Most requests for euthanasia in the Netherlands come from people suffering from cancer. But the number of patients who have dementia, psychiatric disorders, or multiple geriatric syndromes (MGS) is growing steadily. An article by Dutch physicians in JAMA Internal Medicine examines the kind of geriatric syndromes which motivate a person to ask for euthanasia. They found that […]
“You matter because of who you are. You matter to the last moment of your life, and we will do all we can, not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die.” Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the first modern hospice Inay (Maxima) My name is Dona Marie. I […]
I was disturbed but not really surprised when I read a October 21 New England Journal of Medicine article by Scott D. Halpern MD PhD titled “Learning about End-of-Life Care from Grandpa”. Dr. Halpern, a palliative care doctor and ethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote about his elderly grandfather who had been widowed for the third time […]
In northern latitudes the sound of spring begins with the booming of snow-covered ice cracking in frozen rivers. Is something like that happening in Belgium? Officials in the Belgian city of Leuven are investigating about ten euthanasia cases which may not have been done legally. The public prosecutor was tipped off by an anonymous letter to […]
Officials in the Belgian city of Leuven are investigating about ten euthanasia cases which may not have been done legally. The public prosecutor was tipped off by an anonymous letter to the De Standaard newspaper. comes from a letter sent anonymously to the paper’s editorial desk. Until the investigation has been completed, police are keeping mum. The […]
Ireland is currently sleepwalking into legalising Assisted Suicide, and TDs need to realise that they are endangering vulnerable people by supporting this measure. So say the organisers of a major conference presenting ‘The Case Against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia’ this weekend, which will feature medical and legal experts and include personal testimonies from people who […]
Luis de Moya, a Catholic priest and pro-life campaigner, died in Pamplona, Spain, on November 9, aged 67 Late in his life, don Luis de Moya started to look like Superman. Christopher Reeve, that is, the Hollywood actor who starred in Superman I, II, III and IV. They both had neatly combed hair, firm jaws, […]
This is just one story amongst many but it raises serious questions. A 90-year-old woman, Nancy Russell, chose euthanasia last month in Toronto. She was not suffering unbearable pain. She was just sick and tired of lockdown isolation in her nursing home. According to a report in CTVNews, “Residents eat meals in their rooms, have activities […]
Lobby groups for Canadians with disabilities are working hard to defeat a bill broadening the scope of euthanasia legislation. Under the current legislation, although some people with chronic illness want “medical aid in dying” (MAiD), they may not be eligible because their death is not “reasonably foreseeable”, in the words of the legislation. A new […]
Dr Feargal Twomey says that palliative care experts are strongly opposed to Assisted Suicide because they know modern medicine can manage pain and distress effectively. Doctors shouldn’t kill their patients. Watch GRIPT’s Deep Dive: a more in-depth look at some of the most important and controversial issues of the day
In referenda run alongside parliamentary elections last month, two thirds of New Zealanders voted to legalise euthanasia, while a small majority voted against legalising marijuana. Results from a further 480,000 special votes, to be published on November 6, cannot change the euthanasia outcome and so the End of Life Choice Act will come into effect a year from now. […]
Intolerable and hopeless (meaning without prospect of improvement) suffering is an eligibility criterion for euthanasia/assisted suicide in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Canada. Despite having been used as such a criterion for decades (at least in the Netherlands; shorter periods in other countries), it is still widely debated as to its meaning and applicability as an […]