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Young people might need euthanasia, says party

Apr 8th, 2006 by

The Flemish Socialist party, a member of Belgium’s coalition government, has called for a change in the country’s euthanasia rules to give under 18s – or the parents of younger children – the right to choose assisted suicide.

The proposed rules for children would be similar to those for adults.

Currently a patient seeking euthanasia must request it more than once, and be terminally ill and constantly suffering.

The proposal is similar to one floated by prime minister Guy Verhofstadt’s Liberal Democrats, but is unlikely to become law.

Euthanasia was legalised in Belgium in 2002.

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Assisted suicide on the record

Apr 7th, 2006 by

Activities of EXIT Deutsche Schweiz
 Switzerland

From 1 December 2004 to 31 December 2005 (13 months) EXIT Deutsche Schweiz had to deal with 268 demands for assisted suicide. Of these 162 were finally assisted: 86 women and 76 men. The average age of these persons was 76 years.

In every case these assisted suicides were controlled in the usual way by the public prosecutor’s office. The procedures were confirmed as correct by the authorities.

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How hastened death happens in Belgium

Apr 6th, 2006 by

ADMD Belgium Clarifies the legal position

In ADMD Belgium’s March Bulletin, their President Jacqueline Herremans, noting the continuing confusion over the scope of the law, sets out precisely what the current Belgian law means.

It defines euthanasia but does not impose a method of application on the doctor. Thus, in its first report, the Commission of Control confirmed that those few cases, where unconsciousness was achieved by administration of a barbiturate and death followed rapidly with no further action by the doctor, fell within the legal definition of euthanasia, always provided all the other conditions had been observed.

On the other hand, all other assistance to suicide is outside the law. For example if a doctor were to provide a lethal prescription but not be present when it was taken would not have followed the regulations and would not be covered.

Belgian law also differs from the Swiss, which permits assisted suicide accompanied by someone other than a doctor but requires the patient to take the final dose.

Literature on euthanasia at the ERGO store.

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“Patient-directed death” — book review

Mar 29th, 2006 by

“IT MUST BE THE PATIENT’S CHOICE’
Dr. Tom Preston has just published Patient-Directed Dying, a book that he says is “a manifesto calling for mercy and reasoning in helping terminally ill patients die a peaceful death.” In it he makes a strong argument for legalizing physician aid in dying .

In Patient-Directed Dying Dr. Preston tells the stories of five dying patients and his discussions with them. With this readable method he shows how dying is a process, how this process is fundamentally altered by modern medicine such that few of us die naturally, and why patients—not physicians or others, should be able to direct their dying. He gives compelling reasons why physician aid in dying is not suicide, and why it is ethical and consistent with other already legal medical practices that help patients die.

Dr. Preston explains how ancient ideas and customs impede understanding of how we die and serve to prolong the suffering of dying patients. He shows how physician aid in dying has been demonized by distortion and misapplication of the ancient concept of sanctity of life, and how we should recognize the sanctity of death when we have made life ungodly. “When death becomes more natural than life we should have no obligation to sanctify a life that has been medically transformed into something alien and unnatural.” Continue Reading »

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License to die ?

Mar 28th, 2006 by

Could there be a license to die ? Would it help relieve terminal suffering by putting everybody on notice that a person was coming to the end of their life?

Emails to the ERGO List started this unusual debate:-

To begin with, Derek Humphry wrote:
The report for 2005 on the state’s physician-assisted suicide law by the Oregon Department of Human Services contains a description of the part physicians actually play in the assisted suicide of dying patients.

What strikes me as interesting – and troublesome — is the third paragraph which says that in the beginning of the law’s implementation doctors were at the bedside about half the time but now presence at the bedside of the patient happens in about a quarter of the cases.

It is my belief is that if a doctor is willing to prescribe the lethal overdose [in accordance with the Oregon law] then he or she should also be present at the end to ensure that it works properly. This is serious stuff. And why the huge drop in the number of doctors who are willing to be at the bedside? Complacency? Nervousness?

This emailed opinion then set off this unusual ‘licence to die’ debate: Continue Reading »

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Cult classic book ‘Jean’s Way’ back in print

Mar 27th, 2006 by

“JEAN’S WAY’
Thirty years ago — on March 29, l975 — Jean Humphry took her life with an overdose of barbiturates to escape the final ravages of metastasized cancer. A doctor supplied the drugs and her husband helped her take them.

Three years later the account of her death in a book called “Jean’s Way” by Derek Humphry became an instant bestseller in the UK, and subsequently appeared in 16 editions and translations around the world. “Jean’s Way” launched the case for ‘assisted suicide‘ and ‘self-deliverance’ instead of ‘voluntary euthanasia’ which had been the only method talked about up to that point in time.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Jean’s death, a new paperback edition has been printed and is available for $12 US. Shipping and handling is $5 in the USA and Canada, and $10 overseas. All books will be signed by the author and dated. Dispatched by airmail.

Send checks or money orders to ERGO (nonprofit) at 24829 Norris Lane, Junction City, OR 97448. Or order either the E-book or printed edition from the ERGO store

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UK churches fight law reform on assisted suicide

Mar 23rd, 2006 by

Bishops of the Church of England have come together with the Roman Catholic Church in launching a campaign to prevent the legalisation of ‘assisted suicide‘ this week.

The Roman Catholic attempt to distribute half a million anti-euthanasia leaflets and DVDs to each of their parishes in England and Wales is the biggest political campaign by the Church.

Anglican leaders this week also voiced their opposition to the parliamentary move and urged Christians to lobby MPs and Peers to prevent Lord Joffe’s Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill becoming law.

Derek Humphry comments: Where did the Christian doctrine of free will go?

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Right to die organizations

Mar 23rd, 2006 by

To access a useful list of organizations in North America which handle right to die issues, visit this web site belonging to Compassion in Dying of Oregon which is the steward of that state’s physician-assisted suicide law.

——-
Derek Humphry, Oregon, USA

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Californians support right to die — assisted suicide

Mar 15th, 2006 by

The latest Field Poll (done Feb 2006, published 15 March) shows that seventy percent of all adults and sixty-nine percent of registered voters in California believe that incurably ill patients have to the right to ask for and receive life-ending medications.

“Californians tend to be more open to allowing an individual to make a decision rather than having something prohibited through government fiat,” said Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo.

{suicide is not a crime in California but assisted suicide for any reason can be a felony}

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Sandra Day O’Connor warns on Terri Schiavo right to die case

Mar 13th, 2006 by

The Guardian newspaper in London reported (but few if any US newspapers did):-

Former top judge says US risks edging near to dictatorship
· Sandra Day O’Connor warns of rightwing attacks
· Lawyers ‘must speak up’ to protect judiciary

Julian Borger in Washington, Monday March 13, 2006, Guardian

Sandra Day O’Connor, a Republican-appointed judge who retired last month after 24 years on the supreme court, has said the US is in danger of edging towards dictatorship if the party’s rightwingers continue to attack the judiciary.

In a strongly worded speech at Georgetown University, reported by National Public Radio and the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Ms O’Connor took aim at Republican leaders whose repeated denunciations of the courts for alleged liberal bias could, she said, be contributing to a climate of violence against judges. Continue Reading »

Posted in Opinion Pieces, People in the News, Politics/Law, RTD News | No Comments »

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