EuthaNEWSia (www.euthanewsia.ca)

http://tinyurl.com/2cxe38y

http://www.politics.co.uk/opinion-formers/press-releases/health/bha-welcomes-new-gmc-guidance-on-end-of-life-care-$21378052$365873.htm

Also see:

Britain: Doctors can be stuck off if they ignore the right to die, GMC to announce [Telegraph]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7742636/Doctors-can-be-struck-off-if-they-ignore-the-right-to-die-GMC-to-announce.html
Excerpts from the Telegraph story:
Doctors could be struck off if they fail to respect the wishes of terminally ill patients who want to die by refusing treatment, the General Medical Council is to announce…

They must allow the terminally ill to refuse food and water if the patient does not want treatment that prolongs their life and must abide by "living wills" in which patients specify in advance that they do not want to be resuscitated. Doctors must also follow the wishes of patients as communicated through a friend or relative who has been designated their "legal proxy", says the GMC…

The guidance makes clear that the directives can be ignored only where there is evidence that a patient may have changed his or her mind. It also says doctors must respect the wishes of patients who make their feelings clear verbally, provided they are mentally capable of doing so. Doctors must not let their own personal or religious objections interfere - although they can withdraw from treating an individual patient - and must seek a second medical opinion before withdrawing hydration and nutrition.

futile care

living will

refusal of treatment

food and water

General Medical Council

Britain

The EXIT euthanasia blog [EXIT]
http://exiteuthanasia.wordpress.com/
The EXIT euthanasia blog: Keeping up to date on end of life, euthanasia, self-deliverance and assisted suicide

The campaign for dignity in dying [Dignity in Dying]
http://dignityindying.blogspot.com/
Dignity in Dying campaigns to give people real choice and control to alleviate unnecessary suffering at the end of life. The law is not working at the moment. We lobby for improved access to good quality end-of-life care, but this can not alleviate all suffering for every person. Whether a terminally ill person wants to prolong their life or shorten it, they should have control over where they die, their treatment options, and whether they have an assisted death. Within safeguards, terminally ill, mentally competent adults should not have to suffer against their wishes at the end of life.

Living wills not always a good predictor of actual treatment preferences [World right-to-die news list]
http://lists.opn.org/pipermail/right-to-die_lists.opn.org/2010-May/003882.html
http://www.prlog.org/10687879-living-wills-are-poor-predictors-of-actual-treatment-preferences-at-the-end-of-life.html

This new report is in line with much of the existing research on living wills and advance directives. Sure, they are better than nothing! But much of the value depends on how much work the patient puts into them. There is a communication gap between what patients think are meaningful instructions and what actually make sense in many situations that arise - hardly surprising given the complexity of modern medicine. The difference between palliative medicine to keep you comfortable, and heroic life-prolonging measures, is sometimes far from cut-and-dried. Which should not dissuade you from making one. When it comes to life and death matters, we all maybe want every little bit that might help.

Chris Docker
The EXIT euthanasia blog

[Editor's note: Also see the Advance Care Study in the May 14 EuthaNEWSia, which found that after nurses intervened to document end of life wishes, "It was determined that of 25/29 patients who died in the intervention group, wishes were documented and followed versus 8/27 in the control group."]

Connecticut: Extending life no favor for some? [New Haven Register]
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/05/19/opinion/mmarks_518051910.txt
Joel Marks writes about "a longtime friend who, as I write, is facing a prolonged dying in 'the American way.' She is a virtual prisoner of what, echoing President Dwight D. Eisenhower, one might call 'the medical-religious complex.'" Marks' friend is slowly dying in her hospice bed. An extract from his OpEd:

Furthermore, a mutual friend explained to me, my dying friend's end will likely come about by the failure of some internal organ as her illness continues its Sherman's march through her insides. So, in the benevolence of not-killing, the medical professionals are standing by while my friend's own body does the dirty work for them at a time of its choosing, not my friend's, and in a manner that could bring its own ghastly form of suffering.

My friend said, "I hope this goes quickly" and "I only want to know what's going to happen to me." She was not talking about the afterlife, but the day-to-day uncertainties of her terminal existence.

These would not be issues if assisted suicide were an option. As things stand, the system is obliging my friend to undergo mental torture, if not physical torture. They might just drug her some more to make her feel better. Yes, I suppose you could say she is depressed; but why shouldn't she be? What, really, is the point?

Canada: Let Robert Latimer free - now [Canada Free Press]
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/letter/23357
LG. Anderson writes about the Canadian Parole Board's treatment of Robert Latimer, starting with:

I find it that ‘Only In Canada’ will you find a parole board so tainted, so confused and so unaccountable that I cannot find the words to describe my feelings.

Disclosure that the sex offender and rapist, Graham James was released from prison three years ago by the parole board stunned the public {James was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison in 1997 after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting Kennedy and another unnamed player about 350 times over 10 years.}.Meanwhile, Robert Latimer literally rots in jail. (Over 10 years.)

USA: Suicide Risk May Be Higher in Senior Facilities [HealthDay News]
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20100518/hl_hsn/suicideriskmaybehigherinseniorfacilities
Seniors living in assisted-living and long-term care facilities may have a higher rate of suicide than those who continue living in their own homes, suggests a new report. People over 65 commit suicide at a rate of about 14 per 100,000 people, but in a study of Italian people living in long-term care facilities, researchers found that the rate of suicide was nearly 19 per 100,000 people.

One reason may be that stressful or troubling events — such as death of a spouse, illness or a decline in physical function — may underlie the move to a residential care facility, the researchers say. "The risk of suicide may be heightened during the first year," said the report's lead author, Carol Podgorski, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester in New York. "There's relocation stress, and that's when they're dealing with whatever caused them to move."

The report was published online May 18 in the journal PLoS Medicine.

Actions Speak Louder than Words - Providing Inappropriate Treatments [Medical Futility Blog]
http://medicalfutility.blogspot.com/2010/05/actions-speak-louder-than-words.html
On Sunday in New Orleans, Robert Fine and I did a pro-con debate on the Texas Advance Directives Act during an ethics session of the American Thoracic Society. There were around 150 people in attendance. One particularly telling moment was the following.

Bob asked who thought that a PVS patient should be dialyzed. Almost nobody raised a hand. He then asked who thought a severely demented patient should be dialyzed. Again, almost nobody raised a hand. Bob finally asked (perhaps wondering if the audience was participating) who has done it or seen it done. A majority of physicians in the room raised their hands. There is your standard of care.

Scotland: Shattered family demand probe into dad's helium overdose suicide [The Daily Record]
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2010/05/16/shattered-family-demand-probe-into-dad-s-helium-overdose-suicide-86908-22262624/
Jack Fox, 44, of Gairloch, Wester Ross, used helium inhalation to commit suicide, and his family want a criminal investigation launched. A search of Fox's computer revealed that he had viewed the Exit International web site, and had ordered helium cannisters from England.

The humanist case against euthanasia [spiked]
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/8887/
Brendan O'Neill, an atheist and radical humanist, writes of his opposition to voluntary euthanasia:

There are two reasons why, as someone driven by a human-centred morality, I am uncomfortable with legalising assisted dying. Firstly, because it will be bad for the people it is supposed to help: terminally ill people who want to die. And secondly, because it will also be bad for those people who want to live, people who might be sick or disabled or old but who want to continue living.

Canada: Euthanasia foes are the ones who "play God" [London Free Press]
http://www.lfpress.com/comment/2010/05/14/13954466.html
Goldwin Emerson writes about the difficulties in discussing euthanasia as a political issue, and how "it seems to me that it is my anti-euthanasia adversary who claims expertise on how God thinks."

The concluding paragraphs:
I want to know the patient is freely choosing death rather than choosing prolonged and painful illness. I recognize that built-in safeguards are required in order to ensure euthanasia is what the patient has really desired over an extended period of time. But in these difficult decisions, it is the patient and her or his doctor who can best decide, and not relatives or "friends" or others who might stand to gain financially.

In the end, it is of little value for organized religion, the legal system, my anti-euthanasia opponent or myself to "play God" in these serious decisions.

Ireland: Exit International to set up Irish group [sbpost.ie]
http://www.sbpost.ie/news/ireland/euthanasia-body-to-set-up-irish-group-49289.html
Exit International, the controversial pro-euthanasia organisation, is setting up a group in Ireland. The first advocacy group of its kind in Ireland will be headed by Dublin man Tom Curran. Curran said the association in Ireland would be a source of information and support to people interested in learning more about euthanasia and assisted suicide. He said people had a right to access information.

Curran's partner had multiple sclerosis and, as her condition had become progressively worse, he said they had discussed options such as assisted suicide and euthanasia. Curran said the group was very much in its infancy, but planned to hold its first meeting before the end of July. He said he became involved with Exit International after attending a meeting held by Dr Philip Nitschke, its founder.

Final Exit book updated for 2010 [Assisted-Suicide Blog, Derek Humphry]
http://assistedsuicide.org/blog/2010/05/14/final-exit-book-updated-for-2010/
Updated Book - Final Exit 3rd edition 2010

There is a new, updated printing of ‘Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying’ by Derek Humphry. Now in print for its 20th year, this volume remains the gold standard for choice in dying books. It has been translated into 12 languages. Price of the English-language paperback remains at $17 USD plus $6 shipping. Price of the digital download ebook is $25 USD.

This printing contains factual updates and new addresses, BUT DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY NEW WAYS OF SELF-DELIVERANCE. (I wish it did!) If you already have the 3rd edition (2002) plus the Addendum you do not need this new printing.

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