Category Archives: News

Tony Nicklinson from Melksham, Wiltshire, is asking senior judges to declare that anyone who intervenes to end his life with “dignity” would not be charged with a crime….His lawyer, Saimo Chahal, said, “We are saying there should be a defence … Continue reading →

A bill that would allow terminally ill patients to get medication to end their own lives faces an uncertain prospect in the Vermont Senate. As VPR’s John Dillon reports, two key Democrats are opposed to the measure, and they say … Continue reading →

Few deaths can be as agonising as those caused by lack of liquids and nutrients, yet few deaths are as preventable. In every hospital, water and food are plentiful. In every hospital, nurses, doctors, registrars, and cleaners rush about the … Continue reading →

Friday’s ruling by the Department of Health and Human Services proved yet again that ObamaCare’s critics are right. It’s a breathtaking attack not only on the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom, but also on the separation of church and … Continue reading →

A man kills his terminally ill wife.  Maybe he ended her pain, but he hasn’t found peace for himself…He was particularly hard on himself for refusing the help family members had offered with Mary….She resisted at first, as he held … Continue reading →

Four patients are dying hungry and thirsty on hospital wards every day, shocking figures reveal. Dehydration or malnutrition directly caused or was linked to 1,316 deaths last year in NHS trusts and privately run hospitals. The revelation follows a series … Continue reading →

Egbert calls it an “exit hood.” It is a contraption that can end a life in minutes….In those final seconds before his patients lose consciousness and die, the words they utter sound like Donald Duck, he says, imitating the high-pitched, … Continue reading →

When the time comes she will book a one-way air ticket knowing her final glimpse of London will be the city disappearing behind her as she sets off for Zurich. Katherine Lennard has signed up for assisted suicide at the … Continue reading →

I have been a cancer doctor in Oregon for more than 40 years. The combination of assisted-suicide legalization and prioritized medical care based on prognosis has created a danger for my patients on the Oregon Health Plan (Medicaid). The plan … Continue reading →

YLA is an opportunity for North Carolina high school students to write, debate and vote on bills and share their views with legislators and other state government officials…Among the items to be considered is an act to establish the legalization … Continue reading →

The health reform law established the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute PCORI) as an independent advisory board with a $3 billion budget to support comparative effectiveness research….But comparative effectiveness research can be tricky…These studies can also be controversial and they sometimes … Continue reading →

In the journal Health Policy, researchers associated with the End-of-Life Care Research Group at Ghent University and the Vrije Universiteit Brussels have lamented the low take-up of the services of doctors specializing in facilitating euthanasia…But if Dutch doctors are #1, … Continue reading →

In Great Britain, where the medicine has been administered by the government for nearly three-quarters of a century, a pattern has emerged that should be troubling to even the most deadened senses of decency….The LCP [Liverpool Care Pathway] is intended … Continue reading →

Recommendations that the law be changed for those who have less than a year to live rely heavily on the ability of two doctors to agree on this difficult question. Doctors do attempt it and there are countless anecdotes from … Continue reading →

There are many who consider their lives no longer worth living. Yet it’s fraudulent to ignore the part we all play in those feelings…Once other people’s opinions are called into the picture, so are their interests. And these interests do … Continue reading →

Expert panel says law as it stands is “inadequate and incoherent” and must be changed  A spokesperson for Demos, the think-tank which hosted the inquiry, said those against change were excluded because “we needed people with an open mind.” The … Continue reading →

Lord Falconer has produced a report that claims there’s a case for introducing assisted suicide to British law…Even the BBC, usually something of a patsy for voluntary euthanasia, switched from calling them “experts” to calling them “campaigners.” Mail Online “Lord … Continue reading →

The average age of those who go through with assisted suicide in Oregon is 72, with three-quarters suffering from terminal cancer. But some research has suggested that some people had depression which may have affected their judgement. Volunteers and family … Continue reading →

A new report recommends that doctors should be allowed to help people die if they have less than a year to live. But what is the commission and what exactly is it proposing? It is an independent group funded by … Continue reading →

The Commission on Assisted Dying wants GPs to be able to prescribe lethal doses of medication for dying people to take themselves. The year-long inquiry admits legalisation would create a “real risk” of pressure on vulnerable people to end their … Continue reading →

HHS contracts with OPTN/UNOS to manage the nation’s organ transplant system.  OPTN/UNOS’s recent proposed changes to its guidelines are considered discriminatory and worse by disability rights leaders. According to Stephen Mikochik, “By identifying patients with upper spinal cord injuries as … Continue reading →

The family of former House Speaker Richard Mallary says he followed his convictions on death with dignity when he took his own life last fall….Ed Paquin , executive director of Disability Rights Vermont said, “I don’t think it’s good public … Continue reading →

Disability groups oppose “end of life” legislation that would enable patients with terminal illnesses to use prescription drugs to commit suicide….”With too many uncertainties and risk around physician-assisted suicide, VCIL stays committed to continue the fight against this becoming public … Continue reading →

A new ethics manual from the American College of Physicians (ACP) states that the ACP does not support legalization of physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia.  “After much consideration, the College concluded that making physician-assisted suicide legal raised serious ethical, clinical, and … Continue reading →

It’s been a year since a 29-year-old Eugene man hooked up the heavy plastic hood of a mail-order “suicide kit” to a rented helium tank, turned on the gas and took his own life. His death cast light on what … Continue reading →