Euthanasia
Australia – Assisted dying explodes in Victoria
In Victoria, a progress report from the Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board, shows that ten times more people than expected have chosen to end their lives in the first full year of 2017. According to the report people seeking euthanasia were aged between 32 and 100, with an average of 71-44% being female, and 55% male. Unbearable pain was not a major factor amongst the reasons for requesting assisted dying. In fact, the word “pain” was only mentioned once, and no percentages were given. The common reasons for euthanasia includes being less able to engage in activities that make life enjoyable, losing control of body functions, and loss of dignity. Such reports show how euthanasia increasingly cultivates a culture where anything goes and people can commit suicide for any reason. Read more
Argentine – Argentine mother seeks to euthanize son who has cerebral palsy
These are two examples of how euthanasia can be used for the wrong reasons. Argentine woman Brinocoli is asking to be allowed to kill her 22- year old son who has cerebral palsy even though he is not dying or terminally ill. She says she’s exhausted and fed up with caring for Adrian. Another parent from Canada murdered his daughter Tracy because she had cerebral palsy, claiming that she was suffering in pain and misery, even though she was known to have been a cheerful, happy girl who lived games, parties, and pets. After killing his daughter, Latimer was given, in essence, a slap on the wrist, and is seen by many as a hero in Canada for ending Tracy’s “suffering”. Many people in society believe life with disability is not worth living. A parent who kills their disabled child is portrayed as a martyr, while one who kills a healthy child is rightly portrayed as a murderer. Read more
Netherlands – Dutch MD Euthanized Dementia Patient Despite Being Told ‘No’
Marinou Arend, a Dutch doctor euthanized a woman with dementia struggling to stay alive. First she drugged her patient’s coffee and then, when the woman awakened and fought against being killed, she had the family hold the patient down while administering the lethal injection. Not only was she exonerated, but she was even praised by the judge. The patient told Arends that she did not want to be euthanized! Not once, not twice, but three times. This is not the first time people are euthanized without their consent. Read more
Netherlands – Dutch doctor minimizes disastrous effect of legalized euthanasia
Dutch Dr Bert Keizer, who recently wrote in the Dutch Medical Association Journal, does not think this is a disaster. He agrees that euthanasia has become a slippery slope where legalized, but suggests that it should be embraced and viewed as ‘gradual erosion of boundaries’ instead of a slippery slope that leading to disaster. But imagine your spouse is being euthanized because he is disabled and you have no say over it because the doctor says so, or your daughter wants treatment for her depression and the doctor tells her that her only solution is to be euthanized. She eventually considers it because the doctor gives her no hope despite significant and continuous developments in medicine for depression. Both scenarios actually happened in the USA and in the Netherlands. Moreover, nurses in Belgium admitted to euthanizing patients without their consent. Read more: bioedge, NYpost, Christian post UK
Netherlands – Dutch mental health patient angry at euthanasia offer
A Dutch mental health patient has shared how she was “overwhelmed and angry” when her new psychiatrist offered her euthanasia during their first appointment. Manon, who was seeking help for post-traumatic stress disorder, was told she met the criteria to be euthanized. The doctor said Manon had already done “everything humanly possible” to get treatment for her condition, which made Manon feel like she didn’t “deserve” to continue living. “Yes, I’m broken, but I want to become whole again. I’m asking for help to get better, not for death!”. Read more
USA – Compassion & Choice show their true colors
According to the Public News Service, Californian people of color rarely commit assisted suicide. The new report from the state also found big difference in who actually uses the law. The patients are 87% white, just over 1% are Black. 4% are Hispanic. And 6.4% are Asian American. But the Compassion and Choice (C&C) believing there’s never enough assisted suicides continue to run “public service” advert to increase the number of suicides by people of color. By this statement the C&C shows their true colors for euthanizing ethnic groups. Read more