Euthanasia

Euthanasia

South Africa – Medical doctor and patient wants doctors to kill their patients

A medical doctor and her patient, both terminally ill, are giving evidence in their bid to legalise euthanasia in South Africa. The actual legal challenge will only be heard in the Johannesburg High Court later this year but have been giving their evidence during virtual proceedings chaired by retired Judge CJ Claassen. The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), the Justice Minister, and the National Director of Public Prosecutions are opposing the application. The HPSCA has argued that palliative care in South Africa is sufficient enough to alleviate suffering. They also claim that assisted suicide could be abused by unscrupulous doctors and families who want to benefit from hastening a patient’s death. The Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) will be bringing expert evidence from Oregon, Colombia, Canada, and the Netherlands where the right to die is legal. More

Portugal – Constitutional Court Rejects Euthanasia

Portuguese Parliament had earlier this year voted to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia, comfortably approving five “right-to-die” bills. Now, Portugal’s Constitutional Court has rejected the parliament-approved bill seeking to legalize euthanasia, declaring that its text presented a threat to the principle of “inviolability of life.” The ruling noted the “excessively imprecise nature of the concept of unbearable suffering” contained in the bill, as well as lack of clarity on “the concept of severe irreversible damage.” As a result, the bill will now return to parliament, where the governing Socialist Party reportedly promised to simply reword the bill and attempt to pass it once more. For now, though, Portugal has avoided legalized euthanasia once more.

Catherine Robinson, a spokesperson for U.K. based Right to Life noted that “This is typical of euthanasia legislation and could eventually lead to its expansion. Why, after all, would we limit euthanasia only to those who are terminally ill and over 18 if they are otherwise in ‘unbearable’ pain? Children and adults can be in ‘unbearable’ pain without being terminally ill. If the justification for euthanasia lies in being in ‘unbearable’ pain then, it seems unfair to limit euthanasia to only those who are terminally ill.” Robinson also pointed to a report conducted by the Oregon Health Authority, which revealed that “only slightly more than a quarter of those who died by assisted suicide in Oregon listed ‘inadequate pain control, or concern about it’ as one of their end of life concerns. Far more significantly a full 94.3% of patients were concerned with being ‘less able to engage in activities making life enjoyable’. 93.1% were concerned with ‘losing autonomy’ and ‘loss of dignity’ was a concern of 71.8% of patients.” More

Latvia – Rejects Euthanasia Initiative

After a long debate, the Latvian Saeima rejected a citizen’s initiative to legalize euthanasia by a vote of 49 to 38. Opposition MP Viktors Valainis said euthanasia would be the easiest way for severely ill people to escape intolerable pain, yet it is “absolutely unacceptable” because it ignores a number of problems in palliative care. At the same time, the Member stated that he was prepared to do everything necessary to improve the medical sector in the country. Saeima deputy Anda Čakša recognized the topic of euthanasia as a call for help. She believes there are two important aspects – the accessibility of analgesia and palliative care and what are the people’s rights to refuse aggressive health treatment. However, the topic of euthanasia should not be on the table while the issue of palliative care remains unresolved. More

Euthanasia

Netherlands – Surgeons develop domestic organ donation

An indignant letter to JAMA Surgery by two surgeons from a hospital in the Netherlands developed domestic organ donation after euthanasia as a “newly introduced, donor-friendly donation procedure”. The patient is sedated and intubated at home where he lapses from consciousness surrounded by his family. Then he is taken, unconscious, to the hospital in an ambulance, euthanised, and operated on. There is no clarity on how often this happens. So why are the surgeons indignant? Because a 2020 article in JAMA Surgery had suggested that the best-practice location for organ donor euthanasia is the hospital. More

Euthanasia

Canada – Doctor realizes how disabled people are nudged to be euthanized

Corrina Iampen, a Canadian doctor-turned-patient after an accident left her paralyzed, who never opposed euthanasia, now feels very concerned about euthanasia and its practical application. For young and elderly patients who suddenly find themselves having to come to terms with a new disability which makes them vulnerable at this time, euthanasia can be overwhelmingly tempting, especially when good support is unavailable. Hospital staff can make disabled patients feel like a burden through their lack of interest to improve the quality of life before offering euthanasia. Corrina is also concerned about Bill C-7 which expands euthanasia in Canada especially for people with disabilities. Disability rights activists have criticized the bill calling it discriminatory to offer death to the disabled but not to people without disabilities.

She is not alone in her concerns about this expansion. In 2017, a 42-year-old man suffering from an incurable neurological condition spent more than 2 years at the London, Ontario, Hospital where he secretly recorded staff who repeatedly offering him euthanasia while his request for self-directed care were denied. In 2019, doctors were criticized for euthanizing a physically healthy but depressed 61-year-old British Columbia man. His family members said he was not of sound mind and begged him not to go through with the procedure. Another Canadian doctor, Naheed Dosani, a University of Toronto-affiliated palliative care specialist who cares for homeless people from a mobile unit, testified before the senate on February 1, saying that euthanasia is far easier to access than actual help to improve people’s lives. He said that people who’ve pursued euthanasia do so because they’ve experienced marginalization. More / Chronically ill man releases audio of hospital staff offering assisted death / Dr. Naheed Dosani Testifies at Senate on Bill C-7.

South Africa – High Court to hear terminally ill patient and doctor request for euthanasia

Susan Walter, a palliative care specialist and her patient Diethelm Harck have both been diagnosed with terminal diseases and hope to persuade Johannesburg High Court Judge Raylene Keightly to develop the law to allow euthanasia. The matter was heard on 22 February. They accuse the law as it stands and the HPCSA of impinging on their right to dignity and right to live and die as they choose. Stranger arguments have been heard in court before. The problem with their argument and accusation of Christian values being imposed is that the same values are held by the Islamic, Hinduism, and Buddhist culture, most people feel life is sacred. Usually people desperate to end their lives do not really waste time with court battles over their right to die. When looking to countries that have gone ahead of South Africa in legalizing euthanasia, it becomes clear that the practice is nothing more than legalized psychological abuse, because now the disabled, the elderly and the ones deemed to be “burdens” on a society are made to feel like they are better off dead by those grown cold at heart. Belgium’s nurses for example admit to euthanizing patients without their consent, and a wife from Texas lost her disabled husband to a doctor’s decision of euthanasia without her consent because the doctor said he wasn’t like “walking and talking people”. All this happened despite the so-called ‘safeguards’ promised by euthanasia advocates, that would prevent these concerns. If this is what happens in First world countries, what can a developing country like South Africa expect, worse? More / COVID-19 patient was black and paralyzed, so doctors decided his life wasn’t worth saving / Warning to Britain as almost half of Belgium’s euthanasia nurses admit to killing without consent

Euthanasia

UK – Human Rights Experts alarmed at growing trend seeking euthanasia for the disabled

United Nations Human Rights experts expressed alarm at a growing trend to legalise euthanasia based largely on having a disability or disabling conditions, including in old age. They said that Disability should never be a ground or justification to end someone’s life directly or indirectly. This, the experts said, that normalizing euthanasia for the people who are not terminally ill or suffering at the end of their lives would give rise to discriminative assumptions about the inherent “quality of life” or “worth” of the life of a person with a disability. Such assumptions are grounded in ableism and associated stereotypes. Disability is not a burden or a deficit of the person. It is a universal aspect of the human condition. Article, UN Statement.

Belgium – New study finds euthanasia ethically broken in Belgium

A new study in The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy has argued that Belgian euthanasia is ethically broken, both administratively and legally. The study draws on thoroughly researched academic research over the past 20 years and the reports of the control commission itself. The authors three main assertions are; the scope of the Euthanasia Law

That has stretched from being used for serious and incurable illnesses to cover tiredness of life. Tiredness of life is not supported by Belgian law but doctors circumvent the law by diagnosing “polypathology”– a jumble of ailments which nearly every elderly person has. This represented 19.4% of all reported euthanasia cases in 2019 and a “staggering” 47% of all reported nonterminal cases.

“Second, the obligatory consultation of one or two independent physicians may fail to provide a real safeguard. Their tasks are quite limited, and, more importantly, their advice is not binding anyway. The final authority to perform euthanasia lies with the attending physician who can perform it even against the (negative) advice of the consulted physicians.” For example: If euthanasia is requested for a psychiatric condition, a psychiatrist should be consulted. However, if the patient has another condition, it can be redefined as “polypathology” and a GP can approve it, eliminating the need for a psychiatric consultation.

Third, “The Commission is unable to check the fulfilment of various legal criteria, and it has substantial authority to (re) interpret the Euthanasia Law as it sees fit.” In fact, “the Commission does not seem to act as a filter between physicians who perform euthanasia and the Public Prosecutor, but instead as a shield that prevents potentially problematic cases from being referred.”

Conflict of interest is baked into the composition of the 16-member evaluation committee. Eight of them must be doctors and many of them, including the chairman, Wim Distelmans, perform euthanasia regularly. So they end up checking each other’s files for irregularities. They are supposed to recuse themselves if one of their own cases comes up – but they don’t. The Commission’s track record illustrates its ineffectiveness. In 18 years of legalisation, only one case was referred to the Public Prosecutor and it was so obviously in breach of the law that referral was needed to keep up appearances. Article, study.

Euthanasia

Spain – Signs death sentence for the weakest

Euthanasia or Physician-assisted suicide is already legal in Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland, several US states, and Western Australia and Spanish lawmakers are joining them. During the recent parliamentary debate in Madrid, some members saw this move as a step forward in civil rights bringing more liberty to citizens. On the other hand, it was said how euthanasia amounted to “signing death sentences for the weakest.” The law says that patients must be given full information about their condition, including palliative care & any other alternative options available. The request to commit suicide via a doctor must also be given in writing and then repeated 15-days later. Doctors are also permitted to refuse providing Euthanasia.

A poll showed the majority of Spaniards supported the right of someone to choose such a death, if only they knew what is taking place in countries that have gone ahead of them, the feeling would be different. In Belgium nurses admitted to euthanizing patients without their consent. A mother in Argentina wanted to kill her son who has cerebral palsy because she’s exhausted and fed up with caring for him. In the Netherlands, a woman seeking help, and not death, with post-traumatic stress disorder was told she met the criteria to be euthanized on her first appointment. In Canada, a wife lost a lawsuit to prevent her husband’s death by euthanasia, another incident described a psychiatrist in Oregon who determined that an elderly woman with dementia was mentally unable to consent to assisted suicide, and believed her daughter was pushing for it, but it happened anyway. In USA, Texas a disabled, 46-year old African American man named Michael Hickson, was euthanized without his consent or that of his wife. The doctor said it was better to euthanize Michael because he is paralyzed and not like “walking and talking people.” Studies on why the elderly is seeking Euthanasia reveal how fear of being a burden to the family, and depending on others, loss of quality of life are motivations for euthanasia. Another tragic incident where a Canadian elderly woman was euthanized because she feared the loneliness that comes with lockdown! If Spaniards knew the underreported and ignored cases like these, they would see that Euthanasia is not about helping people, it’s about pressuring them to die when their quality of life would get in the way of society

More:

Argentine mother seeks to euthanize son who has cerebral palsy

Wife Loses Lawsuit to Prevent Husband’s Euthanasia

COVID-19 patient was black and paralyzed, so doctors decided his life wasn’t worth saving

Dutch mental health patient angry at euthanasia offer

Warning to Britain as almost half of Belgium’s euthanasia nurses admit to killing without consent

Elderly Canadian woman euthanized because she feared loneliness during lockdown

Assisted dying round-up

Spanish Lawmakers Pass Bill Allowing Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

Switzerland – Let’s vulnerable, healthy 87-year-old man die

Those who end up committing suicide are generally people who are clinically depressed, a biochemical dysfunction that can be treated. Suicide among people with serious handicaps are almost non-existent. Patients usually tell others their wish to die but whether they continue to feel this way and request or commit suicide is heavily influenced by the type of response they receive. Kees Kentie, an 87-year-old man, with the help of a new euthanasia organisation, died by euthanasia. He was not terminally ill, just frail, tired of life and feared increased decline of his health and sought to stay in control until the end. What if Kees waited? perhaps he would have met a group of encouraging friends who would not only help him if things got difficult but who would make him feel that life is indeed worth living for? What was it that made Kees so tired of life that he wanted to die hopeless? More

Netherlands – Factors that influence rates of euthanasia requests

An analysis of health insurance claims data, published online in the journal British Medical Journal Supportive & Palliative Care shows a 7-fold unexplained variation in rates of euthanasia across The Netherlands. Euthanasia has doubled and is on a continuous rise since the country legalized it fully in 2002. 85% of all euthanasia cases were carried out by family doctors. Age, church attendance, political orientation, income, subjectively assessed health, and availability of community volunteers all emerged as potentially influential factors. Euthanasia was at its lowest in regions with churchgoers and also in regions with high percentage of community volunteers. Progressive political views and higher household income and good self-reported mental and physical health were associated with higher rates of euthanasia, researchers suggest that the healthy may be more inclined to ask for assistance in dying when they do suffer. Article, Study.

Euthanasia

Belgium – Investigates alleged illegal euthanasia deaths

Belgium officials are investigating around ten euthanasia cases which may not have murder. In an anonymous letter to the public prosecutor, they say: “Our family member passed away two years ago, and we were told that euthanasia was presumed to have been carried out without the doctors informing us or following the necessary procedure. This is a very traumatic experience for us.” Two doctors were named in the letter. Belgium’s chief euthanasia overseer says that not every case of euthanasia gets reported to the committee, as it should, and doctors freely admit that. Potential for abuse was the among the concerns of euthanasia opponents and cases like these prove their concerns were right about the slippery slope. More

South Africa – New legal challenge attempts to legalise euthanasia

A new legal challenge was instituted in the Johannesburg High Court in August 2017 in an attempt to legalise physician assisted suicide (PAS) and active voluntary euthanasia (PAE). Currently, South African law deems these acts are prohibited and are treated either as murder or culpable homicide. The new case is expected to proceed to trial in early 2021 and Cause For Justice (CFJ) will be contributing to the case by legal arguments. CFJ’s main concern is that legalized euthanasia will result in a “cultural shift and slippery slope towards acceptance of death as a solution to human pain and suffering” (which has been the case in countries that have legalized it). See Fatal Flaws Documentary. More, Fatal Flaws.

Netherlands – Doctors can sedate dementia patients before euthanizing them

Doctor no longer have to agree with a patient on the time or manner in which euthanasia will be given, sedation is permissible if a patient is unable to communicate or becomes disturbed, agitated or aggressive in cases of severe dementia. Family members no longer need to be consulted either. This came when a doctor sedated a 74-year-old patient without her knowledge before killing her, was cleared of wrongdoing. Dutch euthanasia doctor Bert Keizer admitted that “those who embark on euthanasia venture down a slippery slope along which you irrevocably slide down to the random killing of defenceless sick people”. More

Euthanasia

South Africa – Dignity SA lies to Minister of Health about Euthanasia

DignitySA (DSA) is a group that advocates for physician assisted suicide on patients that seek to end their life. DSA makes their case about “intolerable suffering” which should be the reason for anyone to choose to die by euthanasia. In a petition to the Minister of Health, DSA states that “Twenty-five years of incontestable data prove that the safeguards to protect the vulnerable in Oregon have never been breached.” A recent study from Oregon however, shows that most Americans do not choose euthanasia because of pain and suffering, but rather that they choose euthanasia because they fear pain and suffering. Dr Benoit Beuselinck MD, PhD, Oncologist, from Belgium says that “We can manage All pain with palliative care, including palliative sedation where we can manage all symptoms.” The American Medical Association, American College of Physicians, The World Medical Association, all reject Doctor Assisted Suicide. There is no reason for South Africa to believe killing someone at their lowest point in life should constitute the right to die, bottom line is, pain can be managed.

Evidence suggests that in countries where euthanasia was legalized, so-called safeguards indeed were breached for example; In Canada, a wife lost a lawsuit to prevent her husband’s death by euthanasia, another incident described a psychiatrist in Oregon who determined that an elderly woman with dementia was mentally unable to consent to assisted suicide, and believed her daughter was pushing for it, but it happened anyway. In USA, Texas a disabled, 46-year old African American man named Michael Hickson, was euthanized without his consent or that of his wife. The doctor said it was better to euthanize Michael because he is paralyzed and not like “walking and talking people.” In Belgium, nurses admitted to euthanizing patients without their consent. Safeguards were breached wherever euthanasia was legalized, South Africa can expect the same result when learning from those countries who have gone before us. DignitySA, wife looses lawsuit to prevent husbands euthanasia, doctors didn’t try to save a black covid-19 patient who was paralyzed, Belgian euthanasia nurses admit to killing without consent.

UK – Over 50 palliative care doctors resist introducing assisted suicide

In a letter to media group called The Times, over fifty palliative care doctors called attention to a recent British Medical Association survey on assisted suicide which shows that 84% of doctors in palliative medicine would not be willing to perform euthanasia on a patient should the law ever change. The doctors pointed out that “Every legislature that allows ‘safeguarded’ assisted dying has seen its safeguards breached, starkly illustrating the gap between principle and practice.” In the Netherlands, for example, reports indicate that the requirement for explicit consent is frequently ignored, as is the required reporting of all instances of euthanasia. Motivations for assisted suicide as seen in countries that have already legalised the practice, are social and not medical. more

UK – Committing Suicide is reason enough to travel abroad

Britain has entered a second period of hard lockdown to avert a wave of Covid-19 patients swamping hospitals. Holiday travel overseas is banned. However, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said that visiting the Swiss assisted suicide clinic Dignitas will be permitted, as an exception. This forces people who need hope not suicide to believe that life is better if we’re dead. It is heart breaking to see how governments dismiss their citizens in desperate situations by affirming their misguided beliefs of being better off dead. This is no positive solution to any problem. Read more

Canada – Assisted Suicide saves money PBO Report suggests

Since Canada’s laws on euthanasia and assisted suicide became legal in 2016, health-care costs have dropped millions of dollars, according to a Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) report. Although this could sound grotesquely utilitarian, it stresses that these savings should “in no way be interpreted” to suggest that assisted dying be used to reduce health-care costs. But it does, and it sends a message to the elderly and disabled, or terminally ill, that being alive any longer would mean that they are costing their families money. In Belgium, deaths rose from 0.2% of all deaths to 2.4% in 16 years. Canada expects a rise from 0.3% to 2.6% in just five years. Read more

Canada – Euthanasia in prisons slammed by ombudsman

Canada’s prison ombudsman has recommended an absolute ban on providing euthanasia inside a federal penitentiary. Ivan Zinger acknowledged there have been three known cases of doctor-assisted death in federal prisons. The first case involved a “non-violent recidivist” serving a two-year sentence. It would seem that this man ‘chose’ euthanasia not because that was his ‘wish,’ but rather because every other option had been denied, extinguished or not even contemplated. Hopelessness, despair, lack of choice and alternatives are issues magnified in prison. Seeking euthanasia in the community and providing euthanasia behind prison walls is not the same and Zinger suggests that the government should set up an expert committee to consider the ethical and practical concerns in providing euthanasia in prisons. Read more

UK – Leading Palliative Care doctor opposes euthanasia

In a letter to The Times, Dr Carol Davis, Lead Consultant of Palliative Medicine at the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, criticised the conflation of assisted suicide and palliative care. She said that “most patients do ‘let go quietly’, dying peacefully of their illness. Their doctors know they have a duty of care to provide effective symptom control and care as life ends. But that’s a completely different matter from giving dying patients lethal drugs”. She emphasised that good “clinical care is a partnership between patient and doctor”, where they cannot simply impose demands on each other, adding: “Doctor-patient dialogue isn’t just another customer-supplier relationship”. Earlier this month, a survey revealed that a majority of doctors in the British Medical Association (BMA) do not want to give patients life-ending drugs. Read more

Euthanasia

World – Assisted dying round-up

In New Zealand the public will vote on voluntary euthanasia on October 17. In nine US states and the District of Columbia assisted suicide is legal. Some political observers believe that the Bay State could become the tenth. In Portugal earlier this year the parliament passed measures to permit euthanasia but got held up by an appeal for a referendum and will be worked out in October. In Austria four people are challenging the Constitutional Court on the euthanasia ban, the court will decide before the end of the year. In Ireland the issue of legalizing euthanasia is being debated but currently delayed until next year to grant time to parliament to study the issue. In Tasmania, the parliament of the Australian state is also still debating the merits of euthanasia. The suggested bill is the fourth in ten years. Previous bills failed in 2010, 2013 and 2017.

Let’s take a look at what happens when euthanasia is legalized; Argentine mother seeks to euthanize son who has cerebral palsy because she’s exhausted and fed up with caring for him. In the Netherlands, a woman seeking help with post-traumatic stress disorder was told she met the criteria to be euthanized on her first appointment. She was angry at this offer and said Yes, I’m broken, but I want to become whole again. I’m asking for help to get better, not for death!”. In Canada, a wife lost a lawsuit to prevent her husband’s death by euthanasia, another incident described a psychiatrist in Oregon who determined that an elderly woman with dementia was mentally unable to consent to assisted suicide, and believed her daughter was pushing for it, but it happened anyway. In USA, Texas a disabled, 46-year old African American man named Michael Hickson, was euthanized without his consent or that of his wife. The doctor said it was better to euthanize Michael because he is paralyzed and not like “walking and talking people.” In Belgium, nurses admitted to euthanizing patients without their consent. The future for many citizens in a country that legalizes euthanasia looks very grim when one considers the above accounts of ordinary people. Read extracts taken from: BioEdge, NewsBreak, National review, NY Post, Christian Post UK, Daily Mail

Netherlands – Seeks to extend euthanasia to children

The Netherlands Minister of Health, Hugo de Jonge, announced that their government will amend or re-interpret the euthanasia law to permit child euthanasia to help terminally ill sick children between one and twelve. Currently, Netherlands euthanasia law permits euthanasia for children as young as 12, when parents or guardians consent; and for disabled newborns. People over the age of 16 are considered adults and can therefore provide consent to euthanasia. The recommendation comes as experts found that a small group of children may be suffering because doctors fear the consequences of actions to hasten their deaths. A petition by citizenGo is circulating in opposition to this and has gathered over 20,000 signatures. Read more

Belgium – The ‘downside’ to euthanasia is swept under the rug

Three children euthanized in Belgium, one being an 11 year-old with cystic fibrosis (CF). This congenital respiratory disease is incurable and fatal, but modern treatments enable many patients to enjoy high quality of life well into their 30s or even beyond. A member of the euthanasia commission resigned in protest because it refused to recommend prosecution when a woman with dementia who had not requested euthanasia was nevertheless put to death at her family’s request. Since then, 360 Belgian doctors, academics and others have signed a petition calling for tighter controls on euthanasia for psychiatric patients. While debating assisted suicide legislation in the UK, one sponsor of the assisted suicide bill watched Fatal Flaws (a film that questions the so-called compassion around euthanasia) and had a change of mind. The next day he stood up in the legislature and said that he changed his mind after watching Fatal Flaws. Guernsey then defeated the assisted suicide bill by 24 to 14.

Sadly, under-reporting of euthanasia and euthanasia without request is common in Belgium. Lethally injecting people without request are considered criminal acts in every jurisdiction in the world, but under the banner of assisted death these acts becomes a difficult but necessary part of protecting the “human right” to kill in a post-post-modern society. (this article was written in 2018) Read more, Watch Fatal Flaws

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