In February of this year, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ruled that an individual’s autonomy was far more important than the value of his or her life. It did this when declaring that a law prohibiting assisted suicide was unconstitutional, with the Court’s press release indicating: “The general right of personality guarantees the right […]
“Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die,” the saying goes. Today fewer people seem to care about heaven; and as for dying, the euthanasia movement aims to make that nice and easy. One thing most of us would agree on, however, is that we do not want to spend our old age in […]
“Anti-euthanasia lobbyists want the public to believe in the inevitability of the slippery slope, but their fears are unwarranted, wrote a Canadian doctor earlier this year. Where better to test this than the Netherlands? In 2019, according to the official figures, there were 6,361 cases of euthanasia – 4.2 percent of all deaths. In other words, one […]
Physicians and other healthcare professionals in the Dutch-speaking regions of Belgium who are willing to do late abortions would also support the legalisation of infanticide, according to a survey published in the journal Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica. “Almost nine out of ten respondents (89.1%) [who do late-term terminations] agree that in the event of a […]
Some good news on the euthanasia front for a change. From Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition: On July 27, 2020 the Czech Republic government rejected euthanasia for the third time. According to an article published by BRNO Daily news: On July 27th, the Czech government blocked another parliamentary effort to legalise euthanasia… The bill was […]
I have written elsewhere about how the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in dangerous and unethical responses like ventilator rationing, unilateral DNRs, and some states ordering nursing homes and other long-term care facilities to accept coronavirus patients discharged from hospitals. But the Covid-19 crisis has also spawned new ideas such as the American Clinicians Academy On Medical Aid in Dying’s policy […]
Amid the Coronavirus pandemic, palliative care specialist Dr Kathryn Mannix urges people to talk about dying; from her experience, most ‘very sick people’ – ‘[f]rom teenagers to pensioners’ – although mostly ‘afraid that their illness and death will cast a shadow over the people they love’ find themselves ‘utterly unable to discuss this worry with […]
A GP surgery in South Wales is apologising for asking some patients ‘to complete a “do not resuscitate” form in case their conditions deteriorated due to coronavirus’; the letter from Llynfi Surgery in Maesteg ‘said that indicating they would not want to be resuscitated had “several benefits”’, informing them that ‘people with life-limiting illnesses who […]
The Royal College of Physicians in the UK has confirmed its opposition to the legalisation of euthanasia, saying the majority of doctors would be unwilling to participate in ending the lives of patients even if the law in Britain were to change. The confirmation comes following a legal challenge brought by four doctors who had […]
Spiked is an online blog whose writers regard themselves as proudly anti-establishment, but when it comes to abortion, they are all staunch supporters, from Ella Whelan declaring that abortion on the grounds of disability is not discrimination to Anne Furedi’s sycophantic praise for Andrew Cuomo’s New York law for abortion to birth for any reason. However, Spiked author Kevin Yuillis concerned about […]
Over the past couple of years, the world’s media has been agog at Sarco (short for sarcophagus), the elegant suicide pod developed by Dr Philip Nitschke. Just close the lid, turn on the nitrogen, and you will die. The pod can also be used as a coffin, thereby saving relatives of the deceased time and money. For […]
The only specialised euthanasia clinic in the Netherlands has closed its doors during the coronavirus pandemic. The Euthanasia Expertise Center, formerly known as the End of Life Clinic (Levenseindekliniek), is located in The Hague and provides counselling and euthanasia services for patients whose GPs refuse to authorise euthanasia. According to its website, “In the interest of […]