EuthaNEWSia (www.euthanewsia.ca)

http://tinyurl.com/y9aw39a

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/12/23/lawmakers-visit-woman-hospitalized-four-years.html

euthanasia

Indonesia

Toronto: Giving dignity to "bad deaths" [Toronto Star]
http://www.thestar.com/living/article/742101—giving-dignity-to-bad-deaths

Reporter Susan Pigg covers the "Park bench plaques part of a two-man campaign for dignified deaths" story explained in the Dec. 11 EuthaNEWSia World right-to-die news list item. Ruth von Fuchs, president of the Right to Die Society of Canada, describes her reaction: "I found (the stickers) touching — not so much slices of life, but slices of death. I just saw the anger and the grief and the determination that some people are feeling around this issue. More and more people are seeing their parents or their siblings have a death that they don't want for themselves."

Arizona: Man left support group before killing [Arizona Daily Star]
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/322069

A Tucson man who told police he killed his wife because she was terminally ill likely did so because he felt he could no longer care for her and had no other options, members of a local support group say…. Garfinkel called 911 in the early morning hours of Dec. 10, saying he'd killed his wife and had also taken pills in an attempt to take his own life…. [Police Sgt.] Pacheco said Mary Garfinkel suffered from Huntington's disease, a rare degenerative neurological disorder that is present at birth but often isn't diagnosed until people are in their mid-40s to early 50s.

Final Exit Network in the News - Reframing Themselves and Erasing the Past [Not Dead Yet]
http://notdeadyetnewscommentary.blogspot.com/2009/12/final-exit-network-in-news-reframing.html

Stephen Drake objects to the quote from a Final Exit Network spokesperson in the previous Arizona story, arguing that it misrepresents the previously documented objectives of FEN.

Canadian Panel to Study Euthanasia Stacked with Pro-Euthanasia Academics [LifeSiteNews.com]
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/dec/09122109.html

Thaddeus M. Baklinski reviews the backgrounds of some panel members taking part of The Royal Society of Canada's study on End-of-Life Decision Making. He agrees with Wesley J. Smith that the deck is stacked, and goes beyond euthanasia to introduce the topics of atheism, abortion and homosexuality, among others.

Britain: Conductor and wife who died in Swiss suicide clinic leave 2.6m pounds to children [Daily Mail]
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1237245/Conductor-wife-died-Swiss-suicide-clinic-leave-2-6m-children.html

The Daily Mail uses unusual language in this report: [,,.9]_A British couple who ended their lives together at the Dignitas suicide clinic in Switzerland left their children 2.6 million in their wills. Renowned orchestral conductor Sir Edward Downes, 85, and his 74-year old wife Joan died from barbiturate poisoning in the summer as their son and daughter sat with them. Both children have since been interviewed under caution by police, though no charges have been brought against them for assisting suicide. _

Hawaii: Emotion not good basis to support assisted suicide [Star Bulletin]
http://www.starbulletin.com/editorials/20091222_Emotion_not_good_basis_to_support_assisted_suicide.html

Dennis A. Arakaki, executive director of the Hawaii Family Forum/Hawaii Catholic Conference, argues that the Robert Yagi case provides no support for the idea of assisted suicide. Suicide, assisted or not, may seem like an expedient way of disposing of emotional and seemingly hopeless situations. However, it ends up causing problems for those who survive. The answer lies not in laws that depend on the subjective judgment of man…

Peter Stockland: The hypocrisy of doctor-assisted suicide [National Post, Canwest]
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/12/21/srteve-edwards-pal.aspx

If we must, let us air this discussion briefly. Then we must quickly say no, never to legitimizing euthanasia and assisted suicide in our health care system. We must say that would be a bridge too far for civilized people to cross. Peter Stockland is executive director of the Centre For Cultural Renewal, which studies the relationship between belief, diversity and citizenship.

Physician-assisted suicide: A perspective from advocates for people with disability [Disability and Health Journal]
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-12/ehs-psa122009.php

The Disability and Health Journal has published a special issue on Physician-assisted suicide, composed of six articles from disability advocates and scholars who oppose assisted suicide. All the articles oppose assisted suicide, as noted by the editor: We know there is another side to the debate, and this volume does not present the proponents' arguments, which have been presented in other journals.

India: Towards the right to die [The Telegraph, Calcutta]
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091223/jsp/opinion/story_11899109.jsp

Reena Martins explores the varying Indian judicial attitudes to the right to die.

Britain: Assisted dying ethics [Times Online]
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article6960709.ece

Professor Paul Badham writes to the Times: Surveys repeatedly show that ordinary churchgoers are as keen as any others for the law to be changed. [Thanks to Friends at the End for the alert on this item.]