Here's An Uncomfortable Truth From Nabil Shaban

Those Pesky Aussie Laws Against Assisted Suicide . . .

Police are investigating, but this looks like a murder-suicide, with a husband killing his terminally ill wife and then himself. As usual, pro-death Aussie Philip Nitschke head for the cameras to say it was all the law’s fault, and that this wouldn’t have been such a shame if the wife was allowed to be killed and her husband survive.

Nitschke calls for changes after couple's death

The bodies of 66-year-old John Carl Stewart and his 61-year-old terminally ill wife Jennifer Anne Stewart were found on Monday by their daughter in their Sawyers Valley home.

Dr Nitschke has confirmed the pair were members of his euthanasia group, Exit International.

Police are investigating whether Mr Stewart played a role in his wife's death.

Dr Nitschke says family members who assist with suicide face life imprisonment under WA's current euthanasia laws. more

In Idaho, Proposals To Have Medicos Withhold Care If THEY See Fit

Seeing that many of us warned about rationed care before the horror of Obamacare passed, and that the AARP fell over themselves to support it, all of a sudden the AARP is astonished that Idaho is proposing a law that would allow medical professionals - NOT THE PATIENT – and as a matter of their conscience, to withhold medical care at the end of life if THEY (the medicos) see fit. Tell me this isn’t doctor power in its rawest, nihilistic form.

Law affects end-of-life care

COEUR d'ALENE - A new law goes into effect July 1 giving Idaho health care workers the right to refuse to provide end-of-life care they find morally objectionable.

Some fear the legislation places the conscience of a caregiver ahead of a dying person's rights. more

Pro-Deathers Infiltrate Spain

So the pro-deathers are busy in Spain as well, passing off killing people as “dignified dying.” Oy . . .

Spanish Counseling Centers Push Euthanasia

MADRID, Spain, JUNE 23, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Doctors in Spain are warning against "dignified death" counseling centers that are pushing euthanasia in the form of ideologically slanted living wills.

Ignacio Pascual of the organizations Professionals for Ethics told ZENIT that these "citizens' advice for a dignified death" information offices aim to counsel the sick, elderly and their relatives on end-of-life issues.

However, he said, the centers, in Rivas-Vaciamadrid and Getafe, outside Madrid, are managed by the Asociación Derecho a Morir Dignamente (Right to Die with Dignity Association), which favors euthanasia. more

Tasmania Tries To Legalize Death Again

The Northern Territory of Aussie is hell-bent on legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia, and the Tasmanians don’t want to be left behind, so they’re starting the debate all over again. Gives new meaning to the term “Tasmanian Devil,” if you ask me.

Tasmania relaunches euthanasia debate

ELEANOR HALL: The Tasmanian Parliament is about to launch into another emotionally charged debate about euthanasia.

The Attorney-General Lara Giddings says she is drawing up legislation that would support people's right to die with dignity. more

Bad Idea: Unless You Say No, Bingo, You're An Organ Donor!!

Well, we all know that there are more people needing organ transplants than there are available donors. This is because there are way fewer people who sign up to donate their organs than people needing them. Bioethics is becoming increasingly obsessed with how to change this – everything from redefining death to suggesting people be allowed to sell their organs for profit. A more insidious plan is to make laws that declare “presumed consent.” That is, the state will assume you want to give up your organs unless you specify otherwise. Ah, Big Brother . . .

Donors' consent can't be presumed

Individuals who sign up for New York's Donate Life Registry perform a selfless act, as do families who agree to organ donation amid the loss of a loved one. Still, New York's organ donor registration rate is among the nation's lowest — just 13 percent of people 18 and older have designated themselves as organ and tissue donors. That means too many New Yorkers wait for organ donations that will never come.

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh, wants to create a system of "presumed consent" to increase the pool of organ donors. Under such an arrangement, it would be presumed that a person agreed to become a donor, unless she opts out. more

More "Heroes" Of Assisted Suicide Hit The UK Media

If you ever wanted a prime example of pro-death media spin, read this. Note how it’s not helping kill someone that’s the problem, it’s all the bad Brit rules that meant this guy couldn’t help his partner die in the UK. Oh, and by the way, the grieving partner blames his drinking, depression, etc., on the Brit laws. What about accompanying his partner to be killed when he might have had more time alive? If I sound unsympathetic, it’s because all these “brave” people keep coming out of the woodwork portraying themselves as either saints or victims, or most irritating of all, as heroes for the cause.

Assisted suicide case: 'Ray should have been able to die at home'

Alan Cutkelvin Rees is, technically, a free man. Nearly a year after he was arrested on suspicion of helping his long-term partner to commit suicide, the Crown Prosecution Service has decided not to prosecute. But he is not celebrating. "It has been hell," he said, speaking exclusively to The Independent on Sunday, only hours after hearing the decision.

It lifts a cloud of uncertainty that has hovered over Mr Cutkelvin Rees, 57, since he travelled to the Swiss euthanasia clinic Dignitas with his terminally ill civil partner, Raymond Cutkelvin, in February 2007. more

Killing People Is Profitable? Who'da Thunk It?

Killing people profitable? Not exactly a new idea. But at least the mask is starting to slip from the visage of Ludwig Minelli, the owner of Swiss death clinic Dignitas, who now, it’s revealed, is a multimillionaire. He says his stash was inherited. Well, maybe, but at the hefty fee he charges to help kill people, I’d be willing to lay bets on that “inheritance” angle.

Report: Clinic Founder May Profit From Assisted Suicide

ZURICH, Switzerland (June 24) -- A Swiss magazine alleged this week that the founder of Dignitas, the controversial clinic that helps terminally ill people meet a "dignified death" and has been accused of promoting "death tourism," could be profiting from the mercy killings.

Ludwig A. Minelli, a former journalist and lawyer, has been under the spotlight here and abroad since 1998, when he founded the Zurich-based clinic. The magazine, Beobachter, alleged that tax records have shown that Minelli had no taxable personal fortune registered when he founded the clinic, but by 2007 had amassed a personal fortune of $1.8 million. more

UK Might As Well Repeal Aid/Abetting Assisted Suicide Law

Well, no surprise here. The UK authorities have ruled that a doctor who accompanied a patient to die at the assisted suicide clinic Dignitas in Switzerland won’t face prosecution, even although such an act is illegal in the UK. The authorities are clearly communicating that they have a law on the books that they now plan to ignore. The social and legal constraints to death making in the UK are beginning to crumble, just as they have in the Netherlands, Belgium, and elsewhere. Coming soon to a place near you – death on demand: enjoy the dignity of your trip!!

No prosecution for right-to-die doctor

Dr Michael Irwin was arrested in 2009 after Mr Cutkelvin died

A former GP and right-to-die campaigner who took a man to a euthanasia group in Switzerland will not be prosecuted.

Dr Michael Irwin, 79, of Surrey, was arrested after cancer sufferer Raymond Cutkelvin, of London, died at Dignitas in Zurich. more

Death Clinics In Oregon - Heck, Why Not??

 An Oregon psychiatrist wants to open a death clinic al la the Dignitas death clinic in Switzerland. There’s a certain logic being employed – Switzerland has legalized assisted sucide and permits death clinics. Oregon has legalized assisted suicide so why not a death clinic in that state? Prediction: there’ll be lots of faux concern, much head scratching, a legal case or two (with the requisite killing-is-a-brave-and-loving-act shtick) and sooner rather than later, it’ll happen. And then the dominoes will fall elsewhere. Trust me.

Death with Dignity house planned in Portland

PORTLAND — Portland psychiatrist Dr. Stuart Weisberg plans to open a house in the Sellwood neighborhood where the terminally ill can kill themselves under Oregon’s Death with Dignity Law.

Weisberg told KGW-TV he felt compelled to act after watching a TV interview with Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who pioneered assisted suicide. Under Oregon law, a terminally ill state resident with only six months to live may receive a lethal dose of drugs from a pharmacy if two doctors agree. The Oregon Department of Human Services reports 59 people used the law last year to end their lives. more

UK's Latest Killer Doctor The Next Harold Shipman - I Agree

Here’s more on the UK Brit doctor, Howard Martin. The piece argues that Martin is no different than the UK’s most infamous doctor-killer, Dr. Harold Shipman, who probably killed hundreds. I agree wholeheartedly.

Death doctor Howard Martin and Dignity in Dying have more in common with

Dr Howard Martin, struck off by the General Medical Council last week and facing a second criminal investigation into the deaths of several of his patients, is anxious to distance himself from mass-murderer Harold Shipman. Dr Shipman, he says, was “a psychopath”, while Dr Martin claims he was acting out of “Christian compassion”. I’m not sure how Dr Martin can invoke Christianity here, since the gospel enjoins us to visit the sick and comfort the dying, not to kill them, but there we are.

And the GMC described Dr Martin, who has openly boasted of ending the lives of several of his patients, as “egregious, despicable and dangerous”, which are adjectives that could be applied to the late Dr Shipman, even if there are other, worse ones to describe him too. Furthermore, what Dr Martin and Dr Shipman appear to have in common is as follows: They both believed they had an infallible responsibility for deciding when a patient should die (interestingly, Dr Martin claims to have done this with the dying patients’ relatives, which is supposed to make it right); they both appeared to believe that it was in some way ethical for a doctor to kill his patients, or “help them to die” are the weasel-words that euthanasia lobbyists use; they both appear to have believed that some lives, usually those of the terminally ill, are not worth living, which is an unusual judgment for a doctor to make, to say the least. And both of them seem to have had no problem with their conscience while playing God. more

UK Families Begin To Fight Back Against Killer Doctor

Just like the FEN post below, families of patients killed by Howard Martin, the Brit doctor who’s been bragging about killing his patients lately, are beginning to fight back. It’ll be interesting to see how the authorities react, although I’m not optimistic.

Calls for disgraced GP to face charges

FAMILIES of patients who died in the care of North-East GP Howard Martin last night called for the disgraced doctor to face fresh charges.

The appeal to prosecutors came after Dr Martin admitted he had used morphine to hasten deaths – including that of his own son.

The 75-year-old told a national newspaper he had acted out of “Christian compassion”.

Durham Police will consult the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to decide whether to launch a fresh investigation following the admission. more

Final Exit Network Sued By Victim's Widow

Finally, the widow of a man killed by the federally indicted Final Exit Network is being sued by the widow of one of their victims. Wait for another wave of FEN propaganda saying that what they did with her husband was noble, etc., etc., and that she’s just overreacting. Trust me, it’ll come!!

Widow sues ‘Final Exit Network’ over its role in husband’s death

The widow of a Forsyth County man who died two years ago with the assistance of the Final Action Network, an assisted suicide organization, has filed a wrongful death and negligence suit against the group and four members already facing criminal charges that they helped John D. Celmer, 54, commit suicide with the aid of an “exit hood” connected to a helium tank. more

Counterweight To Smarmy UK Killer Doctors

I reported a few days ago that another Brit doctor had proudly admitted that he had killed some of his patients. Here’s a counter piece that’s a good read.

There's nothing merciful about these doctors who play God

Dr Howard Martin was struck off the GMC for giving vulnerable elderly people excessively high doses of morphine

When someone you love is dying in agony, who has the right to decide whether to speed things up? If a patient has given their consent, should doctors be able to administer large doses of drugs which allow them to slip away without the pain? more

Ozzy & Sharon's Assisted Suicide Pact - Rock On!!

Well, Ozzy Osbourne is certainly becoming preoccupied with death and assisted suicide. Two weeks ago he launched a new album with a macabre song praising Robert Latimer, the Canadian who murdered his severely disabled daughter. Now he and Sharon are cooing about their assisted suicide pact. Couldn’t happen to nicer people, I say.

Ozzy and Sharon’s assisted-suicide pact

Following the tragic loss of her father earlier this year, Sharon Osbourne made her own end of life plans. The Daily Mirror interviewed the “America’s Got Talent” judge about the decision she and husband Ozzy reached to choose their own ends should a mentally degenerative disease afflict either of them. more

The Other Side Of Pro-Death Doctors

Here’s a more balanced media take on the latest Brit MD to confess to murdering his patients.

The end-of-life dilemmas experienced by GPs

It is one of the starkest ethical dilemmas a doctor can face.

Confronted with a patient who is experiencing great suffering, do you help them end their lives and, at the same time, their pain?

The law is clear: actively carrying out euthanasia is illegal.

However, the case of Dr Howard Martin - who told the Daily Telegraph that he hastened patients' deaths out of "Christian compassion" - illustrates the ethical pressures faced by medical practitioners. more

Another Brit Doctor Happily Admits He Killed Patients

Howard Martin is the latest Brit MD to heroically admit that he killed some of his patents. For their benefit, of course. Several inquiries by the Brit medical authorities concluded that he was responsible for scores of deaths, and revoked his medical license.

Now everyone in the UK is wringing their hands as to whether he might be prosecuted. Given the current popular sympathy for euthanasia and assisted sucide, I wouldn’t bet on it.

Dr Howard Martin: Admission of hastening death could lead to further investigation

Over the past decade, teams of officers and coroners have looked into claims that the GP killed elderly and terminally ill people by injecting them with morphine.

He stood trial in 2005 for murdering three former patients but refused to give evidence and was acquitted.

Dr Howard Martin's admission could lead to the police re-opening the case.

His new confession that he “made them comfortable in their hour of need”, together with a damning verdict by the General Medical Council that his “despicable and dangerous” conduct did hasten the deaths of 18 patients could mean fresh police action.

Thanks to Labour’s Criminal Justice Act 2003, the ancient right of “double jeopardy” that prevented defendants being tried twice for the same crime has been removed. more

We Need To Use The Pro-Deather's Tactics Against Them - Lessons 1 & 2

We need to pay more attention to the pro-deathers’ tactics, because we have some lessons to learn.

Let me just discuss two recent events, both noted here at Alive & Kicking.

First, the Final Exit Network (FEN).

FEN is in deep trouble with the Feds in Arizona, Maryland, and Georgia. In Arizona, the Feds have handed down an indictment on a FEN member involved in helping kill a woman with serious psychological problems. A FEN office holder has been indicted in Maryland, and FEN was busted in Georgia in an undercover sting that showed their complete disregard for anything more that helping kill as many people as possible.

For most self-respecting organizations, this would be enough reason to head for cover.

Not so FEN.

President Jerry Ricin came out with media interview where he held forth about what a good and caring bunch FEN were, and that the indicted FEN members are just very brave frontiersmen who should be celebrated, not indicted.

Then, news over the weekend that FEN has paid for billboard advertising for assisted suicide in San Francisco.

Lesson to be learned: In the battle against the pro-deathers, remember that spin, propaganda, and downright deceit, are the order of the day. Never forget that these people will do whatever it takes (legal or illegal, ethical or not ethical) to make more people dead.

Never forget that.

Second, in Scotland, MP Margo Macdonald has continued her press for legislation allowing assisted suicide. She’s been at it for a while. She’s so deep into the pro-death camp that last year she suggest assisted suicide be legalized even for children.

Contrary to MacDonald’s spin, open hearings showed that most professionals were against legalized killing.

Here’s what Macdonald said, when asked for her reaction to this severe setback:

"This doesn't surprise me. Nor does it discourage me.”

Lesson to be learned: No matter how soundly there ideas are defeated, the pro-deathers don’t quit – they regroup, reload, and reengage.

Over and over again.

We must do the same.

The Need For Discussing Living Wills Carefully

First of all, having and advanced directive (living will) is probably better than not having one. However, they are often carelessly written, and there is quite strong evidence that patients are not fully informed about what they are and what the mean. It’s particularly important that it’s not simply a “Do you want to live or die when you are in dire medical circumstances?”

Living wills' lack of specifics limits their usefulness

Patients often opt for more end-of-life care when given detailed circumstances -- at odds with responses to a general question, a new study says.

Living wills fail to capture patients' end-of-life care wishes because they do not ask about the real-life scenarios patients are likely to face as they

get close to death, according to a new study. Researchers from Thomas Jefferson University in Pennsylvania examined interview responses of 202 Philadelphia-area patients age 70 and older

for the study in the May 22 Journal of Palliative Medicine.

Patients first were asked a question used in many Pennsylvania living wills, probing whether to "withdraw life-sustaining treatment that serves only to prolong the process of dying." Patients then were queried about their desires about more specific scenarios, such as whether to use antibiotics to treat their pneumonia if they also have Alzheimer's disease. There was a 23% average correlation between the responses.

"This study points out that if you talk to people in more detail, there's more nuance to their decisions than just results from a simple question about what they want in a living will document," said Charles F. von Gunten, MD, PhD, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Palliative Medicine and provost of the Institute for Palliative Medicine at San Diego Hospice. more

Proposed Pro-Deather Legislation Slapped Down In Scotland

A Scottish MP, Margo MacDonald, has been trying to introduce legislation in the Scottish Parliament to legalize assisted suicide. She’s a true pro-deater – even advocating assisted suicide for children. Yes, you read correctly, assisted suicide for children. However, when her ideas were opened to public debate, sentiments were heavily against legalizing assisted suicide. However, no resting on laurels, please, because at the end of the piece MacDonald remains unfazed, and will be back again, bloodied for now but definitely unbowed.

Opponents deal a blow to MacDonald's assisted suicide bill

MARGO MacDonald's bid to introduce assisted suicide in Scotland has been dealt a blow, with the vast majority of people giving evidence to Holyrood on the issue declaring that they oppose her bill. Analysis of the reaction generated by Ms MacDonald's End of Life Assistance Bill has revealed that 87 per cent of those who took time to produce written evidence were against it. more

Strong Opposition To Pro-Deathers In Canada

My colleagues Jim and Rhonda do sterling work fighting the pro-deathers in  Manitoba, Canada. In this piece they lay out the danger for Canadians with disabilities.

Don't give MDs power to pull plug: disabled: End-of-life guide a risk, MPs told

Giving Manitoba doctors the power to pull the plug on a patient discriminates against disabled people who may fall short of the minimum standards to remain on life-support, local advocates told a Parliamentary committee Wednesday.

Jim Derksen and Rhonda Wiebe, Winnipeg members of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, said certain policies -- including Manitoba's end-of-life guidelines -- put disabled patients at risk of improper treatment because of common attitudes that "it's better to be dead than disabled." They spoke out in front of a federal palliative and compassionate care committee in Ottawa, and voiced their concerns about legalizing assisted suicide and other inequities in end-of-life care. more

A San Francisco Treat: Advertising Assisted Suicide

The pro-deathers are upping the ante. You gotta give it to the Final Exit Network, the pro-death outfit that currently has several members and office holders under federal indictment for helping to kill people. Now they’re advertising assisted suicide in San Francisco. Aren’t we all so very lucky? By the way, there’s no mention of their nefarious methods, like preventing people from ripping off the death/gas mask if they change their minds. Lovely.

Right to die billboard causes a big stir

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- It's a simple billboard, raising complicated questions. People advocating what they call "the right to die" brought their message to the Bay Area on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, a sign went up at the intersection of Howard and Van Ness. The six words on the sign costs $2,500 and it's getting a lot of attention.

Some people are going out of their way to read the billboard and many are taking a double take.

It reads: "My life my death my choice." more

Why Are The Dutch Surprised That Legalized Euthanasia Is On The Rise?

Ahead of the official release of last year’s euthanasia stats in the Netherlands, the Dutch press is reporting that euthanasia is on the increase over previous years.

What surprises me is that the Dutch authorities continue to be surprised by the increase.

Let’s see:

Take the social taboo of euthanasia, allow it to happen undercover, then tut-tut that instead of happening behind closed doors, it should be regulated and ‘transparent.” This doltish idea was meant to ensure that undercover euthanasia was stopped and only happened under very rare and highly controlled circumstances.

It hasn’t turned out that way, as some of us predicted years ago.

Here’s the slippery slope:

First, euthanasia was meant for only those adults who were terminally ill and in unbearable and uncontrollable physical pain.

Then, euthanasia was allowed for those with unbearable physical pain, even if it could be controlled, and even f they were not terminally ill.

Then euthanasia was allowed for those who were not only not terminally ill, but for people in no physical pain whatsoever – psychological pain, controllable or not, was enough.

Then the age limit was extended to adolescents.

So, from DutchNews.nl:

The number of reported deaths by euthanasia rose 13% last year to 2,636, following an increase of 10% in 2008, the NRC reports, quoting figures due to be published at the beginning of July.

The 2008 increase led the health ministry to set up an investigation into the increase. That investigation is due to start this month.

This is not the whole macabre picture, either: These stats reflect ONLY patients who requested to be killed.

It does not include hundreds, and perhaps thousands, who are euthanized even though they never requested it.

It does not include the hundreds of newborns with disabilities that are murdered under the so-called Groningen Protocol.

It does not include legalized assisted suicides.

Here’s the truth: Euthanasia is now increasingly accepted as just another medical procedure. The social constraints have collapsed.

Need any more proof?

A recent survey in the Netherlands showed that there was strong public sentiment for making euthanasia available for anyone over 70 even if the only reason to die was because they were “tired” of living.

One final point: No, we’re not at the bottom of the slippery slope. It will get worse.

Human Heads Discovered On Southwest Airlines

Gee whiz! Authorities think that there might be a black market in body parts. Really? I’m shocked, I tell you.

Southwest Airlines employee finds human heads on their way to Fort Worth

A Southwest Airlines employee called police after finding 40 to 60 human heads in a package set to be transported to a Fort Worth medical research company, the airline said. more

Swiss Feds Sever Ties To Assisted Suicide Organization

Maybe the Swiss are coming to their oh-so-civilized senses. Their federal court has severed ties with an assisted suicide outfit. The intent of the previous arrangement was to regulate how assisted suicide was carried out. Guess what? It didn’t work (shocked, I tell you).

Federal Court overturns assisted suicide deal

The Swiss Federal Court has declared an accord between the Zurich prosecutor’s office and an assisted suicide organisation null and void.

According to the country's highest court, Swiss law does not permit such deals.

In 2009 the Exit association and Zurich’s chief prosecutor signed an agreement regulating the particulars of assisted suicide, including the use of deadly sodium pentobarbital and compensation for those who help others kill themselves. more