Category Archives: News

In spite of proponents’ unique approach to legalize it, Hawaii’s ban on doctor-assisted suicide remains in place.  Supporters of assisted suicide tried to use a 1909 law that permits the use of remedies not typically authorized for terminally ill patients. … Continue reading →

All of us assume, in this country that you cannot be coerced to do or participate in an act contrary to your faith, beliefs or morals. The one group of people that this statement may no longer hold true for … Continue reading →

The case of a comatose Ontario man, whose family argues he is getting better, but whose doctors want to remove him from life-support will go to the country;s top court…On a Facebook page that his wife started, pictures have been … Continue reading →

A state government that is unable to investigate a known backlog of 300 reports of abuse and neglect of the elderly, the disabled, the sick – and to prevent such abuse in the first place – is demonstrably untrustworthy to … Continue reading →

As hospital officials began palliate care and broached the subject of organ donation with his family, Sam Schmid began to respond. Today he is walking with the aid of a walker and his speech, although slow, has improved. Good Morning … Continue reading →

Kathryn Tucker, legal director for Compassion & Choices, says her group hasn’t given up on pushing to give Californians access to aid in dying [assisted suicide], but she said it’s more likely to happen trough legal action than legislation. Los … Continue reading →

Seventy-one percent of those who responded “said the issue of assisted suicide should not be a legislative priority in Vermont for 2012.  (Article begins on page 12.) Montpelier Bridge (Vermont) “Physician-Assisted Suicide or Death with Dignity” December 18, 2011 View

One of the leading advocacy groups for euthanasia in Belgium has posted an article titled, “Euthanasia, time for the next step.” The group complains that eligibility for euthanasia is far too restrictive. BioEdge “Is the slippery slope at work in … Continue reading →

Olga De La Zerda went into Metropolitan Methodist Hospital on February 16 to determine if a bit of congestion was a sign of a more serious infection. It should have been simple day of observation in the hospital….A death certificate … Continue reading →

A New Hampshire group has gotten a three-year national grant to develop and implement a new program….The Foundation for Healthy Communities will develop the program known a Provider Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment [POLST]. The grant is funded by the Oregon … Continue reading →

If signed into law, it will move New Jersey in the direction of more than 30 other states that now provide residents with a relatively new end-of-life planning document, the “Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment” or POLST. NJ Spotlight … Continue reading →

Jack Major can still see the silent ranks of disabled people, their wheelchairs ringing the Supreme Court of Canada as a courtroom full of lawyers debated the assisted suicide law in 1993….Eighteen years later, the polarizing question is heading back … Continue reading →

The General Medical Council (GMC) says doctors are already bound by the law that assisting or encouraging suicide remains a criminal offense but believes it needs to clarify how its own investigators deal with cases where no prosecution is mounted … Continue reading →

(Scroll down for this letter) My mother, aged 99 and living in a nursing home, was taken as an emergency to a hospital…The doctor told us there was no help for her and that she would probably only live for … Continue reading →

Panel refutes claim that 1909 law permits assisted suicide, noting that assisted-suicide activist have been trying to legalize the practice for years. Hawaii Free Press “Colette Machado: I look at Kalaupapa–Native Hawaiians will fight Assisted Suicide” December 10, 2011 View

John Kelly was 15-years-old when he got into a near-death accident that injured his spinal cord and left him disabled…”I’m so glad now that no one was suggesting that suicide might be a possibility for me,” said Kelly. WWLP Radio … Continue reading →

In most jurisdictions, suicidal ideation is interpreted as a cry for help.  In Oregon, the only help my patient got was a lethal prescription intended to kill him. Vancouver Sun “Don’t turn depression into death sentence for patients” December 7, … Continue reading →

The Royal Society of Canada’s Expert Panel Report on End-of-Life Decision Making is not “a careful, balanced review of various pros and cons of decriminalization of physician-assisted death from well-reasoned and legal standpoints” — which is what was required in … Continue reading →

This weekend, delegates at a major meeting of the Massachusetts Medical Society voted to reaffirm their opposition to physician-assisted suicide, according to a society press release.  The policy was approved by more that 75% of the Society’s delegates. WMUR Radio … Continue reading →

The official in charge of Medicare and Medicaid for the last 17 months says that 20 percent of health spending is “waste” that yields no benefit to patients, and that some of the needless spending is a result of onerous, … Continue reading →

The Senate Health Committee heard a PAS (Physician-Assisted Suicide) bill at the 2011 session and voted not to send the bill any further. That should have ended consideration of the issue for 2012 also, but indications are that advocates of … Continue reading →

To improve the chances of passage, the Death with Dignity Act was written to apply only to choices of the terminally ill who are competent at the time of death. This raises the question whether we should extend the choice … Continue reading →

I am a doctor practicing medicine in Oregon and Washington where physician-assisted suicide is legal….Don’t make our mistake. Keep assisted suicide out of Massachusetts. Boston Globe “Oregon doctor finds fault with state’s law” October 4, 2011 View

Two-way “conversations” with people in a permanent vegetative state will be possible thanks to the discovery that an inexpensive device can read their brain activity, say neuroscientists.  They have discovered that some people in the state are able to understand … Continue reading →

Disability activists from Not Dead Yet of Georgia, ADAPT and Disabled in Action are urging the state Supreme Court to uphold the prosecution of members of the Final Exit Network….I am very concerned over the “assistance” that members of the … Continue reading →