Sweden has first passive euthanasia since law relaxed

Description: [of the article from Times LIVE]

A Swedish woman who was paralysed died Wednesday after her respirator was unplugged, in the country's first case of euthanasia since the law was relaxed last month, a Stockholm hospital said. "The patient who asked the National Health Board to die, died at 5:33 pm (1533 GMT) after her respirator was unplugged," Annakarin Svenningsson, a spokeswoman for Stockholm's Danderyd hospital told AFP.

Sweden's health authority last month authorised passive euthanasia, whereby patients may request the termination of their treatment knowing that this will lead to their death. The ruling followed a request for clarification by doctors, as Swedish law allowed for patients to refuse treatment, but assisted suicide --including shutting off respirators — was classified as a crime.

[There are other related stories in the Links: section below.]

Links:

To read the full article click on one of these links, both of which go to the same destination. A short link is provided for the convenience of readers. Also, readers may search and browse past and future advisories on the web (see bottom.)

  • http://tinyurl.com/392ux22

  • http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/article435162.ece/Sweden-has-first-passive-euthanasia-since-law-relaxed

    Also see:

  • Sweden: Paralysed woman has right to die: health board [EuthaNEWSia, Apr. 26, 2010]
    http://www.euthanewsia.ca/archive/2010/04/enid201004261772.4.html

    The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) has advised that a 32-year-old woman who is completely paralysed and has been on a respirator since she was six has the right to decide to terminate her treatment. "It is always the individual patient who decides, together with their doctor, over treatment and care. While the board does not make decisions in individual cases, we can describe the legal framework that applies and we have now done so," said Anders Printz in a welfare board statement on Monday.

  • Sometimes the Best Medicine is Stopping Treatment [Medical Futility Blog]
    http://medicalfutility.blogspot.com/2010/04/sometimes-best-medicine-is-stopping.html
    Professor Thaddeus Pope writes:
    Minnesota pediatrician Lisa Freitag has an autobiographical essay in Minnesota Medicine, explaining her emotional reactions to two end-of-life cases where medicine had little left to offer. (The title is actually "You Kids: Sometimes the Best medicine Is Stopping Care." To be more precise and accurate, I changed "care" to "treatment" in my post title.) Here is how the article ends:

    In the 25 years since Mrs. Lindt's death and the 18 since Matt's, I still have not received any formal training in when to stop. I know that some things have changed, particularly with the acceptance of hospice care. But for the most part, doing everything possible still seems to be expected. But I am no longer a kid in my doctor disguise. I can recognize when the battle is lost. I also know that there is no formula for distinguishing between stopping and giving up, for deciding when a procedure is being done out of necessity or pride, for calculating when life has become a burden rather than a desire.

    But there has been no better guide than the memory of Mrs. Lindt's hand on my arm, teaching that it is possible to step over the bounds of enough.

Source:

Sapa-AFP. "Sweden has first passive euthanasia since law relaxed". Times LIVE. May 5, 2010 8:06 PM. <www.timeslive.co.za/world/article435162.ece/Sweden-has-first-passive-euthanasia-since-law-relaxed>. Times LIVE, 4 Biermann Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg, 2196, SA.

Tags:

Tags (or keywords) briefly indicate some major topics of the report.

  • passive euthanasia

  • life support

  • Sweden

ID:

The EuthaNEWSia ID for this advisory is: enid201005050849.
Mailed: Wednesday, May 5, 2010 14:41:45 -0600
at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Etcetera:

EuthaNEWSia is a free Canadian news advisory service covering end-of-life issues such as right to die, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. EuthaNEWSia is produced by the Right to Die Society of Canada which works toward a good death for all, including open, regulated and equitable access to euthanasia and assisted suicide. The editor is Michael Dawson <editor@euthanewsia.ca>. 

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