Assisted Suicide

Euthanasia

One Nation Under God keeps you updated on the latest news on euthanasia and assisted suicide legislation

 

 

 

The Catholic Church opposes policies that promote or encourage euthanasia and assisted suicide and supports efforts to provide compassionate, ethical care to the elderly and ill.

 

Washington Death Initiative Qualifies For November Ballot

Supporters of a doctor-initiated death initiative turned in an estimated 320,000 signatures Tuesday to the Secretary of State's Office. The signatures are more than enough to send Initiative 1000 to voters in November.

If approved, Initiative 1000 would allow doctors to prescribe lethal medicines to patients with six months or less to live. Supporters say Initiative 1000 would allow mentally competent, terminally ill adults to request and self-administer medication in order to die on their own terms. The initiative was filed in January by former Gov. Booth Gardner, a Parkinson's disease patient. read more allheadlinenews

 

Assisted suicide of healthy 79-year-old renews German debate on right to die

When Roger Kusch helped Bettina Schardt kill herself at home on Saturday, the grim, carefully choreographed ritual was like that in many cases of assisted suicide, with one exception.

Schardt, 79, a retired X-ray technician from the Bavarian city of Würzburg, was neither sick nor dying. She simply did not want to move into a nursing home, and rather than face that prospect, she asked Kusch, a prominent German campaigner for assisted suicide, for a way out.

Her last words, after swallowing a deadly cocktail of the antimalaria drug chloroquine and the sedative diazepam, were "auf Wiedersehen," Kusch recounted at a news conference on Monday. read more IHT

 

CA Pro-Life Group Says Bill Promoting Euthanasia Still Has Major Concerns

The National Right to Life Committee and the California Pro-Life Council have NOT dropped opposition to AB 2747,” Johnston told LifeNews.com. “We urge all those concerned about the very real risks posed to the medically and emotionally vulnerable to continue opposing this bill, and to urge their State Senators and Assembly Members to also oppose it.”

Johnston said the concern remains that medical professionals will continue to be able to “sell” patients euthanasia under the measure.

While proponents of the legislation talk about the bill allowing medical professionals to discuss the legal rights of patients with them, one of the rights that would potentially be promoted is the so-called right to be dehydrated and starved to death.

The pro-life advocate said a California appeals court ruling also plays a role.

“The Bouvia Decision in 1986 is a little known, but important California appellate ruling won by the ACLU that legitimizes in California physician co-operation and involvement in the dehydration death of even non-terminal patients,” he said. read more LifeNews

 

Sponsors of California Bill Promoting Euthanasia Remove Objectionable Parts

The California Catholic Conference, Catholic Healthcare West, and the coalition of pro-life and disability rights groups under the umbrella of Californians Against Assisted Suicide, worked overtime to stop the pro-euthanasia bill.

The California legislators sponsoring a bill that would have promoted euthanasia have removed the objectionable parts that prompted opposition from pro-life groups. Assemblywoman Patty Berg apparently decided the rest of her bill, dealing with hospice care, was too important to be defeated.

After Berg introduced AB 2747, pro-life groups joined allies in the medical and disability rights communities in opposing the bill.

The measure would codify palliative sedation and voluntary stopping of eating and drinking as legitimate means of pain control and allow doctors and nurses to suggest death by unconscious dehydration.

But Bill May of Catholics for a Common Good tells LifeNews.com that those problematic provisions no longer appear in the bill.

May credited the success of stopping assisted suicide and euthanasia in the California legislature for the fourth time in a row to the number of calls and emails from concerned citizens. read more LifeNews

 

Cancer Patient Commits Suicide When Told NHS Will Not Cover Chemo

This is a crucial issue involving the assisted suicide debate. We have already seen in Oregon a woman denied coverage for chemotherapy to extend her life, but told that Medicaid will pay for her assisted suicide. Now, that scenario played out in the UK. The melting down NHS denied a chemotherapy treatment and the man, in despair, killed himself.

From the story:A cancer patient killed himself a day after being told he had been refused a wonder drug by his local primary care trust.Terminally-ill Albert Baxter, 75, committed suicide hours after learning he had been turned down for a drug which could have prolonged his life and shrunk his tumour.

In desperation, the cancer sufferer offered to pay for the drug, only to be told that he would have to foot the bill for his entire treatment which he could not afford. The pensioner, who was diagnosed with renal cancer in January 2007, had been told by his oncologist, Dr Fiona McKinna that the drug Sutent was his only hope...
read more from WesleyJSmith@SecondhandSmoke

 

Oregon offers woman death, not cancer drugs

Barbara Wagner discovered recently her state would not cover chemotherapy for her lung cancer but would underwrite her death by physician-assisted suicide.

Wagner, 64, received notice in May that the Oregon Health Plan, which provides health-care coverage for about 380,000 low-income residents monthly, had refused to cover the drug prescribed by her oncologist when her cancer recurred, according to The Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard. She was told, however, it would cover assisted suicide as part of palliative, or pain relief, care.

The notification the health plan would cover assisted suicide especially disturbed Wagner. "To say to someone, we'll pay for you to die, but not pay for you to live, it's cruel," she told The Register-Guard. "I get angry. Who do they think they are?"

Bioethics specialist Wesley Smith said this should come as no shock in Oregon, where assisted suicide has been legal since 1997. read more BaptistPress 6.18

Bobby Schindler Decries Current Plague in US of Hospitals Denying Life Sustaining Treatment

Recently, yet another situation similar to that of my sister Terri Schiavo has made headlines. In West Palm Beach, Florida, Raymond Weber is asking the court to dehydrate his disabled wife, Karen, to death.

If you have read any of the reports in mainstream media, it’s just another case of a husband looking out for the “best interest” of his spouse. And just as in Terri’s case, Raymond Weber is asking the government to deliberately kill his wife who is not dying and is guilty of nothing more than having difficulty swallowing and therefore needing help, in the form of a feeding tube, to eat.

Not surprisingly, in a story by the AP, was a quote from the husband’s attorney who so touchingly referred to his client’s brain-injured wife as a “vegetable,” thus offending the tens of thousands of people and their families who do live with a profound brain injury.

The reporter also wrote that the decision whether Karen should live or die will depend upon whether or not a committee finds her “competent” to go on living. Yes, that is correct, competent enough to live. I guess passing an IQ test will be next. read more LifeSiteNews 6.16

 

Emotional battle brewing in Washington state over Oregon-style assisted suicide measure

There isn't much John Peyton can do on his own except speak, and soon he'll lose even that.

The former Boeing computer programmer has Lou Gehrig's disease, which progressively paralyzes its victims. His doctor gives him three to six months to live.

He is using his last months to oppose a ballot initiative that would allow physicians in Washington state to help terminally ill patients end their lives. Only Oregon has such a law.

"What we're really doing I believe, is attempting to eliminate the sufferer so we don't have to deal with them," Peyton said.

Supporters need to collect about 225,000 valid voter signatures by July 3 to get the "Washington Death with Dignity Initiative" on the November ballot. The campaign has raised more than $1 million, more than enough for a successful signature drive, setting up a fiercely fought and emotional campaign. read more StarTribune 6.16

 

Oregon says cheaper to die than treat

Thus far Oregon is the only state to legalize physician-assisted suicide, which is loosely regulated. But respect for life may be facing another threat there.

Oregonian Barbara Wagner is dying of lung Cancer. Oregon's Health Services Commission has said it will not pay for more treatment, but will provide $50 in lethal drugs so she can kill herself. Dr. David Stevens heads the Christian Medical Association.
 
"I think this is a terrible situation for patients in Oregon, and something that's going to happen in other states as physician-assisted suicide is legalized," he laments. "Oregon is rationing healthcare and is also sending a message to dying patients that physician-assisted suicide is the cheap option and they would encourage people to take it." read more OneNewsNow 6.13
 

 

Orlando, Florida Newspaper Still Misreports Terri Schiavo as "Brain Dead"

Terri Schiavo died from a painful starvation and dehydration euthanasia death at the hands of her former husband over three years ago. Yet, Terri's family is still having problems getting the mainstream media to report the story of her life and death accurately.

In the most recent case, the Orlando Sentinel newspaper is under fire for a news article that wrongly referenced Terri Schiavo as "brain dead."

On Saturday, May 24, 2008, Aaron Deslatte, a reporter from the newspaper, published the story with the erroneous claim.

Terri's brother Bobby Schindler called and left repeated messages for Deslatte to contact him about the language.

On Wednesday, Orlando Sentinel representatives told Schindler to speak with Dana Eagles.

'Bobby kindly informed Mr. Eagles that using the phrase 'brain dead' to depict Terri's condition was patently false, explaining that the term 'brain death' is an authentic medical diagnosis and not an accurate term to describe a person in Terri's condition," the family told LifeNews.com in a statement. read more LifeNews 6.11

 

Catholics and Pro-Life Forces Fighting End-of-Life Bill in California

At least three assisted-suicide bills by Berg (a Catholic) and Levine have been defeated

The California State Assembly has taken the state closer to legalizing assisted suicide May 29 by passing the Right to Know End-of-Life Options Act.

The bill, Assembly Bill No. 2747, is designed to sneak assisted suicide into law by replacing lethal drugs with the option of starvation. The measure passed by two votes and is headed for the State Senate.

The End of Life bill, written by assembly members Patty Berg and Lloyd Levine, changes the method of assisted suicide by mandating that physicians, nurse practitioners and physician-assistants, if asked, inform patients diagnosed with a year or less to live or with terminal illnesses about medical options that hasten death, including “voluntary stopping of eating and drinking” (VSED) orders, and “palliative sedation,” allowing patients to starve and dehydrate and be unable to communicate. read more NationalCatholicRegister

 

 

Calif. legis. OKs backdoor assisted suicide

The California State Assembly has approved legislation that critics say would provide a backdoor way to legalize physician-assisted suicide.

The Assembly voted 41-32 for the bill, which is sponsored by Democrats Patty Berg and Lloyd Levine, leaders in unsuccessful efforts to pass assisted-suicide measures the last three years. The Senate has yet to vote on the legislation.

The Right to Know End-of-life Options Act, A.B. 2747, would require doctors and other health-care providers to inform patients diagnosed as terminally ill or with less than a year to live about their options for care at the end of their lives.

Among the options specified in the bill are palliative, or total, sedation and voluntary stopping of eating and drinking (VSED). Palliative sedation involves medicating a person until he is unconscious. The withholding of water and food through either palliative sedation or VSED normally results in the death of the patient by dehydration and/or starvation. read more BPPress 6.5

 

Oregon Offers to Pay to Kill, but Not to Treat Cancer Patient

Lung cancer patient, Barbara Wagner, was recently notified that her oncologist-prescribed medication that would slow the growth of cancer would not be covered by the Oregon Health Plan; the plan, however, she was informed, would cover doctor-assisted suicide should she wish to kill herself.

"Treatment of advanced cancer that is meant to prolong life, or change the course of this disease, is not a covered benefit of the Oregon Health Plan," read the letter notifying Wagner of the health plan's decision.

Wagner says she was shocked by the decision. "To say to someone, we'll pay for you to die, but not pay for you to live, it's cruel," she said. "I get angry. Who do they think they are?"

This past Monday morning, however, Wagner had reason to rejoice. A representative from the company that manufactures the treatment called the cancer patient to say they would give her the medication for free.

"I am just so thrilled," she said. "I am so relieved and so happy." read more LifeSite 6.4

 

Calif. Assisted Suicide Bill Begins Review in Senate

It may soon become legal for doctors and nurses in California to “help” their patients die if a new assisted suicide bill passes through the state senate.

Last week, AB 2747 made its way to the state senate for its first reading, one day after the state assembly approved the bill narrowly with a 42-34 vote.

If passed, the bill would allow medical practitioners throughout the state to give terminally ill patients judged with less than a year to live the option of receiving sedatives that would subject them to a form of slow, unconscious dehydration and starvation.

While House Democrat and sponsor of the bill, Patty Berg, defended the bill as a measure that would give patients “honest talk” and options about their “medical care.” Opponents of the bill say they are appalled.

"Assisted suicide by total sedation ignores the sanctity of human life and violates life-affirming medical ethics,” said Randy Thomasson, of the Campaign for Children and Families, in a statement. read more ChristianPost

 

Assisted Suicide Bill Passes California Assembly

This is the fourth time that the assisted suicide bill has been pushed by Assembly Democrats Patty Berg and Lloyd Levine. But this year, instead of proposing to have doctors administer lethal injections, AB 2747 aims to produce death by sedation abuse, a clear violation of life-affirming medical ethics.

An assisted-suicide bill that allows doctors and nurses to suggest death by unconscious dehydration has barely passed the California State Assembly.

AB 2747 would authorize total sedation without nutrition and hydration for depressed and confused patients, whether or not their natural death was imminent. The bill would also allow family members to order the death of a mentally disabled person when a nurse opines they have less than a year to live, similar to Terry Schindler Schiavo's death at the hands of her husband.

AB 2747 passed the Democrat-controlled Assembly Wednesday afternoon on a 40-32 vote, a one-vote margin of victory in the 80-member lower house. The vote was virtually party line, Democrats for, Republicans against. AB 2747 is authored by the same Democrats who unsuccessfully carried physician-assisted suicide bills for the last three years. read more LifeSite 5.29

 

Promoting Death: Analyzing the Language of Euthanasia, Suicide Advocates

Instead of using the term "physician-assisted suicide" to describe the practice they advocate, they use euphemisms like "death with dignity" and "end of life choices" to sugar coat the reality of the killings they have in view.

Even the most despicable ideas can be made palatable when euphemisms are used to spin them. That's why abortion advocates call themselves "pro-choice" rather than "pro abortion." It's also why they talk about "terminating a pregnancy" rather than "killing a baby."

Controlling the language not only controls the argument, it often determines the outcome of the argument.

Proponents of euthanasia understand the power of language in shaping debate. Therefore, instead of using the term "physician-assisted suicide" to describe the practice they advocate, they use euphemisms like "death with dignity" and "end of life choices" to sugar coat the reality of the killings they have in view.

They know the term "physician-assisted suicide" does not poll well, so they try to disguise the real nature of what it is they are championing. Since people are inherently uncomfortable with the notion that those trained in the healing arts would aid and abet the killing of their patients, euphemisms are used to conceal the true nature of what's involved.

Everyone wants to die with dignity. Thus, like abortion, killing oneself with a doctor's assistance becomes just another. read more LifeNews 5.26

 

In CA facilitating assisted suicide is not the way to go

From the title of Assemblymember Patty Berg’s piece (Capitol Weekly, May 15, “A little honest talk isn’t going to hurt anyone — really”), you would think the article would reflect some truth in advertising.  Unfortunately, readers had no such luck.  

The real “honest talk” about AB 2747 is that it has very little to do with improving care. For this bill, the devil is really in the details. Close inspection reveals it to be a vehicle for Compassion and Choices’ long-term agenda: facilitating assisted suicide. Let’s not forget that this is the organization formerly known as the Hemlock Society and one of the primary sponsors of this legislation. The bill includes many elements that would significantly undermine end-of-life care in service of this goal.

This bill represents a change in strategy by Compassion and Choices after three years of defeat.  Every year since 2005, the group tried to legalize assisted suicide in California. Each year, strong bi-partisan opposition defeated that legislation. On a new tack, this bill would pave the way for their hoped-for future legalization of assisted suicide. read more 5.22

 

Euthanasia Group Promotes Mexico as Destination for Getting Suicide Drugs

Euthanasia advocates worldwide are promoting Mexico as a destination to obtain drugs that elderly people or terminally ill patients can obtain a drug to kill themselves. A Mexico newspaper said at least 200 people from English-speaking countries have traveled there since 2001 to end their lives.

Exit International, a pro-euthanasia group from Australia, is behind the effort to promote the use of animal euthanasia drugs in Mexico to kill people.

"On the basis of Exit research, the best places to visit are the 20-odd (US-Mexico) border crossings, from Tijuana in California through to Matamoros on the Gulf of Mexico," the group says on its web site.

The euthanasia group is promoting the use of nembutal, saying it is widely, cheaply and legally available, not only in Mexico but in many other South American countries."

"Throughout Mexico veterinary Nembutal is available for between 20 and 40 US dollars per 100ml bottle," Exit says. "One only needs to know the location of a veterinary supplier and the labeling in use at that location." read more LifeNews 5.21

 

ELDR Magazine's "Right To Die" National Survey: Should Your Doctor Help You Die?

ELDR magazine and ELDR.com today released the results of a national survey on the "right to die" issue or what some call "physician-assisted suicide." It reveals that over 80% of adults say the right to die is a personal decision, not that of government or religion; that two-thirds want physician-assisted right to die legal, as in Oregon; that half of U.S adults could eventually face a right to die caretaker role for a loved one; and that only half of adults over 60 have a living will or health care directive.

ELDR magazine and ELDR.com today released the results of a national survey of adults on the "right to die" issue or what some call "physician-assisted suicide." The survey showed that over 80 percent believe the choice to end one's life is a personal decision, with two-thirds of adults saying they want physician-assisted "death with dignity" legal, as in Oregon. read more

 

Oregon Assisted Suicide "Guidelines" That Do Not Protect

We keep hearing that the Oregon law is working without a flaw. The media touts that party line in almost every story about the issue. Of course to do that, contrary information has to be ignored. For example, the Michael Freeland case (reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry) in which a man became psychotic after being prescribed a lethal brew--even though his cancer had probably not reached the terminal stage--but was allowed by his own psychiatrist to keep the prescription "safely at home." Such as the recent study demonstrating that people without serious symptoms of their disease are given lethal prescriptions by doctors anyway. read more SecondhandSmoke

England claims 'right to die'

The government of England is giving "Right to Die" cards to its citizens.

Adults have the right and the choice to carry the cards, which call for no extraordinary steps to be taken by doctors in extreme medical situations. Dr. Burke Balch with National Right to Life believes people do not generally understand the step they are taking.
 
Balch argues it is a "very foolish and dangerous thing" to sign one's life away when the chances for recovery are unknown. "Let's say you're involved in a situation of smoke inhalation, and you're unable to speak for yourself," he says. "That means you might not get resuscitated." read more OneNewsNow 5.14

 

Washington State: Becoming Two-Faced About Suicide

Why is assisted suicide always treated as if life were lived in a vacuum? Case in point: The suicide statistics in Washington are, according to a newspaper report "terrifying," and yet, many newspapers editorially support legalizing assisted suicide--which at the very least sends a terribly mixed message to the despairing thinking of taking their own lives. From the story:

Suicide statistics are terrifying. In 2005, there were 32,637 reported suicide deaths in the United States - 822 of those were in Washington State. An estimated 19 million Americans suffer from depression. Depression, combined with certain conditions including anxiety, isolation, drug and/or alcohol use or abuse, physical or emotional illness, and feelings of hopelessness or desperation, increases the risk for suicide. read more SecondhandSmoke

Instead of Being Dehydrated to Death, Abused Girl Testifies in Court

from SecondHandSmoke

There is a huge lesson to be learned in this story, but we won't learn it and the media won't highlight the issue--lest we come to the "wrong conclusion" about Terri Schiavo. Haleigh Poutre, who doctors swore would never recover, and state bureaucrats consigned to dehydration--with the approval of the Massachusetts Supreme Court--testified in court about the abuse that led to her disability. From the story:

Communicating with simple words and hand gestures and by spelling out full sentences by pointing to alphabet letters on a board Haleigh in December described to police the intense physical abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of her adoptive mother and stepfather, Holli and Jason Strickland, The Boston Globe reported on Tuesday.

Not bad for a little girl who was supposed to remain forever unaware.

 

WA: Support pours in for assisted suicide

If there’s any doubt that Washington’s about to be a national battleground in the fight over assisted suicide, just take a look at the checks.

With months left to go before Election Day, Washington’s Initiative 1000 has drawn cash contributions from all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. Among them: more than 400 contributions from California, nearly 150 from New York and $215,000 from the Oregon group Death With Dignity.

“There is a passionate interest in government restrictions and government intrusion into end-of-life choices,” said Barbara Coombs Lee, president of the Portland-based group Compassion and Choices. The group’s Idaho chapter, based in Coeur d’Alene, donated $1,000.

The initiative would make Washington the second state allowing physicians to prescribe a lethal dose of medication for mentally competent, terminally ill patients who request it. Proponents say dying people should be able to choose the terms of their exit from life. Opponents say the safeguards are grossly inadequate and that it’s a slippery slope from I-1000 to euthanasia. read more SpokesmanReview

 

Washington Assisted Suicide Opponents Educate Residents Across State

A possible vote on the November ballot in Washington to legalize assisted suicide may be several months away, but members of the group spearheading the opposition are wasting no time in setting up educational events across the state.

The Washington Coalition Against Assisted Suicide has local forums and educational events planned for Olympia and Seattle and representative will appear on upcoming local talk radio programs.

"We are happy to take advantage of each and every opportunity to educate the voters of Washington about the dangers of Initiative 1000 and believe that informing the public is the key to winning in November," the group's Carrie Herring told LifeNews.com in an email Friday. LifeNews 4.25

 

Media Distorts New Medical "Hard Case" to Promote Assisted Suicide in France

The French media is publicizing a new medical "hard case" which is being used to promote the legalization of assisted suicide in the country.

Clara Blanc, a 31 year-old woman suffering from a rare degenerative disease, wants the
right to commit suicide before she becomes a "vegetable". She has sent a letter to French President Nicolas Sarkozy demanding a "referendum" on assisted suicide in France.

"At any moment I will have to be confined to a bed, completely dependent...what sense is there    in all of this?  I don't want to be a vegetable," says Blanc in her letter to Sarkozy.  She adds, "This is not my idea of dignity. I am not suicidal, I don't know when nor how I will want to die, because I don't know how long I will be able to bear it."

Blanc suffers from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes the collagen in her body to deteriorate, causing abnormal joint flexibility and skin elasticity and sensitivity, as well as arthritis and other joint and bone problems.  However, what the French public is not being told is that Ehlers-Danlos, while incurable, is not generally fatal, and is compatible with a normal life span.

"Most people with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome live a relatively normal life, although there may be restrictions to physical activity," says the U.S. National Institutes of Health in an information page on the disease (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ehlersdanlossyndrome.html). LifeSite

 

Anti-Euthanasia Activist Says Hillary Clinton Clearly Supported Assisted Suicide

Comments pro-abortion Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton made over the weekend have drawn significant attention from those opposed to euthanasia. Clinton gave a convoluted answer to a local Oregon newspaper's question on assisted suicide but appeared to support the grisly practice.

The Eugene Register Guard newspaper asked Clinton about her "attitude" towards the law.

"I believe it's within the province of the states to make that decision," Clinton said.

She said she didn't know if she would have voted for the law when Oregon voters twice voted to make the state the first to legalize assisted suicide.

"I don't know the answer to that. I have a great deal of sympathy for people who are in difficult end-of-life situations," she said. "I've never been personally confronted with it but I know it's a terribly difficult decision that should never be forced upon anyone."

"So with appropriate safeguards and informed decision-making, I think it's an appropriate right to have," Clinton concluded. read more LifeNews 4.8

 

 

Former German Minister of Justice creates “suicide machine” for terminally ill

The former Minister of Justice of Hamburg (Germany), Roger Kusch, recently unveiled a “suicide machine” to allow the terminally ill to end their lives if they wish.

According to the German television network Deutsche Welle, on March 28 Kusch presented his new “invention” to journalists and explained that the “machine is ready for use.” He explained that now the terminally ill in Germany do not have to travel to Switzerland where assisted suicide is legal.

“It’s the best method for those who desire death,” he later told CNN.  The machine consists of an IV that sends anesthetic into the body through one tube and a lethal dose of potassium chloride through another.  The only thing a doctor has to do is insert the needles into the patient, a procedure which by itself does not violate any German law.  The patient would then press a button to begin administration of the drugs.

Kusch said the death process would last around four minutes. read more CNA 4.8

 

 

Another Suicide Machine Makes News

The media is abuzz about the creation of a "suicide machine" by a Swiss doctor that let's people kill themselves at the push of a button. Amazing times in which we live, no? But this is hardly new. Even though he sought a license to engage in human vivisection, Jack Kevorkian broke through to international celebrity with his suicide machine. Why, the media so loved Kevorkian in his prime that Time invited him to its 75th anniversary party where Tom Cruise rushed up to shake his hand!

Phillip Nitschke, Australia's "Dr Death," also invented a suicide machine where the despairing pushed a button on a computer. He has also invented the "peaceful pill," a concoction of common household ingredients that can be used to end life. (The media has quivered over this, but they don't ask how it was tested. Did Nitschke kill animals, for example? Inquiring minds want to know.) read more SecondhandSmoke 4.1

 

Many assisted suicides seem to be needless

Last year’s deaths by doctor-assisted suicide are three times the number of deaths in 1997, the year Oregon’s law became functional.

Contrary to The Register-Guard’s editorial on March 22, the Oregon Health Department’s recent release of the 2007 report concerning Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act proves one thing: Oregon’s assisted suicide experiment does not work as voters were led to believe it would.

Last year’s deaths by doctor-assisted suicide are three times the number of deaths in 1997, the year Oregon’s law became functional. While proponents of the law say that only three more patients killed themselves under the law last year than the year before, that is a misleading picture of how dramatically suicides have increased. The number of lethal prescriptions written also has skyrocketed.

The most frightening figure, however, is zero — the number of patients seeking physician-assisted suicide who were referred for psychiatric exams in 2007.

The Register Guard’s absurd and unsubstantiated statement that “physician assisted death ... is a conscious, deliberate choice made by mentally sound individuals” flies in the face of all reality. It is a substantiated fact that clinical depression is the No. 1 cause of suicide. Yet last year, not one single patient seeking to end his or her life by means of the assisted suicide law was referred to a professional counselor because of depression! read more RegisterGuard 3.28

 

 

Elderly Australian Man Creates Suicide Robot to Kill Himself, Used Internet Guide

In another case of someone using information gathered from the Internet to take their own life, an elderly man from Australia killed himself after making a robot. Francis Tovey, 81, lived alone and wanted to kill himself after enduring repeated requests from family to move to an assisted living facility.

Unhappy with their request, Tovey scoured the Internet for information on making a robot capable for firing a semi-automatic gun pointed at his head.

When triggered remotely, the gun fired four shots that killed Tovey.

The Gold Coast Bulletin newspaper indicated Tovey set up the robotic device in his driveway early on Tuesday because he wanted construction workers at a nearby housing site to hear the gunshots and discover his body. LifeNews read more

 

More Oregonians get drugs in 2007 under assisted suicide law

More people in 2007 got prescriptions to end their lives than in any year in the decade since Oregon put in place its Death with Dignity Act.

The number of people, 85, was up by 20 from the year before.

Oregon's law allows terminally ill adults to obtain and use the prescriptions to end their lives.

A state report Tuesday shows that 49 people in 2007 died under the terms of the law, up only slightly from the year before.

Of the 49, three had prescriptions from prior years.

Since the law went into effect, 341 patients have died. KTVZ 3.19

 

Canadian Bill to Legalize Assisted Suicide Could Come After Next Elections

Leading opponents of euthanasia in Canada are concerned that another bill to attempt to legalize assisted suicide could come after the next national elections. They worry that the case of Robert Latimer, the man who killed his disabled daughter and was recently paroled from prison, could prompt another attempt.

Canada previously dealt with assisted suicide when the Supreme Court of Canada issued a 5-4 ruling in the Rodriguez case preventing Sue Rodriguez from having a physician kill her.

Bloc Quebecois MP Francine Lalonde put forward the last bill to attempt to legalize the practice that did not put Canada in league with European nations like the Netherlands and Belgium. read more LifeNews 3.14

 

 

Girl Once Comatose and Scheduled for Euthanasia Will Testify against Attacker

Haleigh Poutre, now 14, was so brutally beaten more than two years ago by her adoptive parents, that she was left in a coma from which she was never expected to revive. However, she may now be well enough to testify against the man accused of assaulting her.

After the adoptive parents, Jason and Holli Strickland, were arrested, Holli committed suicide, leaving only the stepfather in charge of making medical decisions.

Haleigh then became a ward of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, which sought and obtained a court order in October, 2005, to remove her life support, only six days after the state had gained custody over her. read more LifeSite 3.6

 

 

Oregon Assisted Suicide Advocates Donate $200,000 for Washington Campaign

Oregon assisted suicide advocates have donated $200,000 to expand the state's first-in-the-nation law to their northern neighbors. Euthanasia advocates in Washington have to meet a July 4 deadline for having signatures submitted to the state to qualify the assisted suicide measure for the November ballot.

The organization, headed by former Gov. Booth Gardner, must submit 224,880 signatures to qualify the measure. bio2331.html

According to papers form the Washington government, the Oregon Death with Dignity Political Action Committee made the huge donation in late November. read more LifeNews 3.5

 

 

Oregon doctors have written lethal prescriptions for patients who weren't yet suffering serious symptoms of their disease

From Secondhand Smoke:

Here are some more important points in the newly released study, which I discussed more extensively here, that I think deserve special note. It turns out doctors have written lethal prescriptions for patients who weren't yet suffering serious symptoms of their disease:

No physical symptoms experienced at the time of the request were rated higher than 2 on the 1–5 scale. In most cases, future concerns about physical symptoms were rated as more important than physical symptoms present at the time of the request.

Also, I have charged that the Hemlock Society (now called the euphemistic Compassion and Choices) is really in charge of assisted suicide in Oregon, noting for example that it publishes its own statistics. read more 3.4

 

 

 

George Soros is a big fan of euthanasia and assisted suicide and wants to see it legalized everywhere.

Posted on Wesley J Smith, SecondhandSmoke

George Soros is a big fan of euthanasia and assisted suicide and wants to see it legalized everywhere. Toward this end, Soros has donated millions to groups promoting the cause--which I believe to be an ultimately abandoning policy that implicitly tells people with terminal illnesses and other serious conditions that their lives are not as valuable or worth protecting as those of other people.

The assertions made by Soros in this feature about his philanthropy around issued of death and dying, are, I think, quite telling about his ultimately disdainful perspective about people who are approaching the end of their lives:

 

WA: Euthanasia Ballot Measure Challenged by the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide

The Coalition Against Assisted Suicide has filed a petition appealing the proposed ballot title and summary for Initiative 1000 — a measure that would allow voters to decide in November whether certain terminally ill adults can obtain lethal prescriptions.

The title and summary do not make voters aware of the "specific impact" the initiative would have on existing laws, the petition says.

"The primary purpose of I-1000 is to reverse Washington's assisted suicide ban by decriminalizing assisted suicide and allowing physicians to prescribe lethal drugs to terminally-ill patients and commit suicide," reads the coalition's petition. "The measure not only endorses assisted suicide, but creates an entire protocol for facilitating suicide."

Also, the coalition objects to two "key initiative provisions": 1) terminally ill patients do not have to undergo a mental-health evaluation before obtaining lethal drugs, and 2) no notice is required to the patient's family members.

"A patient could kill himself before the family members are even notified of the suicide request," Kristen Waggoner, an attorney for the coalition, said Friday. read more Olympian 2/9

 

Oregon Man Kills Wife, Tests Assisted Suicide Law on Voluntary Euthanasia

An Oregon man has killed his disabled wife in a test of the one-of-a-kind state law that allows assisted suicide there. John Roberts says his wife Virginia was afflicted with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease and he took her life to see if the state would allow him to get away with voluntary euthanasia, or so-called mercy killing.

Roberts' family says John's killing his wife was an act of compassion because she didn't yet qualify for an assisted suicide under the state's guidelines. They say Virginia told John to take her life before he did the deed on Saturday.

Wesley J. Smith, a bioethics watchdog and noted author and attorney, commented on the case and said this kind of case leads to the slippery slope from assisted suicide to euthanasia. "This is the kind of case that led to the complete collapse of euthanasia guideline enforcement in the Netherlands," he said.

"This is the tide unleashed when we agree in law that killing is an acceptable answer to human suffering," he added. LifeNews read more

 

Wisconsin: Assisted suicide bill lacks strong support

A bill that would legalize physician-assisted suicide was recently debated in the state Legislature, though the bill’s author said it faces an uphill battle to pass.

The Senate Public Health, Senior Issues, Long Term Care and Privacy Committee held a public hearing Wednesday on Senate Bill 151.

State Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, and state Rep. Frank Boyle, D-Superior, authored the bill.

The bill would allow adult, mentally competent patients with terminal illnesses to obtain life-ending medication from doctors as long as they follow strict guidelines, according to Risser.

Barbara Sella, the associate director for Respect Life and Social Concerns at the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, stated similar concerns.

“[Doctors] never want a patient to look up and wonder, ‘is this doctor coming in to suggest to end my life, or is he or she really there to help me?” Sella said.

Sella said the truly civilized way to treat the terminally ill is to help them through their last days with encouragement not by allowing them to take their own lives.

“There’s a myth perception out there that either you give somebody an injection or pill to end their lives or force them to suffer endlessly,” Sella said. Daily Cardinal read more

 

Kevorkian Denounces Unnamed "Tyrant," Pushes for Euthanasia in Florida Speech

Kevorkian railed against US lawmakers who refuse to legalize euthanasia. "We have a bunch of cruel dictators," he said. "Everyone should refuse to vote. That would send the tyrant a message."

A central theme of Kevorkian's speech was that law is intrinsically anti-liberty. He also repeatedly referred to "the tyrant," who seeks to control people with law, thereby removing their "natural rights".

"Every law is an infraction of liberty. Every law! So when you see those law books in the lawyers office - hundreds of laws!...Those are all the rights you've lost. You can't use 'em. All law can stop you from doing is using the right that you have naturally." LifeSite
read more

 

The Washington State Assisted Suicide Campaign Begins

Booth Gardner, former governor of Washington and a very rich man, intends to buy a law for Washington legalizing assisted suicide. His opening salvo comes in an extended piece in Sunday's New York Times Magazine. The piece is actually suprisingly fair, so fair in fact, that Gardner may not be amused.

The potential for--and abuses that are actually happening--from legalized assisted suicide are well documented. But advocates like Gardner willfully ignore that part of the story. Bluntly stated, they want what they want for themselves and don't care who gets hurt. WesleyJSmith

 

More Lies from Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures

The human cloners over at Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures are sure a disingenuous lot, for example, claiming in Amendment 2 to have outlawed human cloning when the measure actually created a state constitutional right to clone human life.

Now, a representative has a letter in the St. Louis Post Dispatch claiming falsely that cloning opponents would have prevented the great iPSC breakthrough. From the letter:

If anti-embryonic stem cell research groups had their way, this outstanding science would not have been possible. They would have blocked the very groundwork that led to the reprogramming of ordinary human skin cells into embryonic-like stem cells. If they get their way now, they will block the important research required to bring this new technique to its full lifesaving potential...Those who threaten to repeal Missourians' access to stem cell research should allow scientists to conduct the work necessary to achieve the goals that I hope we all share: to cure disease and improve the lives of patients and families.

What hogwash. First, legislation in Missouri was always aimed at outlawing human cloning, not embryonic stem cell research. Indeed, ESCR would have remained perfectly legal in MO if A. 2 had failed. Second, the potential repeal pending in MO would really outlaw human cloning, and not impede ESCR in the least. Third, cloning had zero to do with the iPSC breakthrough, and indeed the new approach is seen widely as a moral and ethical way to derive pluripotent stem cells without SCNT cloning. Fourth, Bush-approved ES cell lines were and are perfectly suitable for the kind of basic research into pluripotency that scientists say they need to continue to perfect iPSCs. Finally, James Thomson, one of the scientists who demonstrated the viability of the approach, did so with an NIH grant from the dreaded Bush Administration. Wesley J Smith, Secondhand Smoke read more

 

Catholic Leaders Dispute Vatican on Euthanasia

Bio-ethicist Dr. John Hardt and Catholic canonist Rev. Kevin O'Rourke trying to use canon law against Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for upholding basic right of patients in so-called "persistent vegetative state" to nutrition and hydration.

Bio-ethicist Dr. John Hardt and canonist Rev. Kevin O'Rourke are trying to use canon law against a Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Responsum that upholds the basic right of patients in a "persistent vegetative state" to nutrition and hydration. I think their arguments are flawed. Here I summarize the events leading up to the CDF Response and then assess Hardt and O'Rourke's attempt to minimize its impact. read more canonlaw.info

 

The Washington State Assisted Suicide Campaign Begins

Booth Gardner, former governor of Washington and a very rich man, intends to buy a law for Washington legalizing assisted suicide. His opening salvo comes in an extended piece in Sunday's New York Times Magazine. The piece is actually suprisingly fair, so fair in fact, that Gardner may not be amused.

The potential for--and abuses that are actually happening--from legalized assisted suicide are well documented. But advocates like Gardner willfully ignore that part of the story. Bluntly stated, they want what they want for themselves and don't care who gets hurt. WesleyJSmith

 

New Assisted Suicide Study No More Then Pro-Euthanasia Propaganda

This study was completed by Margaret Battin of the University of Utah, who is a strong supporter of legalizing assisted suicide, even for those who are not terminally ill. The way in which the study was completed would leave one to question whether her research was done simply to prove her hypothesis.

No effective conclusions concerning whether or not a 'slippery slope' exists can be ascertained by studying the annual reports from the Oregon Department of Human Services because these reports do not include information that would allow the study to get into the actual decision making bias of a person. These reports are compiled from the information from reports sent in from physicians who prescribed the assisted suicide concoction. It is unlikely that a person prescribing assisted suicide would self-report information that may be considered outside of the law. The Oregon reports don't even cover real life situations such as: Kate Cheney and Michael Freeland. Since the annual reports from the Oregon Department of Human Services are only based on self-reports from assisted suicide prescribing physicians, therefore they cannot be considered an accurate source for determining the level of a slippery slope in Oregon. LifeNews

 

Culture of Death icon to be released from prison June 1st

Dr. Jack Kevorkian, an infamous foe of the pro-life movement, is scheduled to be released from prison on June 1st raising questions about his plans once he is back in public. The 79 year-old was sent to prison in 1999 after he was convicted of killing a patient on national television.

He was sentenced to serve 10 to 25 years for the second degree murder of Thomas Youk, a Michigan resident who suffered from Lou Gehrig’s disease.  However, according to the rules of his sentencing, Kevorkian is now eligible for parole and will be released June 1st.

According to LifeNews.com, Kevorkian plans a change of tactics in his promotion of assisted suicide. The former pathologist will take his cause to the speaking circuit to try and “legally” promote assisted suicide laws around the country. CatholicNews Agency

 

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