Category Archives: Euthanasia

Debates about the ethics of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide date from ancient Greece and Rome. After the development of ether, physicians began advocating the use of anesthetics to relieve the pains of death. In 1870, Samuel Williams first proposed using anesthetics and morphine to intentionally end a patient's life. Over the next 35 years, debates about the ethics of euthanasia raged in the United States and Britain, culminating in 1906 in an Ohio bill to legalize euthanasia, a bill that was ultimately defeated. The arguments propounded for and against euthanasia in the 19th century are identical to contemporary arguments. Such similarities suggest four conclusions: Public interest in euthanasia 1) is not linked with advances in biomedical technology; 2) it flourishes in times of economic recession, in which individualism and social Darwinism are invoked to justify public policy; 3) it arises when physician authority over medical decision making is challenged; and 4) it occurs when terminating life-sustaining medical interventions become standard medical practice and interest develops in extending such practices to include euthanasia.

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The history of euthanasia debates in the United States and ...

Sixty-six people have been helped to die since it was made legal in New Zealand in November, with most of those choosing to do so in their home.

From November 7, when the End of Life Choice Act came into force, and March 31 this year, 206 people have applied to end their lives, according to Ministry of Health statistics.

At last count in February, the ministry said the number was at least 28 since then a further 38 people have gone through the process.

Supplied

About three quarters of those who applied for assisted dying were over the age of 65. (File photo)

Most of those who applied for assisted dying were Pkeh, who made up 79 percent of applicants, while 5 per cent were Mori and 2.4 per cent were Asian. Just over half were women and three quarters were over 65.

READ MORE:* At least 28 assisted deaths in first three months of new law* Two formal applications made for assisted dying in 10 days it has been legal* Kpiti man prepares for his own death as euthanasia law begins

Three quarters also chose to die at a private residence or their own home.

Most of those who applied were suffering from cancer (133), while 21 suffered from a neurological condition.

UNSPLASH

Nine of those who applied for assisted dying were between the ages of 18 and 44. (File photo)

But not everyone who started the process finished.

Of the 206 applicants, 59 were still going through the process as of March 31, while 81 didnt continue as they were either found ineligible (40), withdrew from the assisted dying programme (11), or died from their condition (30).

The criteria for an assisted death are strict and, so far, 40 people have been assessed as ineligible.

The reasons range from not being a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident to being assessed as not suffering from a medical condition that was likely to be terminal within six months.

To be eligible for assisted dying under the Act, a person (over the age of 18) must have a terminal illness likely to end their life within six months.

They must have significant and ongoing decline in physical capability and experience unbearable suffering which cannot be eased in a manner they find tolerable.

A person cannot access assisted dying solely because they have a mental disorder or mental illness, have a disability or are of advanced age.

Previously the ministry estimated up to 950 people could apply for assisted dying each year, with up to 350 being assisted to die.

To go through the assisted dying process, a person must first make a formal request to their doctor for assisted dying, and an attending medical practitioner undertakes a first assessment to determine their eligibility.

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The ACT Party celebrates as the euthanasia referendum results are revealed.

A second independent doctor also assesses the person, and a third assessment by a psychiatrist may be undertaken.

So far, no person has been rejected after being assessed by a psychologist.

When a person is deemed eligible, they choose the date and time for the assisted death to take place, as well as the method for the medication to be administered.

Assisted dying may be a sensitive topic for some people. People can call or text 1737 for free to speak to a trained counsellor at any time.

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Sixty-six people have been helped to die in NZ since euthanasia law change - Stuff

Two cases of bird flu have been confirmed in U.S. zoos, but officials said they wont order widespread euthanasia of zoo birds the way they have on farms.

U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman Mike Stepien declined to release any details about the zoo cases Thursday, including which two zoos were involved.

Many zoos across the country haveclosed down their aviaries and moved birds insidewhenever possible to help protect them from avian influenza that officials believe is primarily being spread by the droppings of wild birds.

At many zoos, penguins might be the only birds visitors can see because they are generally kept inside behind glass where they are shielded from the virus.

Nearly 27 million chickens and turkeyshave been slaughteredin 26 states to limit the spread of bird flu during this years outbreak. Officials order entire flocks to be killed when the virus is found on farms.

Stepien said zoos work with state veterinary officials when the virus is found, but unlike farms, zoos are generally allowed to isolate and treat an infected bird as long as they take precautions to protect the other birds in their collections.

Health officials emphasize that bird flu doesnt jeopardize food safety because infected birds arent allowed into the food supply and properly cooking meat and eggs to 165 degrees Fahrenheit will kill any viruses. The disease also doesnt represent any immediate public health threat, and no human cases have been found in America.

This years outbreak is theworst onesince 2015 when roughly 50 million chickens and turkeys were slaughtered because of the virus. Stepien said that there were very few bird flu cases in captive wild birds in 2015 and none in large zoos, and no wild birds at zoos were euthanized that year.

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2 Bird Flu Cases Confirmed In US Zoos As Virus Spreads - News On 6

Nothing in David Hunters life is as it should be. Six weeks short of turning 75, the pensioner remains in Cyprus but his home is a prison cell shared with 11 other men. At the other end of the Mediterranean island, Janice, his beloved wife, lies buried in a cemetery overlooking the sea. He has not been able to visit. Even worse, almost four months to the day after she died, he stands accused of premeditated murder with the prospect of spending the rest of his life behind bars.

My dad loved my mum for 56 years, said Lesley Cawthorne, the couples daughter, from her home in Norwich. He absolutely cherished her. From beginning to end, when she was so ill and in such pain, he treated her with kindness, love and compassion. All we want is to bring him home.

The battle to do that moves into high gear on Monday, when Hunter, a former miner from Northumberland, will be driven out of Nicosias central prison to Paphos, the southern resort town where he and his wife first sought their dream life abroad.

There, before an assize court, he will relive the events of the night of 18 December, events that his lawyers say amount to assisted suicide, but which, in a nation heavily influenced by the Greek Orthodox Church, have caused unease even if they have also helped lift the veil on a subject long considered taboo: euthanasia.

For months, Cawthorne said, her father had resisted her cancer-stricken mothers pleas to end what had become excruciating physical pain.

Janice Hunter was diagnosed with leukemia in 2016 and her health deteriorated after the outbreak of the pandemic. Difficulties accessing treatments combined with persistent diarrhoea and the gradual loss of sight had made life unbearable.

Fearing the same fate as her sister, Kathleen, who endured an agonising and undignified death from the same disease, Janice begged for her suffering to end, said Cawthorne, a finance industry compliance consultant.

A week before Christmas, as his wife sat in her favourite armchair in a room full of decorations, Hunter acted: he took his wifes head in his hands and, according to police, blocked her air passages until the deed was done. The septuagenarian then tried to take his own life by overdosing on prescription pills and alcohol. By the time the authorities arrived alerted by Hunters brother they found the ex-miner barely alive in their Tremithousa maisonette in the hills above Paphos. Janice was dead in her white leather chair.

For days doctors pumped Hunters stomach, against his will, until the Briton fully regained consciousness. When he did come round, it was to the knowledge that a moments decision, spurred by an alleged act of love, had changed his life forever.

But Derek Wickett, the couples neighbour, is certain of one thing. They thought the world of each other, said the mild-mannered Midlander who also retired to Cyprus after 40 years employed at the Fort Dunlop tyre factory in Birmingham. Youd hear Janice sing; she loved her vegetable garden, he told the Observer, popping his head over the wall between the maisonettes. Then suddenly there was no singing. She was in such pain she couldnt come out. It was terrible how it ended. We just hope they can get David home.

Hunters lawyers have appealed to the attorney general, the top legal officer in the former British colony, to intervene in what is the first case of its kind in Cyprus. Against a backdrop of opposition from the Orthodox Church and debate in parliament over legalising euthanasia, the defence team asked that the charge be reduced to assisted suicide in line with legislation elsewhere in Europe. On Friday the request was rejected.

We put together lengthy submissions drawing on law and guidance from other jurisdictions explaining why a prosecution for murder is inappropriate in the circumstances of this case, said Michael Polak, a barrister with the London-based legal aid group Justice Abroad. These submissions have been rejected but no reasoning was given in the letter for this cause of action.

The lawyers said they would continue to request that the prosecution take a principled decision so David Hunter could return to the UK.

In Ollies, a family-run pub near the palm-fringed cul-de-sac where the Hunters once lived, expats were reluctant to talk about an affair that has clearly cast a pall over the community. But genuine affection and respect for the Hunters were not in short supply.

They were very good people, said Petros Christofi, who presides over Tremithousas 1,300-strong community and rented the maisonette to the couple after they sold their Paphos flat to pay for Janices healthcare. Ask Father Michael at the church, ask anyone here. They were liked by all.

It was with a heavy heart, said Christofi, that he had testified to police on the night she died. Its clear she was suffering. Its clear she was in pain. Its clear this wasnt murder and its clear our laws should change.

A wooden cross marks the hillside spot where Janice is buried. A flower-filled jug and bouquets lie across the freshest grave in the cemetery full of foreign names.

Dad is obsessed with the idea that he needs to visit Mums grave, said Cawthorne, 49, who said her own heart condition has prevented her from travelling to Cyprus.

He feels its indecent and disrespectful that he hasnt been able to go. Its been impossible to grieve for Mum. All we want is compassion. We need Dad home so we can grieve together.

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Briton who killed terminally ill wife faces murder trial in Cyprus - The Guardian

By Tony MaglianoMaking a Difference

In his book, "The Passion and the Cross," columnist and author Father Ron Rolheiser writes, "The cross of Jesus doesn't just reveal God as unconditional love' it also reveals how vulnerability is the path to intimacy. How is this revealed in the cross? The best place to start is with God. What the cross tells us, more clearly than any other revelation, is that God is absolutely and utterly nonviolent and that God's vulnerability, which the cross invites us into, is a power for community with God and with each other."

But our attraction to sin and its powerful capacity to lure us away from our loving God, often leads us to a deafness a deafness to the message of the cross. And thus, even in its most violent forms, sin continues to seduce countless human beings to disregard their most fundamental nature as persons made in the image and likeness of our good God.

Jesus self-giving message from the cross, inviting us to enter into his unconditional love, vulnerability, intimacy, absolute nonviolence, community with God and each other is what you and I and the entire world needs more than anything else!

During Good Fridays Stations of the Cross led by Pope Francis in the Roman Colosseum (see: https://bit.ly/3vfZzpQ), a Ukrainian and a Russian family jointly wrote the meditation for the 13th Station praying: We wake up in the morning and feel happy for a few moments, but then suddenly think how difficult it will be to reconcile ourselves to all of this. Lord where are you? Speak to us amid the silence of death and division, and teach us to be peacemakers, brothers and sisters, and to rebuild what bombs tried to destroy.

And in the 14th Station composed by the parents of a migrant family driven out of their war-torn country, they share how they daily die to self so that their children have the chance of a life without bombs, blood, and persecution. They pray: If we do not give up, it is because we know that the great stone at the entrance of the tomb will one day be rolled away.

These families who have suffered so deeply, have entered into Jesus invitation from the cross. They have experienced, and are continuing to experience, the message that our Lord Jesus is with them, and through his unimaginable suffering, he fully understands their suffering and is leading them to help the rest of us enter into his invitation from the cross, of unconditional love, vulnerability, intimacy, absolute nonviolence, community with God and each other.

In addition to these sad, and yet heroic examples of suffering migrants and victims of war, there are countless other innocent brothers and sisters, enduring tremendous hardships, pain and death.

Abortion, poverty, hunger, starvation, homelessness, human trafficking, needy refugees, capital punishment, religious and ethnic persecution, racism, lack of medical care, euthanasia and human-related climate change disasters are among the other realities that crush fellow human beings.

In light of all this human-induced misery and death, are we the 21st century followers of Jesus Christ finally willing to deeply reflect upon and selflessly act on the truth insightfully observed by Father Rolheiser that The cross of Jesus doesnt just reveal God as unconditional love; it also reveals how vulnerability is the path to intimacy. How is this revealed in the cross? The best place to start is with God. What the cross tells us, more clearly than any other revelation, is that God is absolutely and utterly nonviolent and that Gods vulnerability, which the cross invites us into, is a power for community with God and with each other.

Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached attmag6@comcast.net.

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The cross' indispensable invitation - Clarion Herald

First-year student, Elijah Fazil, recorded their heated conversation with SFL, resulting in their phone being knocked out of their hands.

On April 8, there a pro-life table was stationed in the Student Union Building, in front of Lounge 100. Students were baffled by the tables presence, considering SUNY New Paltz is supposed to be a progressive school.

The table is run by a Students For Life of America (SFL) group, according to New Paltzs Student Engagement. SFL states they exist to educate students on abortion and help make it unthinkable, and that they are dedicated to helping mothers during and after pregnancy. The organizations Constitution states its purpose is to work to save lives threatened by induced abortion, euthanasia and the destruction of human embryos for research.

At the SUB, SFL had multiple infographics showcasing the effects of the Chemical Abortion, details about the Abortion Industrys Plan for a Post-Roe America and one that stated The Supreme Court Is Ready To Reverse Roe v. Wade. The graphics refer to the opposing side as they, not exactly specifying who or what this organizations opposition is, but many speculate their opposition is either Planned Parenthood or leftists.

The table promoted many anti-abortion agendas, including untrue claims over the effects of mifepristone, falsely stating it is 4x riskier than surgical abortion. Mifepristone (also known as mifeprex) is a drug that blocks the progesterone hormone and can end a pregnancy that is less than 10 weeks along. It was previously known as RU486 and is sometimes called the abortion pill.

Another infographic that was on display included an argument about Decreased Womens Safety, which stated that abortion harms women, such as in the extreme cases of underlying medical conditions for those who take the mifepristone.

Each infographic SFL has displayed a website titled ThisIsChemicalAbortion.com, whose mission is to stop chemical abortions with the Teleabortion Prevention Act of 2021. Introduced by Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), the act aims to hold accountable medical professionals providing remote healthcare. If passed, this bill will require healthcare providers to conduct a physical examination, to be present during the monthly chemical abortion intake, and schedule a follow-up visit for the patient.

Student For Lifes website stands by its argument that abortion is considered violence. The organization does not believe that sexual assault is a justification for abortion, nor the idea that the life and health of the mother are grounds for abortion.

First-year student, Elijah Fazil, decided to record the anti-abortion displays and had an interaction with a person running the stand. Fazil was curious about what those tables were saying and wanted to take a few photos of the information SFL was promoting.

Im taking a picture of this because Im like, this is silly, Fazil states in the 15-second video they took. Fazil had already had a disagreement with the woman leading the table prior to this interaction, but they decided to come back and share this information with their friends.

The woman, who has remained unidentified, begins to taunt Fazil by saying, Oh go ahead. Go ahead and do it. She is seen wearing a sweatshirt that reads Choose Life, which is SFL merchandise. When Fazil turns their camera toward the voice, the woman swats the phone out of their hands and it falls to the floor.

The woman can be heard in the background, No, dont take a photo of me, you [inaudible].

When she tried taking my phone, I was really about to start something but I didnt want to get kicked out of school over some girl, Fazil said following the incident. They are glad they caught the action on camera though.

Students For Life has not replied for a comment.

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Students For Life Table in the Student Union Building - The New Paltz Oracle - SUNY The New Paltz Oracle

Katie Leigh French was Sue Waltons stepdaughter, but Walton never really made the distinction. One of six daughters in a blended family, French like her stepmum worked in aged care, and the pair used to talk all the time, night shift, on the phone or shed text me. That was until July of last year when, just two weeks after giving birth to a baby boy, French was told that she had stage 4 cancer. She was given three months to live. She was 35 years old.

Soon after her diagnosis, French talked to her stepmum about her decision to apply to access voluntary assisted dying (VAD), with all the pragmatism of a couple of aged care workers. She said, Im going to do it, and it seemed like she was sort of waiting for approval. And I said: Kate, its your body. Its your choice, says Walton. I know whats going to happen at the end of all of this, and so do you. And you have the right to decide what to do.

French had moved to Victoria, the first state in Australia to legalise voluntary assisted dying, before she discovered she was ill and so she was eligible to make use of that states laws. While she longed to come home to her dad, her stepmum, and her friends and family in Kanahooka, NSW, she was anchored to Melbourne by the lockbox of life-ending medication shed jumped through legal hoops to attain and the knowledge that if she returned home to NSW to use it, shed be breaking the law in the last state in Australia yet to legalise voluntary assisted dying.

Last month marked the third time in a decade that the NSW upper house has debated voluntary assisted dying. NSW had been in line to become the first Australian state to legislate it in 2017, but the bill failed to pass in the upper house by just one vote. Days later, Victoria legalised voluntary euthanasia.

In 2021 the issue took on an extraordinary momentum across the country, with a similar scheme to Victorias coming into effect in Western Australia in July, and Tasmania and South Australia passing legislation in the same year. The federal government has denied the territories the chance to make their own laws on the issue.

All of this means that the rules on voluntary assisted dying are not uniform across Australia. It leaves some terminally ill people in one state or territory unable to choose to end their lives, while those on the other side of the border can. And it leaves a few, like French, stuck between family on one side, and the death they want on the other.

NSWs latest bill finally passed the lower house in November 2021, on the last day of parliamentary sitting for the year. Three months later Walton stood outside parliament house in the rain, at a rally to urge members to push the bill through the upper house.

Walton told organisers shed return to the next rally, in between trips back and forth from NSW to Melbourne to care for French. Protests like this kept her busy, kept her mind off things, but she also had something else tugging at her, a promise shed made to her daughter: to be by her side when she decided to take the medication that would end her life. But just over 24 hours later, French was dead.

Independent member for Sydney Alex Greenwich knows a bit about the cost of delaying this kind of legislation, having co-sponsored failed bills in the past.

This time around, hes led the process, introducing the latest bill in October last year. With each bid to get the legislation up, Greenwich has been confronted by the costs of delay to the people desperate to see such a bill passed. Dealing with disappointing people that we havent resolved this for yet is tough, but its certainly not as tough as the cruel deaths that people experience and the trauma that their family members then face.

When French received her diagnosis last year, it was via Zoom. The city was about to enter hard lockdown again, and Walton began the task of coordinating with two state governments to get over the border to help nurse her daughter and take care of their newborn grandson, Jameson, the baby French had spent 10 years trying to conceive. It was the start of a dawning realisation of just how diabolical navigating the sometimes vastly different bureaucracies of neighbouring states could be.

Walton and her husband spent the next six months driving up and down the Hume to see French. (Waltons husband, Andrew, has leukaemia and cant get on a plane due to his compromised immune system.) Having only moved to Victoria shortly before the pandemic hit, Walton says French and her husband hadnt yet had a chance to build up much of a support network. They tried to get back home to Kanahooka as often as they could, but always returned to Melbourne.

The young mothers last trip home was for Christmas with her large extended family. It was an extremely emotional time for her and us, as she dearly wanted to stay at home and be with us all for whatever time was left, says Walton. If the law was in NSW, she wouldve been here with us and all her sisters, all her friends and all her family.

But with all our hearts broken she went back to Victoria.

In an April 2021 Australia Institute poll, three-quarters of Australians agreed with the principle that a person who is experiencing suffering that cannot be relieved and who asks to die should be allowed to receive the assistance of a doctor to do so. Another July 2021 Australian Institute poll found that seven in 10 NSW voters think that voluntary assisted dying should be legal.

Greenwichs current proposal, despite being personally opposed by both premier Dominic Perrottet and opposition leader Chris Minns, is backed by 28 MPs, including members of the government, crossbench and the Labor opposition the highest number of co-sponsors to a bill in the history of any Australian parliament.

In all the states that have thus far legalised it, VAD is only available to adults with decision-making capacity in the end stages of a terminal illness, and who are suffering intolerably. The person must maintain decision-making capacity throughout the process and make repeated requests for VAD. They can withdraw at any time. Amid caring for her newborn and dealing with increasingly painful symptoms, French applied for access to VAD in August. It was approved by February. By then, French had well outlived her three month prognosis. And even then, Walton says she was reluctant to actually order the medication to be delivered to her house.

The latest figures from Victorias voluntary assisted dying report of operations show that since June 2019, when the act came into force, until 30 June 2021, 836 people were assessed for eligibility to access VAD. Of those, 674 permit applications were made and 597 permits were issued. Of those permits, 331 people have died from taking the prescribed medications.

As reflected in Victorias data, many people who are granted a permit for medication dont utilise it. But for Walton, being in a different state provided another level of difficulty, given she was determined to honour her promise to be by Frenchs side if and when she decided to take the medication.

For the last five weeks she was asking us: Can you come down tomorrow? Im going to do it. And so wed prepare to leave at three in the morning, and wed ask her if she could wait that long, and then, hours later, shed say, Im not taking it tomorrow. And thats been going on for weeks.

She was clinging by the fingernails, as long as could, says Walton. The tumours became so large in her bones that they fractured they actually splintered she had a broken left arm. We knew that would happen, she knew that would happen, but she just didnt want to leave her little fella.

French was determined to see her sons first birthday. Instead, on Walton and her husbands last visit to Melbourne, as Jameson turned seven months old, French decided to throw a party. She didnt want to miss his first birthday party. So we held one early.

After the party Walton and her husband reluctantly returned home in time for Andrews regular course of treatments for his leukaemia. That was the week that Walton decided to step up to the Dying with Dignity rally. The week she had no idea just how little time there was left.

After Jamesons party, Frenchs condition rapidly deteriorated. She had begun to lose consciousness. Her family made preparations to once again head down the freeway to be by her side. But on the Thursday morning, the day after the rally, she suddenly became conscious and with her husband by her side took the medication. She passed away an hour later.

Greenwich has been struck by the stories of family members like Walton. Theres just a massive amount of stories in NSW, coupled with the sheer inequity that then exists by the fact that people in Victoria and Western Australia can already access this, and soon people in all of the other states.

By the time the NSW upper house concluded debate, a majority of members had spoken in favour of the VAD bill. Advocates like Dying with Dignitys Shayne Higson now believe its likely the legislation will pass when parliament resumes in mid-May. If it then passes without amendment, she estimates it could be implemented by the end of 2023.

Of course for some terminally people in NSW that will still be too late for them to access.

And for their families, that means trying to make peace with the way they died.

I dont make a promise easily. It means an awful lot to me, says Walton. And I now have to live with the fact that I didnt keep my promise to be there for Katies last breath. And I dont know whether she wouldve known or not, but I know myself. So thats just another thing that breaks my heart.

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Australians have unequal rights to die. For some families, that only adds to the pain - The Guardian

Last year, Canadian lawmakers approved legislation that expanded the eligibility for euthanasia and assisted suicide to the mentally ill, and now policymakers, doctors, and others are debating what the law will mean for medical practice in the country.

There is debate over whether a doctor may reasonably say that patients with depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder have realistic prospects of recovery, and debate over whether they have the ability to consent to end their life, the National Post reports. There are concerns that the availability of euthanasia and assisted suicide will make it harder to treat those with mental illness.

The legislation, set to take effect in March 2023, stripped the requirement that a person seeking euthanasia or assisted suicide must have a reasonably foreseeable death. It now allows for a person to seek legal euthanasia or assisted suicide even if mental illness is their sole underlying condition.

The legislation was written in response to a 2019 Quebec Superior Court decision which found that limiting euthanasia and assisted suicide only to people with reasonably foreseeable deaths was a violation of human rights. The province was sued by two people with chronic, but not terminal or progressive, conditions who sought access to assisted suicide.

Canadas Catholic bishops had strongly opposed the 2021 legislation.

Our position remains unequivocal. Euthanasia and assisted suicide constitute the deliberate killing of human life in violation of Gods Commandments; they erode our shared dignity by failing to see, to accept, and accompany those suffering and dying, Archbishop Richard Gagnon of Winnipeg, then- president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in an April 9, 2021 letter.

Some doctors who work with the mentally ill criticized the change, worrying that some patients felt helpless because they had not been referred to the right specialized care or lacked access to it, or because mental illness by nature can take years to treat properly.

Many parts of Canada even lack psychiatrists to treat mental illness, so fewer still are available to assess a patient for a euthanasia or assisted suicide request, the National Post reports.

Dr. Viren Naik, medical director for the medical aid-in-dying program in the Ottawa area, told the National Post that most providers are unwilling to see patients not in danger of imminent death but who still wish to be assessed for euthanasia or assisted suicide.

A 2021 Ontario Medical Association survey of its psychiatry section found that only 28 percent of doctors would support allowing medical assisted suicide when mental illness is the sole underlying condition, and only 12 percent said they would support it for their own patients.

A joint parliamentary committee studying the new law must report by June 23.

The Liberal Party-controlled government has also tasked an expert panel that will present its report on the law sometime this month. The panel must consider parameters and safeguards for how people with mental illness should be assessed for and provided euthanasia and assisted suicide, if eligible.

Dr. Sonu Gaind, who does not oppose assisted suicide in general, told the National Post that the most fundamental safeguard has already been removed in cases of mental illness. There is no scientific evidence that doctors can predict when a mental illness has no cure.

Gaind, a past president of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, is chief of psychiatry at Humber River Hospital in Toronto and is the physician chair of the medical assisted suicide team.

Theres no doubt that mental illnesses lead to grievous suffering, as grievous, even more grievous in some cases than other illnesses, Gaind told the National Post. Its the irremediability part that our framework also requires and that scientifically cannot be met. That we cannot do. Thats the problem.

Depression, he noted affects a patients outlook on the future.

You dont think about the future the same way. You see nothing. And theres that hopelessness, he said.

Gaind said isolation and poverty could play a role in assisted suicide requests. People seeking assisted suicide due to the prospect of foreseeable death do so out of concerns about their autonomy and dignity and tend to come from a higher socioeconomic standing.

Those seeking euthanasia or assisted suicide solely for mental illness, however, tend to be disproportionately women. In the Netherlands, women outnumber men by two-to-one among such patients. Gaind voiced concern that this parallels the ratio of suicide attempts. Most who attempt suicide and fail do not do so again, he noted.

So, the concern is, are we then shifting this transient suicidality into a permanent death? he asked.

The Netherlands has allowed assisted suicide for those with irredeemable mental suffering since 2002. At the same time, 90% of initial requests do not end in assisted suicide, with most request denied by psychiatrists and some requests withdrawn by the patients.

The Canadian Medical Association on April 4 published a study that surveyed Netherlands psychiatrists about assisted suicide for the mentally ill, the U.K. newspaper The Independent reports. The study summarized their views: making meaningful prognostic claims about psychiatric suffering is challenging or, some feared, impossible.

Guidelines for euthanasia and assisted suicide could emphasize a retrospective view of a patients history of failed treatments rather than ask psychiatrists to evaluate prospects for improvement.

Jocelyn Downie, a professor of law and medicine at Dalhousie University, said those who seek assisted suicide are generally not forced to undergo other kinds of treatment, such as chemotherapy for cancer patients, out of respect for autonomy. At the same time, she told the National Post that if a patient refuses basic treatments, that to me is a red flag about their decision-making capacity that merits deeper scrutiny from an advising doctor even though the patient might still have that capacity.

Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani, a Denver, Colo.-based internal medicine doctor who is an eating disorders specialist, made the news for co-authoring academic paper advocating assisted suicide for patients with severe anorexia nervosa.

Gaudiani, who does not endorse assisted suicide for other psychiatric conditions, told the National Post an exceptionally tiny fraction of people suffer from anorexia so severe that they could quality for a terminal diagnosis. She cited the dangers the condition causes to patients including malnutrition and bone damage.

Her stand drew criticism and concern from those who said the condition is treatable. A patient who is starving or severely malnourished may lack the mental capacity to consent. Several doctors told the Colorado Sun that her paper is dangerous to patients.

Dr. Blake Woodside, a professor in the University of Torontos psychiatry department and former director of Toronto General Hospitals eating disorders program, said offering medical assisted suicide to those with anorexia nervosa would be complicated beyond belief.

Most people with anorexia nervosa do not want to die, and most people with severe anorexia nervosa do not see themselves at risk of death. The majority of people with bad anorexia nervosa have significant denial about how severe their illness is, Woodside told the National Post.

Dr. Angela Guarda, a psychiatrist who is director of the eating disorders program at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, told the Colorado Sun that assisted suicide medication for people with anorexia is alarming and fraught with problems.

It is in direct contradiction to treating mental illness, promoting hope for recovery and improving quality of life for our patients, said Guarda, who has testified against assisted suicide legislation in Maryland.

She said that the condition is treatable and a patients ambivalence about treatment is one of the characteristics of the condition. Guarda questioned a patients ability to consent to assisted suicide because it is impossible to disentangle this request from the effects of the disorder on reasoning, and especially so in the chronically ill, demoralized patient who is likely to feel a failure.

Gangon, in his letter on behalf of Canadas Catholic bishops conference, expressed concern that the new law will result in those with mental illness or disabilities being pressured into ending their lives. The legislation did not include conscience protections for medical professionals who do not wish to participate in euthanasia or assisted suicide.

There has also been legal pressure on hospices with a history of opposing assisted suicide or euthanasia, including hospices with an explicitly Christian identity.

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As Canada normalizes euthanasia, assisted suicide for mentally ill, doctors voice concerns - Angelus News

13 April 2022 by Rosalind English

Lings v Denmark (Application no. 15136/20)

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that states have a broad margin of discretion in applying their criminal law to cases of assisted suicide. The applicants conviction may have constituted an interference with his rights, but that interference was prescribed by the Danish criminal law, which pursued the legitimate aims of the protection of health and morals and the rights of others.Denmark had not acted disproportionately by convicting him.

Law Pod UK recently ran an episode with former Court of Appeal judge Sir Stephen Sedley and Trevor Moore, the director of the campaign group My Death, My Decision, in which we dealt with this difficult subject in detail. Sir Stephen is a victim of Parkinsons disease and his contribution to the debate is profoundly important. I have therefore quoted extensively from the article Sir Stephen wrote for the London Review of Books in October 2021, A Decent Death.

Those campaigning for a change in the law in this field object to the use of the word euthanasia and I have respected this position in the following case report. It should be noted at the outset that the applicant physician was a member of an association called Physicians in Favour of Euthanasia. This is the English translation. The Danish suggests something closer to assisted dying: Aktiv Ddshjlp.

Background facts and law

The applicant, a retired physician, and member of an association in favour of assisted dying, was convicted of one count of attempted assisted suicide (count 1) and two counts of assisted suicide (counts 2 and 3) concerning three persons, A, B and C respectively, under Article 240 of the Danish Penal Code. He was sentenced to 60 days imprisonment, suspended. Maintaining that he had merely provided general advice about suicide, the applicant complained that his conviction was in breach of his right to provide information which is part of the right to freedom of expression under Article 10.

A had been in contact with the applicant, who had helped him obtain the required medication to end his life. But A survived his attempt.

B had become paralysed in most of his body following a stroke; he no longer found life worth living and wanted to die. He had tried to travel to Dignitas but no psychiatrist in Denmark would supply a certificate as to his mental preparedness, as required by the Swiss authorities. B therefore turned to the applicants organisation for help. He died after holding an informal farewell gathering.

C, an 85 year old woman, suffered from many infirmities but was not seriously ill. She wished to end her life and had procured the necessary pills herself.She was very frightened of the potential risk that she would fail, and she was nervous as to whether she would be able to go through with it on her own. She contacted the applicant who then passed on information from his associations lawful guide on the website. C subsequently died.

It was not in dispute that the applicants conviction had constituted an interference with Article 10. But this interference was prescribed by law section 240 of the Penal Code which had pursued the legitimate aims of the protection of health and morals and the rights of others. The main question was whether or not the application of section 240 of the Penal Code in the applicants case had been necessary in a democratic society.

There was no support in the Courts relevant case-law under Articles 2 and 8 for concluding that a right to assisted suicide existed under the Convention, including in the form of providing information about or assistance that went beyond providing general information about suicide. Accordingly, as the applicant had not been prosecuted for providing general information about suicide, including the guide on suicide that he had prepared and that had been made publicly available on the internet, but had been prosecuted for having assisted suicide through specific acts, the case was not about the applicants right to provide information that others under the Convention had a right to receive.

In the circumstances of the case, the Court saw no reason to call into question the Danish Supreme Courts conclusion that the applicant had broken the law. As regards counts 1 and 2 that court had found unanimously that the applicant had provided guidance as well as procured medications, by specific acts, for A and B, in the knowledge that they had been intended for their suicide.

[the applicant] assisted her [C] in a specific and significant way in committing suicide, and that the advice is not exempt from punishment due to the circumstance that his advice was based on a general guide that had lawfully been uploaded to the website of Physicians in Favour of Euthanasia.

Such acts were clearly covered by section 240 of the Penal Code, and implicitly, did not give rise to an issue under Article 10. It had been taken into account as an aggravating circumstance that to a certain extent the acts had been committed in a systematic manner and that the applicant had been charged on three counts, the last act being committed after he had been provisionally charged by the police for violation of section 240 of the Penal Code. The applicants old age had been considered a mitigating circumstance. Further, taking into account the email exchanges between the applicant and C, the Court considered that the reasons relied on by the Supreme Court when finding that the act fell within the scope of section 240 of the Penal Code had been relevant and sufficient.

Comment

It is not unlawful in Denmark to publish a guide to pharmaceutical methods of suicide on the Internet or elsewhere. The applicant had prepared a guide Medicines suited for suicide (Lgemidler der er velegnede til selvmord), which was available on the internet. The guide combined a detailed procedure for how to commit suicide, including a list of about 300 common pharmaceuticals suited to committing suicide, and a description of the dose required to go through with the suicide, possible combinations of pharmaceuticals and caveats about the various pharmaceuticals.

it was undisputed that the applicant could legally publish his guide Medicines suited for suicide on the internet and could encourage to suicide if not directed at specific persons. [para 58]

In the Danish Supreme Court, the applicant submitted that he had only assisted A, B and C by providing guidance and information, which was already legally accessible on the internet, and which failed to reach the threshold under section 240 of the Penal Code.

In the case of C, two of the judges in the Supreme Court concluded that the applicant had not broken the law. They found that the information given by the applicant to C from the guidance lawfully published in the internet was not of such a nature that the information could independently be considered to constitute a punishable act of assistance in her ending her life.

Accordingly, the minority found that the applicant should have been acquitted on this count of violation of section 240 of the Penal Code, in conjunction with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights on the right to receive and give information. In this respect they referred to the judgment by Strasbourg delivered on 29October 1992 in cases 14234/88 and 14235/88, Open Door and Dublin Well Woman v. Ireland.

Three of the judges the majority found that there was a distinction to be drawn between the legal general guide available on the internet and the specific information provided by the applicant to C. In their view, the applicants specific advice was suited to a greater extent than the general guide to intensifying Cs desire to commit suicide.

The Strasbourg Court considered extensive comparative law evidence about assisted suicide. It noted that in a number of countries, euthanasia is criminalised, whereas assisted suicide is lawful in other countries in certain circumstances. The latter countries are Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Austria, Estonia and Finland.

Assisted suicide is not criminalised in Sweden, but the Swedish Parliament recently adopted an amending Act making it a punishable act in certain circumstances to encourage or otherwise exert influence on another person to take his or her own life. In pursuance of this amending Act, any person who incites or otherwise exerts influence on another person to take his or her own life is punished for encouragement of suicide or negligent incitement to suicide.

This is the vital distinction that Stephen Sedley makes between encouragement, and assistance, two concepts that are disastrously conflated in English law.

Rather than recognise this fundamental difference, the law continues to inhibit the entitlement of a sane individual to draw a line under a life that may well have been fulfilling and worthwhile but has now become unbearable, by threatening to prosecute and jail anyone who regardless of motive gives them the help they need to end it. (LRB, October 2021)

In Switzerland, Germany and Austria assisted suicide is lawful. In Switzerland assisted suicide is offered by various organisations although it is (of course) punished by imprisonment or a pecuniary penalty if the person assisting in the suicide is motivated by self-serving ends. In Germany, assisted suicide was decriminalised as a consequence of a judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court. Similarly, assisted suicide was decriminalised in Austria since 31 December 2021 as a consequence of a decision made by the Constitutional Court of Austria.

It is noteworthy that neither Austria nor Germany had to wait until their respective parliaments grasped this nettle; their courts got on with a humane and modern update to existing law without undue delay or fuss. In this country there have been various attempts via Private Members Bills to allow assisted dying for adults with a terminal illness. Baroness Meachers Private Members Bill, which successfully passed itsSecond Readingin the House of Lords on 22 October last year, has yet to be debated in the Commons. What constitutes a terminal illness is open to question however and as a result an arbitrary criterion of six months has been put into place. As Sir Stephen points out,

Its here, too, that the principal legislative alternative to the present blanket prohibition on assisting suicide the six months to live test encounters a tripwire. As the Court of Appeal pointed out in Noel Conways case, the prospective lifespan of a terminally ill patient is not a fact capable of exact ascertainment: it is inevitably an educated guess. Most of us know of cases where a patient has died within days of, say, a one-year prognosis, and of other cases where the patient has long outlived the prediction. This is one reason the proposal to confine assisted suicide to patients with six months or less to live in other words, to reduce it to a right to an accelerated death has become a hostage to fortune, bogging the argument down in wrangles about predictability and enabling its opponents to sidestep the bigger issue of the right of a rational patient to put an end to indefinite and unbearable suffering.

Sadly it looks as if we are going to continue to see the game of buck-passing on this issue between courts and parliament, country and region, national courts and the Strasbourg Court, for decades to come. Strasbourg says that the subject of assisted suicide concerns matters of morals, something which speaks in favour of a wide margin of appreciation in the present case. But surely morals are the central concern of the Convention on Human Rights and Freedoms and its enforcement body in Strasbourg? The assertion that differences between signatory states (the comparative law research is set out in paragraphs 26 to 32 of the judgment) prevents the Court from intervening simply because Member States of the Council of Europe are far from having reached a consensus on this issue (para 60) begs the very question of what the Convention, and the Court, are for.

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Conviction of doctor under assisted suicide prohibition not in breach of Convention - UK Human Rights Blog

MEMPHIS, TENN. (WATE) A report from theNashville Humane Associationshows the director of the Lauderdale County Animal shelter admitted to shooting animals instead of putting them down with drugs.

In the report from January, Terry Kissell told a Humane Association employee that he had been shooting animals to euthanize them because their paperwork had issues and their euthanasia solution was expired.

A detective with the Lauderdale County Sheriffs Department said he began investigating the shelter in Ripley in March after he received a complaint about six dogs being shot at the facility. However, he could not find any evidence to back it up, and charges were never filed.

Detective Micah Middlebrook said that Kissell admitted to shooting and killing one dog, but said he did it because the dog was aggressive and charged him.

At least two rescue groups said the husky was very friendly and not vicious.

It was not aggressive. It was Snowball, said Amber Reynolds withHalfway Home Animal Rescue. I have pictures of him hugging me, loving on me.

The Lauderdale Animal Shelter was temporarily closed in 2015, and a part-time employee was suspended after a local rescue group found a live puppy in a freezer.

Debbie Flowers with Ripley Animal Rescue said she came to the shelter to take pictures of puppies and heard several had been euthanized. Flowers said she checked the freezer and noticed one still had a pulse.

Reynolds said last week, she found one dead puppy and two live puppies in a dark, cold closet at the Lauderdale County Shelter and was told the dead puppy was put in the closet because it was dying.

It was colder than it was outside, said Reynolds. The puppies didnt have a blanket. They were just lying on the plastic crate floor.

Lauderdale County Mayor Maurice Gaines said he didnt know about any puppies being left in a closet and said 99% of the claims made against the shelter were false.

I think there was an issue where a vicious dog was put down, said Mayor Gaines. He was investigated. Everything was dropped.

Rescue workers said they found out dogs were being shot after Kissell was suspended and said an employee who shared pictures of Kissell with the dog and gun was fired.

The mayor would not say if Kissell had been temporarily removed from his job.

In the report, the Humane Association employee said all of the dogs in the shelter appeared to be in good health. However, she said the kennels and dogs were wet, and the shelter had no medical records to prove the dogs had been vaccinated or de-wormed.

CASA Transport and Halfway Home both rescue dogs regularly and say the Kennels are sprayed down with water while the dogs are inside them and said some dogs have not been out of their cages in several months.

Things we see are urine burns on the dogs that we pull because there arent beds. They are lying on the wet floor in their own feces and urine most of the time, said Brittnie Battle withCASA Transport.

Battle said she has tried to rescue as many dogs as possible but says she has been banned from the shelter since posting aTik Tok videoasking the community to support their local shelter.

We are pulling dogs every week. So unless we are able to do that those dogs stay there, said Battle. Him shutting us out is a death sentence for the rest of the animals coming in.

We asked the mayor about the report from the Nashville Humane Association but have not heard back from him.

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Humane Association says Tennessee shelter put down dogs by shooting them - The Hill