather nonsense from the current Canadian trial to legalize assisted suicide.

Ban on assisted suicide moves dying to back alley for illegal help: lawyer

Evidence shows that those who want assisted suicide are getting that help illegally, just like back-alley abortions before the laws were changed decades ago, a lawyer told a B.C. Supreme Court judge. more

Irish Court Buys The "Assisted Suicide" Defense

Here's another case where a husband clearly had killed his wife, claiming "assisted suicide." The court bought the argument, apparently.

Assisted suicide or manslaughter?

In December 2010, at the Crown Court in Sheffield, George Webb (known as Hugh Webb), was convicted of the manslaughter of his wife Beryl on the ground of diminished responsibility. The 72-year-old was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, but was granted leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal.

When the matter came on for hearing earlier this year, the following tragic story emerged. The couple, who had no children, had been married for nearly 50 years. While their marriage had not always been happy, during their last 15 years together they were a devoted couple “within the terms of their own relationship”. more

Massachusetts: The Context Of The Assisted Suicide Ballot Initiative

Here's an in-depth piece that sets the context for a Massachusetts ballot initiative to legalize assisted suicide.

Will Massachusetts Legalize Physician-Assisted Suicide?

It may end up on the ballot in Massachusetts next November, a question that has already polarized many in the state. It's short, yet not so simple: Should the terminally ill have the right to physician-assisted suicide? Some think the question would give voters the opportunity to play God. Others think it's long overdue. more

Canadian Woman Seeking Assisted Suicide Speaks Out

Here's the latest from the woman who is at the heart of the current Canadian court case seeking to legalize assisted suicide.

'I don't want to die': assisted suicide advocate

A B.C. woman slowly dying from Lou Gehrig's disease made an emotional plea Wednesday for the right to die when she chooses and with the help of a doctor.

Gloria Taylor, 63, is a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Canada's law against physician assisted suicide. She was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis two years ago, and since then has watched her health and independence slip away. more

Ireland: Many Medical Students Support Euthanasia

No shock here - if you keep up the pro-death drumbeat and train medical students accordingly, why wouldn't they think euthanasia is a grand idea?

Research reveals shifting attitudes towards euthanasia

ALMOST 60 per cent of final year medical students in one Irish university are in favour of euthanasia, according to a new survey. more

Were Patients Euthanized In New Orleans After Katrina?

Right after Hurricane Katrina there were rumors that patients at New Orleans' largest hospital had been euthanized because there was no power or other services available. All records relate to the investigation have been kept from the public ever since.

Memorial Medical Center euthanasia case arguments heard by appeals court

A state appeals court today heard arguments for two hours on whether the public should have access to the records of a state investigation into whether personnel at Memorial Medical Center euthanized patients in the days after Hurricane Katrina. The court did not issue a ruling. more