EuthaNEWSia (www.euthanewsia.ca)

http://tinyurl.com/2duymog

http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16485582

Also see:

Britain: McPherson at Royal Society of Medicine's conference [The Telegraph]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/7865828/Teenage-Heath-Freak-author-says-assisted-suicide-can-be-celebration.html

Dr Ann McPherson, who wrote the Teenage Health Freak books and worked as a family doctor for 30 years, said those who want to end their lives should be able to do so surrounded by loved ones. She herself is terminally ill with pancreatic cancer, and wants the option to die at her own home rather than having to travel to a country where assisted suicide or euthanasia is legal.

Dr McPherson said, in a video message played to the Royal Society of Medicine's conference on the ethics of assisted suicide on Wednesday: "I know recently a palliative care doctor has said that every suicide is a tragedy. I don't agree with that. I think that assisted dying for someone who is terminally ill may be a celebration, it shouldn't be seen as a tragedy. "It maybe means that they have much better dignity in their death and their family can be there and they can plan it in a way that they can get all the support that they want.

"I don't want to go somewhere like Switzerland, to Dignitas, to be able to die with dignity. I want to have the option of being able to be in my own home, surrounded by my family and friends, if that's what I want and how it happens."

[Also see: EuthaNEWSia, Jan. 4, 2010, Britain: Doctor backs law change to help terminally ill die]

Britain: Legalization "will lead from people who have asked to die, to people who cannot ask." [The Telegraph]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/7865305/Legal-assisted-suicide-creates-slippery-slope-to-doctors-killing-without-consent-expert-claims.html

At the Royal Society of Medicine's conference, Professor David Jones, director of the centre for bioethics at St Mary's University College, Twickenham, said: "My view is that it will lead from people who have asked to die, to people who cannot ask."

Jones expanded on his argument: He said that anyone who wants to legalise assisted suicide must believe that it is better for some people, such as the terminally ill, to end their lives. They must therefore agree that it is also right to help physically disabled people to die if they cannot administer the fatal dose themselves.

Prof Jones said the logical conclusion of this "slippery slope" is that society must permit doctors to kill mentally ill people, who are unable to give consent, if their life is deemed not worth living. "The point is not that activity might escalate from moderate to extreme behaviour. The logical slippery slope form of the argument is that voluntary euthanasia concedes the point that suicide or euthanasia is good for some people. "It is in their ‘best interests’ to have their life ended. And it is the person assisting or doing the killing who must decide whether to assist in this case."

Britain: David Van Day: Dementia and Dignitas [The Sun]
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/health/health/3036440/David-Van-Day-My-dementia-fears.html

David Van Day reviews the progression of his mother's vascular dementia, ending with her care in a care home. After watching her loss of self, he says: "If this happens to me and I'm diagnosed with dementia, I'll head straight to Dignitas."

The report ends with: Although not all memory loss indicates dementia, one in three people over 65 will die with some form of the illness. Worldwide, 35million people have been diagnosed with the condition. David says: "And it's not just the patients who suffer. The numbers of friends and loved ones who are affected are countless."

Ruth Sutherland, acting chief executive of The Alzheimer's Society, said: "It is understandable people may worry about developing dementia. However, with the right support, it is possible to lead a good quality of life. "Improving staff training and increasing understanding of the condition is essential if we are to achieve this."

assisted suicide

prosecution

legalize assisted suicide

Britain

The Associated Press: Correction: Germany right-to-die story [The Associated Press]
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jdo0vCHstOuVPeqVb08e4nbHWHEAD9GN2QK81

BERLIN - In a story June 25 about a right-to-die case, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Germany's top criminal court legalized assisted suicide. The court didn't rule on the issue of assisted suicide. The case involved a woman in a vegetative coma who was being kept alive through an intravenous feeding tube, though not terminally ill. The court overturned the attempted manslaughter conviction of a lawyer who had told the woman's daughter she could remove the tube from her mother. The woman had previously said she did not want to be kept alive under such circumstances.

South Korea: Patients, families asking for death with dignity [JoongAng Daily]
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2922650

This is a progress report explaining how the new death with dignity guidelines are being applied in the past year. There are five basic requirements for the suspension of life support: chances of recovery were negligible, doctors were unable to alleviate pain, it would be meaningless to maintain the patients condition, the patient's quality of life is low and the hospital expenses are overly burdensome for the family.

DNR requests are up by 25%. Since the guidelines came into effect last July, about 46 patients have died after having life support suspended.

Switzerland: Dignitas boss: Healthy should have right to die [BBC News]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/10481309.stm

This report begins: Ludwig Minelli, the head of Dignitas, is 77. A trained lawyer, he founded the assisted suicide organisation 12 years ago. The organisation, whose slogan is '"live with dignity, die with dignity", has helped over 1,000 people to die. Many of them are people who have travelled to Switzerland because assisted suicide is not permitted in their own countries.

Dignitas has the status of an association under Swiss law, with two active members, Mr Minelli and one other. The identity of the other member has not been revealed. These two active members control the policy and financing of Dignitas.

The report ends with:
Q: Can I ask you about the Dignitas philosophy on people who would come to you who are mentally ill rather than physically ill? Why you think it's okay to help someone with a major mental illness like schizophrenia to commit suicide?

A: As a human rights lawyer I am persuaded that the right to make an end of life decision belongs to every person who has capacity of discernment, most persons with mental illness have full capacity of discernment, of course. And I think this capacity to make an end of life decision should also apply to a healthy person, so the British discussion about terminally ill persons is completely obsolete. And I want to implement this last human right.

Q: What if someone came to you who was neither physically nor mentally ill but expressed the wish to die. Would you be able to help them?

A: Of course. For instance a very old person which has no illnesses at all, has some difficulties because in old age you will have some difficulties, has no longer family, has no longer friends. Why should we say no?

Switzerland: interview with Ludwig Minelli of Dignitas [BBC News]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/10461894.stm

Ludwig Minelli explains how Dignitas goes about its work. He confirms that Dignitas will not release financial information, saying it is a private organization that is not legally compelled to do so. Also interviewed is Dr Alois Geiger, who was the prescribing physician for paralysed Briton Dan James. The report suggests that "any change to existing Swiss law is likely to be a long process."

Oregon: Editorial: "Dignity" law could use fix [democratherald.com]
http://www.democratherald.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_2245259c-83ae-11df-a029-001cc4c002e0.html

The editorial is about last week's EuthaNEWSia story, Oregon: Death with Dignity house planned, and starts with: Last week's story about a Portland psychiatrist may revive the debate on assisted suicide in Oregon. If so, it might lead to improvements in the law, which now requires people to do the act without anyone helping them.

Dr. Stuart Weisberg wants to establish a business where people can go to make use of Oregon's Death with Dignity Act. But under the law, lack of a place is not a problem. And only people who are residents of Oregon may make use of the law - so a "death house" for tourists would be pointless.

The editorial suggests that a facility like Dignitas would be useful in Oregon, filling a need which is now not met.

Most Czechs Agree with Euthanasia [Angus Reid Global Monitor]
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/35684/most_czechs_agree_with_euthanasia
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Most people in the Czech Republic support the practice of euthanasia, according to a poll by CVVM. 61 per cent of respondents share this point of view, down one point since May 2009.

In the Czech Republic, assisting a person to commit suicide is equivalent to murder. Euthanasia has been extensively discussed in the Czech legislature for years, but no changes in the status quo have been approved.

Connecticut: No appeal by Compassion & Choices [New Haven Register]
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/06/26/news/aa3ctsuicideend062610.txt
Kathryn Tucker, lawyer for Compassion & Choices, announces they will not appeal the Superior Court dismissal of their lawsuit to permit doctors to assist suffering patients to die.

Montana: Oregon death-with-dignity advocate discusses details of law at UM [The Missoulian]
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_01071182-833c-11df-9ec6-001cc4c002e0.html
The report begins: "We imagined that we would have people lining up at the borders," said Barbara Glidewell, who served as Oregon's first patient adviser under the state's death-with-dignity act. "… That didn't happen."

Glidewell, a bioethicist and faculty member at Oregon Health and Science University, spoke Monday to a group of about 30 at the University of Montana. The talk was sponsored by Compassion and Choices, an advocacy group that promotes death with dignity.

Unite Against Euthanasia, Group Tells Quebecers [Epoch Times]
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/38304/

This story begins with: EDMONTON-A newly formed grassroots group has launched a campaign calling on Quebecers to oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide from being brought into the province's health care system. "We thought we would need to have a group that would really represent an option different than the one that is proposed by the euthanasia lobby," says Dr. Andre Bourque, president of Vivre dans la Dignite (Living with Dignity), a non-partisan, non-religious group focused on end-of-life issues.

The group plans to make a submission to a travelling parliamentary commission that will hold hearings in late summer or early fall to get the views of Quebecers on the issue. One of the group's key arguments is that euthanasia and suicide are killing and as such shouldn't be "confused with health care."

Another excerpt: Dr. Bourque says legalizing euthanasia would be a "foot in the door" to opening and expanding a practice that will place vulnerable patients in a dangerous position. "There will be lives taken without their consent, there are people who don't want to die who are going to die, and there are going to be decisions taken by third parties for people who have not asked that their lives be shortened."

Free copies of "Final Exit" for American libraries [World right-to-die news list]
http://lists.opn.org/pipermail/right-to-die_lists.opn.org/2010-June/003941.html

Derek Humphry writes: As I've reported on this ERGO news list before, a supporter bequeathed a large sum of money so that ERGO could distribute complimentary copies of the book 'Final Exit' to US public lending libraries now that their acquisition budgets are being cut so severely.

We now have a web site up by which a library may ask for a free copy. http://www.finalexitforlibraries.com/

If you know people in the library field, or have contact with your local library, please tell them of this remarkable site. We are already in the process of distributing hundreds of copies to libraries.

see the recent headlines on the front page at www.euthanewsia.ca

see as-yet unpublished stories at the Pending Advisories page.

subscribe to the RSS News feed. More information is on the Subscribe page.

search the advisories on the search page.

browse and read past stories on the past stories page.