Monthly Archives: April 2023

Paglia pointed to Pope Francis decision in 2018 to revise the Catechism of the Catholic Church to state that the death penalty is inadmissible.

The contribution of Christians is made within the different cultures, neither above as if they possessed an a priori given truth nor below as if believers were the bearers of a respectable opinion, but disengaged from history, Paglia continued.

Between believers and non-believers there is a relationship of mutual learning, Paglia said.

As believers, therefore, we ask the same questions that concern everyone, in the knowledge that we are in a pluralistic democratic society. In this case, about the end of (earthly) life, we find ourselves all facing a common question: How can we reach (together) the best way to articulate the good (ethical plane) and the just (legal plane), for each person and for society?

Paglia criticized the expansion of laws in some countries to permit involuntary euthanasia. At the same time, he said it was not to be ruled out that legalized assisted suicide is feasible in our society, provided certain conditions spelled out by a 2019 Italian constitutional court ruling are met.

Specifically, he said, quoting from the courts direction, the person must be kept alive by life-support treatment and suffering from an irreversible pathology, a source of physical or psychological suffering that he or she considers intolerable, but fully capable of making free and conscious decisions." The Italian House of Representatives has already approved such legislation, but not the Senate, he noted.

This is not the first time Paglias remarks on assisted suicide have stirred controversy. In 2019, answering a question about assisted suicide and whether a Catholic or a Catholic priest can be present at someone's death by assisted suicide, Paglia told a small group of journalists that he would be willing to do so, because "the Lord never abandons anyone."

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BREAKING: Pontifical Academy of Life president calls medically assisted suicide feasible - Catholic News Agency

My first attempt to kill myself was when I was a child. I tried again as a teenager; as an adult, Ive attempted suicide repeatedly and in a variety of ways. And yet, as a 55-year-old white man (a member of one of the groups at the highest risk for suicide in America) and the happily married father of five children, I am thankful that I am incompetent at killing myself.

I believe that almost every suicide can be prevented, including my own, with access to good behavioral health systems. I have talked many, many people off the ledge.

I am a Canadian, where eligible adults have had the legal right to request medical assistance in dying (MAID) since June 2016. Acceptance of MAID has been spreading, and it is now legal in almost a dozen countries and 10 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. To my mind, this is moral progress: When a person is in unbearable physical agony, suffering from a terminal disease, and death is near, surely it is compassionate to help end the pain, if the person so chooses.

But a debate has arisen in Canada because the law was written to include those living with severe, incurable mental illness. This part of the law was meant to take effect this year but was recently postponed until 2024.

Many people who want to end their lives because of intense mental suffering find themselves grateful for their lives once the suicidal moment or attempt has passed. As Ken Baldwin, who survived a suicide attempt by leaping off the Golden Gate Bridge, famously remarked, I instantly realized that everything in my life that Id thought was unfixable was totally fixable except for having just jumped.

One might expect that as someone who has repeatedly attempted suicide and yet is happy to be alive, I am opposed to euthanasia on psychiatric grounds. But it is because of my intimacy with suicide that I believe people must have this right.

Its true that policymakers, psychiatrists and medical ethicists must treat requests for euthanasia on psychiatric grounds with particular care, because we dont understand mental illness as well as we do physical illness. However, the difficulty of understanding extreme psychological suffering is in fact a reason to endorse a prudent policy of assisted suicide for at least some psychiatric cases. When people are desperate for relief from torment that we do not understand well enough to effectively treat, giving them the right and the expert medical assistance to end that misery is caring for them.

Canadas MAID law recognizes that people suffering from extreme depression, for example, may find no other means to end their agony. Approximately one-third of people coping with major depressive disorder have symptoms that do not reliably respond to available treatments. If you know there is no medically sanctioned way out of your mental pain, you may be likely to take matters into your own hands. Major depression is one of the psychiatric diagnoses most common to suicidal people, and approximately two-thirds of people who die by suicide are depressed at the time of their death. Yet any of us can commit suicide and currently it is an epidemic.

A panel of experts has recommended safeguards and protocols for requests for aid in dying made by people with mental illness. Should MAIDs extension to those suffering acute mental pain follow the Canadian model, patients will be able to make their case to two health care practitioners, who must agree that their illness is grievous and irremediable. This is far preferable to the messy, difficult, terrifying job of trying to do it yourself. The suicidal persons involvement in a behavioral health setting that can give a variety of kinds of help might result in rethinking the desire to die. Suicidal ideation can consume the lives of those who live with it. By interrupting or complicating the habitual patterns of chronic suicidal ideation, the prospect of relief through MAID could, paradoxically, ease the need for ending ones own life.

As DeseRae L. Stage, a therapist and suicide-awareness advocate, told me, This is one time that bureaucracy might actually save lives. While the Canadian application for physician-assisted suicide is being reviewed, treatment and reflection can take place. Also, the knowledge that there is a way out may alleviate the terrifying claustrophobia so common to suicidal people like me and to people in acute suffering more generally. Pain can make anyone panic.

When people are granted the right to end their lives with medical help, they may opt not to use it. People should be granted the right to this assistance. It does not follow they will exercise that right.

I agree entirely with Andrew Solomon when he writes, It is up to each man to set limits on his own tortures. That is the compassionate wisdom informing every law permitting medical assistance in dying. If we are willing to help people end their physical suffering by assisting their death, can we in good conscience deny them that help for their mental suffering? As psychiatrists like Dr. Justine Dembo of the University of Toronto have argued, excluding mental suffering from MAID would discriminate against individuals suffering intolerably from mental illness.

Yes, we need wise regulation; we need expert advice; we need the best medical information: This is precisely why physicians who specialize in this must be involved, and Canada has these experts. Must Canada, and other countries with similar policies permitting MAID on psychiatric grounds, like Belgium and the Netherlands, continue to proceed with the utmost care, with the advice of appropriate behavioral health and ethical experts? Of course. Should we be especially cautious when it comes to cases involving anyone about whose informed consent we have concerns, such as minors or the disabled? Of course. But this is how any enlightened health care policy must proceed.

Suicidal people suffering from psychological torture should have the right to consult a medical expert about medical assistance in taking their own lives and be given that assistance if their need is justified. Having terrified or anguished people in acute mental suffering ending their pain by the many means available to them, often resulting not in death but in terrible physical injury, is much worse, and its happening every day.

If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.

Clancy Martin is professor of philosophy at the University of Missouri in Kansas City and Ashoka University in New Delhi. His latest book is How Not to Kill Yourself.

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Opinion | Medical Assistance in Dying Should Not Exclude Mental ... - The New York Times

Maltese philosophy teacher Elton Grech discussed and made comparisons between euthanasia and abortion on Jon Mallias podcast.

Whoevers receiving euthanasia is in a much more advanced state, is more cognitively developed, and aware (than a few weeks old fetuses), Grech said on the Jon Mallia Podcast.

So why are we safeguarding cells that we cant properly identify as an individual? As a human, yes thats genes, DNA.

Elton Grech deliberated the issues that arise when talking about such sensitive and controversial topics, ones that involve matters of life and death.

Grechs argument is based on the fact that a fully-grown person waiting for euthanasia is, to our knowledge, more developed than a fetus.

Many see the potential of personhood as an actuality, and Grech used the scenario of a child who is a potential future driver as an example.

Just because someone whos seven years old has the potential to turn eighteen and start driving, doesnt mean youd give them the keys and tell them to go drive your car, Grech explains.

Do you agree with Elton Grechs argument?

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Watch: 'Why Are We Safeguarding Cells?' - Philosophy Teacher ... - Lovin Malta

At the height of the 21st century, Richard Fleischers Soylent Green can make for a somewhat weird watch. Originally released in 1973, the film first produces a sense of disconnect in modern viewers with its initial card, which dates its plot as taking place in the far-off year of 2022. The films extremely 1970s brand of sexism and neo-Malthusian approach to overpopulation can also feel uncomfortable for contemporary eyes. And, yet, Soylent Greens social and environmental concerns feel all the more urgent in a world in which climate change has become undeniable - though many still try - and the 1% looks for morally questionable ways to survive the imminent apocalypse. Though it hardly comes as a surprise to anyone, the films final reveal - Soylent green is people! - still packs one hell of a punch.

But theres something in Soylent Green that feels even more wrong than the realization that humanity has been engaging in involuntary cannibalism. It might not be as gruesome, but its certainly just as harrowing and a lot more daunting in just how much it speaks about the nature of humanity in such a world. This horror is the assisted suicide clinic in which Sol Roth (Edward G. Robinson) chooses to end his life.

Despite being an integral part of the Soylent Green universe, the euthanasia facility is introduced fairly late on in the movie. Its addition to the plot, however, is essential to help viewers understand just how devoid of value human life has become in such a scarcity-ridden world. It is the one place in which the poor and weak of the Soylent Green society may find some semblance of dignity, but it is also the place to which you go to be turned from an unproductive individual into a product. When push comes to shove, yes, there is an intrinsic horror in learning that you have been consuming human flesh against your will throughout most of your life, but theres nothing like the realization that the only solace you can find is in choosing to die to make you realize just how little you are worth to society. And the way in which Sol decides for his own death only serves to make it all more petrifying.

RELATED: "The Only Good Human Is a Dead Human": Looking Back at 'Beneath the Planet of the Apes'

Based on the 1966 novel Make Room! Make Room!, by sci-fi author Harry Harrison, Soylent Green introduces us to an Earth ravaged by pollution, wealth inequality, and overpopulation. Food has become scarce, and the vast majority of the worlds population is able to feed only on nutritious cubes produced by a megacorporation named Soylent. The most popular of the companys products is the titular Soylent Green, a protein-filled snack allegedly made out of plankton. As the rich and powerful hide in elegant apartments, cities are overrun by poor people living either in the streets or in gun-guarded tenements. Meanwhile, the countryside has become off-limits in order to protect its few remaining crops. Human life has been commodified to a point in which people are all but literally turned into objects: furniture is the name given to women bought for housekeeping and sexual services by the rich, while a book is a live-in researcher assigned to a police detective by their precinct.

Our person of interest in this article, Sol Roth, is a police book in the service of Detective Robert Thorn (Charlton Heston). An elderly man with fond memories of the old world, he has trouble adjusting to his new reality. How can he do his research job if no books have been published in over a decade? How can he enjoy Soylent when he still remembers the taste of real strawberries? It is a harsh existence, but it only becomes truly unbearable to him after the murder of Soylent executive William Simonson (Joseph Cotten). As Sol and Thorn dive deep into the mystery of Simonsons death, some corporate secrets come to the surface. More specifically, as Sol looks into the top-secret research papers published by Soylent on the state of the Earths oceans, it becomes clear that there is not enough plankton for the manufacturing of Soylent Green. The super nutritious protein cubes, as it turns out, are made of people. They are made of the bodies that are picked up from the streets by the sanitation department, as well as of the bodies of those that choose to die in this universe's assisted suicide clinics.

This is too much for Sol to take in. Upon learning all this information, he sees no other option for himself but to surrender his own life to the state - and to Soylent. He leaves a small note for Thorn and walks to the closest euthanasia facility, where lines of people, young and old, all dressed in rags, wait to be put to sleep for the very last time. His decision is made a lot more heartbreaking by the fact that he knows what will happen to his body once the people of the clinic are done with him: he will be turned into Soylent Green. From a commodified human being, he will be transformed into a consumable good.

By choosing to turn himself into Soylent Green, Sol receives a respectful treatment for what is probably the first time in many, many years. He finds dignity in the facility's cool air conditioning system - a respite from the scalding hot air of the city, courtesy of the greenhouse effect. He finds kindness in the smiles and low voices of the clinics employees, that promises him a pleasant experience. He finds comfort in the bed and in the poison-laced drink, and beauty in the classical music hes chosen to accompany him in his final moments. Finally, he finds God and home in the images of the world he has lost, shown to him in huge cinemascope screens.

Sols death by assisted suicide is by far the most heartbreaking and shocking moment in Soylent Green, and not just because it hasnt been spoiled endlessly, unlike the Soylent Green is people reveal. However, the sheer existence of the euthanasia facility in the movie is already enough to send chills down anyones spine. It is horrifying to imagine a world in which dignity can only be found in death, and only if you choose to die, whether you know you will be turned into food. The people that die in the streets or in overcrowded churches are granted no such kindness. You are treated with respect only if you accept that you are nothing more than surplus and give up on trying to become anything else. The fact that this particular kind of assisted suicide is treated as humane only makes it all the more disturbing.

In the end, the reaction it evokes from us is much deeper than what is brought forth by the cannibalism reveal. Learning what Soylent Green is actually made of is shocking. It scares us and makes us nauseous, but the feeling goes away. The euthanasia clinic stays with us. It not only scares us, but brings us down. It kills something inside our very souls. Because, you see, even in the world of Soylent Green, forcing people to eat each other was something that had to be done in secret. Offering people death as the only alternative to an unbearable experience was done out in the open, with a veneer of charity and a little bit of spectacle. More than anything, this is the real sign that our humanity is gone: we are convinced to give up on it, and only by doing so are we able to regain it in the form of beauty and dignity.

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The Greatest Horror of 'Soylent Green' Isn't Soylent Green It's This - Collider

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Noor Jehan, an ailing elephant in Pakistan's Karachi Zoo succumbed to critical injuries she received recently, but her death has revived criticisms over the dire state of the nation's zoos. Experts, vets and animal welfare advocates had tried to save the animal, but in vain.

Noor Jehan's death at the age of 17 is heartbreaking as she was an African elephant whose average lifespan is 60 to 70 years. She had many more years to live.

She recently underwent emergency treatment for a tumour which had crippled her back legs. She became trapped in her enclosure's pool during her recovery period.

The animal charity welfare stated that zoo workers hauled out the 3.5-tonne pachyderm but she could not stand and lay stricken for nine days, "a life-threatening situation for elephants". The statement further noted that experts were even considering euthanasia but before a decision was taken "she succumbed to her critical condition".

Four Paws, an international animal welfare organisation, said, "After fighting for 9 days, she succumbed to her critical condition. She spent too long lying on the ground a life-threatening situation for elephants." The Austria-based animal organisation had been advising local and international veterinarians on her treatment.

The animal welfare also tweeted that Jehan's story was a "reminder of the suffering that captive wild animals endure in Pakistan and around the world. We hope that the authorities in Pakistan will take this as an example and do better for captive wild animals in the future."

Viral images of Noor Jehan helplessly lying on her side when she was unwell were heartbreaking and also led to widespread criticism of the zoo authorities. It also led to reports in the local media that Karachi Zoo may be shut down permanently. Four Paws said it may be a watershed moment for the well-being of wild animals in captivity in the South Asian nation.

The campaigners pushing to close the wildlife show in southern Karachi city highlighted Noor Jehan's misery as evidence of Pakistani zoos' disregard for animal welfare.

Media reports of several deadly incidents underline the poor state of zoos across the country. Noor Jehan's incident is not the first one: two lions died of asphyxiation in recent years in Pakistan when keepers used smoke to try to lure them out of their den. Several white tiger cubs have also died.

A report in 2019 claimed that some 206 birds and 76 other animals died in 2017, while 122 birds and 45 other animals died in 2018. Multiple deaths were also reported in the Peshawar Zoo since it was inaugurated in February 2018.

Earlier this month, the director of the Karachi Zoo was fired due to reports of neglect. A court ordered the closure of the Islamabad Zoo in 2020 - the same zoo where the elephant Kaavan was kept.

In March, Karachi Zoo's Golden Tabby tiger died at 21 and according to sources, the animal had been ill for a long time and apparently failed to receive proper care.

During the entire Noor Jehan saga, Four Paws veterinarian Amir Khalil said that Karachi Zoo did not meet international standards. He also urged that Madhubala, the healthy elephant remaining at the zoo, be relocated to avert a second tragedy. The vet urged to provide Madhubala with a more species-appropriate place and give her a chance at a better life.

A report published last month mentioned that zoos across the nation suffer maintenance issues. Reports have emerged of food and staff shortages at a zoo in Karachi city. The animals kept there are said to be malnourished and living in cramped enclosures.

Pakistan is currently in the grip of an extreme economic crisis, burdened with external debt totaling more than $115 billion, surging inflation, and weak development prospects, among other issues.

The dire state of the economy hasan impact not only on humans but also on animals as reports of animal food shortages at Karachi Zoo sparked outrage on social media platforms and among animal rights advocates.

Reports noted that the zoo encompasses 43 acres of land and houses 750 animals and birds in 117 separate cages. Tipu Sharif, an animal rescuer who visited Karachi Zoo multiple times, described the zoo habitat as "unsatisfactory". The zoo was founded during British colonial authority.

Sharif told Deutsche Welle: "They are malnourished. The management does not have adequate resources to feed them and the food that is supplied to the animals is of not excellent quality. The animals don't have the right kind of space for the type of animals that they are."

The DW report also mentioned that the zoo also appears to be facing a staff shortage. A zoo employee told Germany's state-owned broadcaster on the condition of anonymity that the zoo has only 14 keepers to feed animals, take care of them and clean cages.

Officials at the zoo say the animals are suffering because there are no adequate funds. A report by the news agency PTI quoted one official as saying: "What can we do without a proper budget? The money generated is not enough to feed all the animals properly and keep the zoo neat and clean."

Several other reports have also highlighted the cruelty shown by the zookeepers and the administration of the Karachi Zoo towards the animals.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Explained: Dying animals, lack of funds - distressing state of Pakistan zoos - WION

The horror stories continue to pour in. Children, usually from poor families or in rural areas, are being hunted and killed by homeless dogs. State and central governments seem to be helpless to ensure the safety of people on the streets, from what has clearly become a human rights issue and a public health crisis.

The main culprit behind this is the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules that were first introduced in 2001by the Ministry of Culture, and now replaced by even more absurd ABC Rules, 2023. This policy, despite the protestation by those who promoted it, is completely lacking in both science as well as logic.

The policy aims to implement a technique called catch-neuter-vaccinate-release to control populations of free-ranging dogs and cats.

However, despite 20 years of this policy and hundreds of crores of rupees being spent, dog population in India is now more than 65 million. Proponents of this method aver that the only reason it did not work is because it has not been implemented properly. But what they fail to understand is that itis unimplementable from a scientific, logistic and economic perspective.

The ABC programme does not seem to have any benchmarks or targets. For example, before the start of the programme, a municipal corporation would be required to estimate the base population of dogs to be sterilised. It would then need to set targets for population reduction within a reasonable time period, say five years, and then calculate how many would need to be sterilised to achieve this objective.

However,municipalitiesset targets for sterilisation based on budgets and available facilities.In most cases, only a small fraction of the population is sterilised, and in many cases, the programme itself is discontinued after a few cycles.

Dogs are incredibly fecund animals, and reproduce at a high rate if enough resources are available.Both field and modelling studies show that nearly 90% of the dog population needs to be sterilised over a short period of time to achieve a sustained population reduction over a 10-15-year period. This minor detail is conveniently skipped by most proponents of the ABC programme.

The other major problem is thatthe ABC Rules, 2023, bizarrely require people to feed dogs, wherever they may be.The concept of feeding animals in India is associated either with religious beliefs, a false sense of compassion, or at its egregious worst, a wilful misinterpretation of Article 51G of the Constitutional duty to be compassionate to all living beings.Most people either throw a few biscuits on the roadside or leave leftover food outside their houses, but some people, with almost religious fervour, go out of their way to feed dozens of dogs.

A study conducted in Bengaluru found that roadside eateries and a few households that fed dogs were the main factors responsible for high dog densities. This creates huge conflict between feeders and ordinary residents who have to deal with packs of dogs roaming around their neighbourhoods. Although some justify feeding as a way of making dogs friendly and easier to catch for sterilisation, the same study found that, in fact, very few people actually sterilise or vaccinate dogs that they feed.

Reckless feeding tends to congregate dogs and leads to pack formation, territoriality and aggression even amongst sterilised dogs. This behaviour is usually triggered at night. At its very worst, this frenzied hunting behaviour can end up causing severe injury or even death due to mauling, especially of small children and the elderly.Another study also found that in urban areas, dogs were the second leading cause of road accidents.

Despite all these negatives, why does the government persist with a policy that is cruel at multiple levels? It is cruel to dogs, since homeless life on the streets is not easy, with accidents, disease, wanton cruelty and constant fear being their normal state. It is cruel to ordinary citizens, depriving people of their right to life, free movement, and a safe environment. In many areas, dogs are also leading causes of harm to wildlife, and cause immense loss of biodiversity.

The unkindest cut of all is that the ABC Rules ban the euthanasia of rabid animals, making India the only country in the world to follow such a cruel practice.The rules require rabid dogs to die a natural death.

However, it does not have to be this way. Solving this problem requires a multi-pronged approach, and some difficult decisions.Strict pet ownership laws, a ban on irresponsible feeding in public places, and encouraging adoption and long-term sheltering of homeless dogs will result in win-win solutions.Since euthanasia is so unacceptable to dog lovers, let them support the permanent sheltering of animals.

Unlike the ABC programme, the expenses incurred in setting up shelters will at least result in removing dogs from streets permanently, whereas the ABC Rules require that the dogs be released back into the same area, where they can be a nuisance in perpetuity. The same people who feed dogs on the streets can supervise shelters to ensure that they are well maintained and also feed them there.

If the greatness of our nation and its moral progress is to be judged by how we treat animals, then surely we should not be making the worst enemies of our best friends.

(Abi T. Vanak is a leading authority on the ecology of dogs, and a long-time advocate for true dog welfare. He is currently the Director for the Centre for Policy Design, ATREE, Bengaluru)

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Stray dog population control is dogged by bad science - The Hindu