Category Archives: Euthanasia

MATT STEWART

Last updated15:28, July 13 2017

STUFF

The Painless Path website uses a Stuff picture of supporters protesting outside the assisted suicide case of Wellington euthanasia advocate Susan Austen. The site purports to sell the suicide drug Nembutol.

Pro-euthanasia lobby group Exit International is warning its members off a scam website, based in the Ukraine, which is fleecingthe elderly by selling the popular and costly suicide drug Nembutal, which never arrives.

Those falling for the scam are mostly elderly people, many in poor health and with little internet savvy.

They are being gouged about $1100 - the price of a 25gm dose of the drug - and are too frightened to go to the authorities to complain about buying an illegal substance.

GLENN CAMPBELL

Exit International founder Philip Nitschke says scam sites claiming to sell Nembutal are on the rise as the elderly increasingly look for end of life choices.

Exit founder Philip Nitschke said about three of its members were in contact every week about the ripoff as the market for the lethal Class C controlled drug, used in assisted suicide, grows worldwide.

READ MORE: * Jury trial over assisted suicide case to proceed in Wellington for Susan Austen * Elderly importers of lethal drug used in assisted suicide are getting pinged by Customs * Wellington woman Annemarie Treadwell's death trigger for Police euthanasia furore * We know where you've been, police tell 76-year-old who attended euthanasia meeting

The Painless Path website uses aStuffpicture of supporters protesting outside the assisted suicide trial of Wellington euthanasia advocate Susan Austen.

STUFF

Susan Austen leaving Wellington District Court after an appearance in May.

Austen, 66, a Lower Hutt teacher, was charged in October2016with having twice imported pentobarbitone, more commonly known by its trade name Nembutal. In high doses, it causes death by respiratory arrest.

Nitschke was gobsmacked the site offered cheaper rates for teenagers and said the use of a news photo featuring euthanasia lobbyists in genuine protest was perfect for a scam site as it appeared credible and featured people from an older demographic.

Exit's handbook lists a handful of legitimate sites in Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and China but Nitschke says there are nearly 100 scam sites, a number that is growing in parallel with the rising global demand for the drug as an end-of-life option.

ROSS GIBLIN/STUFF

The original Dominion Post photo of supporters of Susan Austen outside the Wellington District Court used by the bogus Ukrainian website Painless Path.

"Luckilythey don't sell anything, just take your money. We'll be alerting members ... the steady growth in internet scams over the past decade is an indication of the growing global market in this drug ," he said.

The handbook had been updated to list bogus sites.

Nitschke said sites like Painless Path relied on those who fell for the scam being too frightened or sick to report it to the authorities.

"This is a vulnerable group who can hardly go to authorities saying I lost money buying this illegal drug. They'd be admitting to breaking the law."

The maximum penalty for importing a Class C drug is eight years' imprisonment.

-Stuff

See more here:

Dodgy scam site uses Kiwi pro-euthanasia protest imagery to sell bogus suicide drugs - Stuff.co.nz

With the voluntary euthanasia bill set to face its first reading soon after the election, MPs will face a conscience vote on whether the terminally-ill should have the right to choose when they die.

Early indications suggest it will be a close vote, with more MPs undecided or refusing to comment than coming out with a concrete answer on how they will vote.

The two most high-profile no votes come in the form of Prime Minister Bill English and Health Minister Jonathan Coleman.

Mr Coleman told 1 NEWS "I am in favour of good quality palliative care".

Deputy leader of the Labour Party Jacinda Ardern has stated she will vote yes on the bill, while Labour leader Andrew Little is undecided, but leaning towards yes with the right safeguards in place.

The vote has been a long time coming, with the issue really gaining momentum again when Auckland GP, Dr John Pollock went vocal with his support for euthanasia after being diagnosed with a metastic melanoma before his death in 2010.

Dr Pollock said in a letter shortly after his diagnosis: "I regret that we don't have the same euthanasia laws as Holland.

"There I would have the comfort of being able to preset my limits and be safe in the knowledge that my doctor could and would comply."

He went on to say he had doctors in his corner, but "could not and would not, ask them to do anything illegal."

His widow Elaine Pollock agreed with her late-husband, telling 1 NEWS NOW she had two friends in Holland who found great comfort knowing they could choose when to end their battle with terminal disease.

She said neither of her friends ended up going down the path of assisted dying, but it was a great help to them and their families to know the option was there.

See more here:

Voluntary euthanasia vote set to test conscience of New Zealand's ... - TVNZ

Deadly scam costs billions, kills tens of thousands.

Delray, Florida is the addiction recovery capitol of the world. Over the past few decades, tens of thousands of people have come to the city on Florida's Atlantic coast to escape the ravages of addiction. However, lax regulatory laws and generous insurance mandates have turned heaven into hell for many people. Here's how.

Tens of thousands of people are dying each year under Obamacare's secret euthanasia programs.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) -- The city of Delray, Florida is a beautiful coastal town just north of Boca Raton. The city boomed after World War II, and became a haven for surfers. It's still popular with the surfing crowd. However, as drugs became a problem in the U.S., Delray gained another reputation. The city became home to a number of addiction recovery centers, and became the recovery capital of the nation.

Addiction recovery is a new science. Researchers are still learning about addiction itself, and work on addiction recovery makes slow progress. Addiction is usually fueled by unhappiness, despair, and pain, and may also have a genetic component. The drugs themselves are often so powerful they create addiction in as little as a single use.

As experts struggle to discern what works and how best to implement it, addicts need to survive day-to-day. To facilitate this, many addicts move into sober homes, which are houses occupied by fellow addicts who are sober. Often, there is some form of supervision or aid, to ensure the house remains sober. However, there are no regulations or licensing for the home providers or the supervisors. Anyone can open a sober home, and anyone can supervise the addicts living there.

A perfect storm of non-regulation, mandated payments, and addiction have attracted scammers and criminals to Delray. Sober homes open their doors and pack in residents. These homes can be found in every neighborhood, even the most upscale. But housing in poorer neighborhoods gets less oversight since the locals tend not to complain about noise or other nuisances.

Patients living in these homes don't pay rent, their rent is paid by insurance companies which are also on the hook for testing and treatment. Drug testing can be frequent, even multiple times per week, and each test can be billed out for hundreds to thousands of dollars. By law, the insurers are required to pay.

When benefits run low, addicts need to relapse so they can restart the benefits cycle. Relapse is facilitated by the rehab centers, which have become unscrupulous. The patient is then moved to a new sober home to repeat the cycle. One patient can be worth millions of dollars. Rehab centers, or individuals often own more than one house, so they simply transfer a patient to all of their houses, one after another, cashing in at each stop.

Brokers also traffic patients between rehab facilities, trading patients back and forth like human trading cards.

When the benefits run out, patients are cast out on the streets where they become members of the city's fast-growing homeless population.

The addicts who return to drug abuse often become criminals, stealing what they can to pay for their drugs. Crime is surging, as well as deaths from overdoses. The city coroner, police, fire and ambulance services have been forced into a hiring spree.

But often, patients simply die. They overdose while in rehab. It's a known risk, so few people ask questions.

This perfect storm is created by Obamacare, and the state's relaxed regulatory laws. Low taxes and lax regulation are great for attracting business, but they have also attracted fraudsters and criminals.

There's not much relief in sight. The state is aware of the problem and has enacted a few measures to help. Gov. Rick Scott has freed up about $27 million in federal aid to assist with prevention, care, and addiction recovery. But that merely shares the burden of caring for these people with every taxpayer in the country. And the state has enacted tougher penalties for people who illegally recruit and traffic patients.

The entire scheme fits into a larger picture. Delray isn't the only community struggling under the weight of this problem. Cities across the U.S. face similar challenges. Obamacare established the system, ostensibly to clean up our streets by curing drug addicts, but the truth is far worse.

This scheme results in tens of thousands of Americans dying annually from prescription and illegal drug overdosing. That overdosing is encouraged. Those who facilitate the abuse are well paid with federal funds. Why? The answer is simple. Obamacare is a legal euthanasia program. It's provisions deliberately allow people to get rich by slowly killing off drug addicts. For the powerful elites who run the country, it's a win-win. But for the rest of us, it is an expensive tragedy.

What Obamacare is worse than what Duterte is doing in the Philippines where thousands of drug dealers have been killed by vigilantes. Under Obamacare, tens of thousands die each year as money changes hands.

Obamacare, and the programs such as these it facilitates, need to come to an end. The people responsible for these programs, and the people cashing in on them need to be arrested and prosecuted. The Attorney General has started prosecuting some of the people who broker humans from rehab to rehab. But it's a small start on a very large problem. One that costs us billions of dollars, and tens of thousands of lives each year.

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Pope Francis Prayer Intentions for JULY 2017 Lapsed Christians. That our brothers and sisters who have strayed from the faith, through our prayer and witness to the Gospel, may rediscover the merciful closeness of the Lord and the beauty of the Christian life.

More:

Obamacare's systematic, legal euthanasia program that's killing TENS OF THOUSANDS - Catholic Online

The recent tragedy of an 80-year-old man killing his disabled wife for fear no one would take care of her if he were to fall sick should be a wake-up call for Hong Kong, where services for the elderly are far from adequate. With its rapidly ageing population, Hong Kong must do better to meet the social, physical and psychological needs of its elderly folk.

No one should deny the need is serious. In Hong Kong, people over 65 have the highest suicide rate among all age groups; at 23.5 per 100,000 people, it is double the rate of the general population. Despite this, the problem has attracted little media attention, especially when compared with the attention on youth suicides.

All these problems have led some elderly people to see themselves as a burden to their family

Depression is a major factor contributing to a loss of meaning in life and the development of suicidal thoughts among older adults. Other factors include poor physical health, substandard living arrangements, a lack of social support and an inability to take care of themselves. The problem could be compounded if the duty of care falls on an elderly life partner who also needs help.

All these problems have led some elderly people to see themselves as a burden to their family.

Our government must provide the necessary support.

In 2014, Hong Kongs chief executive initiated a study to identify elderly needs, aimed at achieving ageing in place, or moving towards community-based care, as opposed to residential homes. Two years later, an Elderly Services Programme Plan was unveiled. The report showed that many elderly people and their family still preferred subsidised residential care services to community care services, as it was not safe for the elderly people to be left home alone. Yet, the current wait for these services in Hong Kong is about one to two years.

Actually, ageing in place is the more pragmatic option, especially in view of the acute shortage of institutional care places. But this could work only if the necessary support services and infrastructure are in place. At the moment, there is a disconnect between the policy agenda and actual service provision.

Hong Kong is not alone in trying to address the challenges of an ageing society. But many other territories already have sound policies in place. According to the 2015 Global AgeWatch Index, which ranks countries and regions by how well their older populations are doing, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden lead the pack. Among Asian economies, Japan is top (No 8 globally).

Hong Kong is not ranked in the index. But, by using the same methodology, the Chinese University of Hong Kongs Jockey Club Institute of Ageing found that Hong Kong ranked 19th among the 97 countries and regions under study.

To improve the quality of life for the elderly, we need to provide an age-friendly and creative environment, and promote universal health care and lifelong learning. Hong Kong was rated outstanding in access to public transport and physical safety. But more could be done to improve psychological well-being and social connections in the elderly community. This suggests it is vital to help the elderly strengthen their social networks.

We must encourage an age-friendly environment in Hong Kong. This means making long-term care services, palliative care and day-care units in homes more available. Education on ageing should also be promoted.

As individuals, we should also do our part to foster a truly inclusive society. By working together, we will make it possible for people to age gracefully in Hong Kong and live out their lives with dignity.

The tragic case of the 80-year-old man has raised the difficult question of euthanasia in some quarters. It is an option that a society should discuss, but not before inadequacies in elderly services have been fully addressed. Only then will we have an environment that is mature enough to discuss euthanasia. Otherwise, resorting to euthanasia would seem to be an easy way out.

Paul Yip is director of, and Michelle Leung is a project officer in, the Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention at the University of Hong Kong

Continued here:

Hong Kong must first improve its elderly care before euthanasia can be discussed - South China Morning Post

A former doctor who has led the fight for assisted suicide is now planning his own end, even though he has no terminal illness

He spent his life campaigning for the right to die. Now it is his turn.

Michael Irwin, a retired GP who has accompanied several people to suicide clinics in Switzerland, is planning his own death although he has no serious illness.

Irwin, a former medical director of the UN, also wants a change in the rules so that a British doctor can help him. Irwin wants the doctor to be allowed to give him so much medication to ease any pain and suffering that the drugs have the double effect of hastening his death.

Irwin, who lives in Surrey with his partner, Angela Farmer, said: At 86 I am living on borrowed time as so many men, born like myself in the UK in 1931,

See the article here:

It'll be my turn soon, says euthanasia GP - The Times

MercatorNet (blog)

Euthanasia: the slippery slope sold as desired progress MercatorNet (blog) At best, this cautious warning, based on the experience of countries that legalized euthanasia before us, was treated as a scarecrow brandished by alarmists. The slippery slope doesn't exist! responded those anti-skeptics and other merchants of death.

Read the original post:

Euthanasia: the slippery slope sold as desired progress - MercatorNet (blog)

Recently Canadians have, once again, experienced a plethora of articles concerning euthanasia. I am convinced that the media is pressuring physicians to join the list of those who are willing to kill their patients and the media is campaigning against the safeguards in the lawto increase access to death by lethal injection.

Thank you Dr Ramona Coelho, Dr Mark DSouza and the many caring physicians and nurse practitioners who continue to oppose killing patients or directly referring patients to death.

In an article published today by CBC LondonDr Coelho says that being whe is pressured to be involved with euthanasia.

One year after medically assisted death was made law in Canada, a London physician is adamant the rules are putting undue pressure on physicians who dont want to refer patients for the procedure.

A recentGlobe and Mail articlequotes Dr Mark DSouza, who stopped his palliative care practice because the euthanasia law put him at direct risk of losing his medical license because he opposes euthanasia:

If [patients] complain that Im not the one picking up the phone [to do the referral], my licence would be in jeopardy, he said. Thats not a scenario I want to expose myself to, and thats why I left palliative care.

The media is campaigning for more euthanasia.

The Globe and Mail published an article on July 3 about a doctor who has lethally injected 20 people in British Columbia who decided to stop doing euthanasia because the BC government isnt paying him enough money to kill.

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An articlepublished by CBC London, promotes Dr Scott Anderson, who is one of two doctors in London Ontario who is willing to kill patients. This article appears to encourage other physicians to participate in euthanasia and to inform local physicians to refer their patients for lethal injection to Dr Anderson.

Dr Anderson offers some interesting quotes in the article:

When somebody is asking for your help to die, I dont see how the answer can be no.

In another instance, the patient wanted a medically assisted death but his family was against it. With his main responsibility to the patient, Anderson performed the procedure while the family was away from the residence.

If Dr Anderson is visiting your depressed family member or friend, dont leave them alone.

The Globe and Mail published an article on July 5 which also appears to be campaigning for more physicians to kill and for more resources for euthanasia. The article claims that there are only a few doctors who are willing to kill people in Ontario.

Only 74 doctors and nurse practitioners have signed up for the new care co-ordination service, down from 181 when the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care shut down its old confidential referral list of medical-aid-in-dying (MAID) providers on May 31.

The also publishes a quote from Chantal Perrot, a doctor who has participated in 20 euthanasia deaths but who is not on the referral list.

The Globe and Mail articleconcludes by stating that there have been 548 euthanasia deaths in Ontario since June 17, 2016 when euthanasia became legal in Canada. A CBC article published in April stated that on March 31, there had been 365 euthanasia deaths in Ontario. Therefore there has been 183 euthanasia deaths in the last two months in Ontario.

There are not too few euthanasia deaths, but rather too many.

Sadly, the number of euthanasia deaths in Canada far exceeds the original predictions. Canada is becoming the example to America of why euthanasia should never be legalized.

LifeNews.com Note: Alex Schadenberg is the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and you can read his blog here.

Originally posted here:

Canadian Media Wants More Euthanasia, 100s of Assisted Suicides is Not Enough - LifeNews.com

Euthanasia pretends to be about choice, but it ends up being about killing as an answer to human sufferingask or not.

Since first permitted in the 1970s, theNetherlands has always had a problem with doctors killing patients who have not asked for euthanasia. Despite that being murder under the law, nothing substantial is ever done about it.

In 2015 doctors broke the euthanasia law continually. First, a huge chunk did not report their euthanasia killings.From the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition analysis:

According to theNetherlands 2015 official euthanasia reportthere were 5561 reported assisted deaths in 2015 and yet the data from the study indicates that there were 7254 assisted deaths in 2015.Therefore, there were1693 unreported assisted deaths (approximately 23%) in 2015.

That completely violates the vaunted strict [not] protective guidelines. But ho hum.

It gets worse. Doctors alsocommitted what is known astermination without request or consent with apparent impunity:

The 431 terminations of life without explicit request, was up from 310 in 2010.

This has been a problem in the supposedly open and transparent euthanasia practice of the Netherlands for decades.

Ditto the ongoing infanticide of terminally ill and seriously disabled babies, which is also against the law.

Heres the thing: Guidelines exist to give false assurance, not to really protect against abuse. Once a society accepts euthanasia consciousness, guidelines cease to matter.

View original post here:

Dutch Doctors Killed 431 Without Request 2015 | National Review - National Review

First euthanasia was supposed to be for people who were terminally ill. Then for those who weresuffering. First physically, but then mentally. But euthanasia wouldonly be for people who requested it. Then for those unable to request it. Including for children.

A new proposal in the Netherlands, the mecca of physician homicide, would allow euthanasia for any healthyperson over 75 on the grounds of having had a completed life.

But thats just the beginning. Euthanasia activists admit that this is only the first step. (Actually, there have been lots of prior steps.) The real goal is euthanasia for any adult who wants it. From Emma Elliott Freire,Netherlands Considers Euthanasia For Healthy People, The Federalist:

Politicians in the Netherlands are discussing the possibility of legalizing euthanasia for healthy people. The proposed Completed Life Bill would allow any person age 75 or over who decides their life is complete to receive euthanasia. It doesnt matter if they are otherwise perfectly healthy.

Under current Dutch law, a person only becomes eligible for euthanasia when they have a terminal illness and are suffering unbearably. Pia Dijkstra, an MP for Dutch political party D66, is preparing to introduce the Completed Life Bill. D66 spearheaded most of the groundbreaking socially progressive legislation for which the Netherlands is famous. They are historically a smaller partytheyve never had a Prime Ministerbut theyve proven themselves to be politically effective.

D66 would eventually like to legalize euthanasia for any adult who wishes to die. They openly admit that the Completed Life Bill is a step towards realizing that goal. In March, D66 leader Alexander Pechtold wasconfrontedon a political talk show by a 57-year-old man who said he wishes to die. He asked why the Completed Life Bill is only persons age 75 and older. I have to wait 18 more years. I dont feel like waiting 18 years. I want it now, he said.

Pechtold replied, Its my personal opinion that in our civilization dying is an individual consideration. You didnt ask to be brought into the world. He went on to explain that currently there is political support for legalizing euthanasia for healthy elderly persons. If we want to maintain that support and not disrupt the discussion then we have to take it step-by-step. In 2002 we passed the euthanasia law for unbearable suffering. In my view, Pia Dijkstra can now continue persuading parliament and the country toin my own words and personal opiniontake the next step for our civilization.

[Keep reading. . .]

Illustration from Pixabay, CC0, Public Domain

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Euthanasia for a completed life - Patheos (blog)

Euthanasia is preferable to endless days in a cage

No true animal lover wants to think of his pet suffering. Thats why we are given the option of euthanizing our pets to eliminate their endless enduring pain or discomfort as a result of an incurable ailment. Well, there is another type of animal suffering that most of us seldom consider, and that is the caging of animals for indefinite periods of time as a result of the SPCAs do not kill policy.

There are many animals that are just unadoptable. These animals are caged for very long periods of time. What about their suffering being confined in close quarters? Keeping unadoptable animals caged prevents these cages from being used by other animals that could very well be adoptable.

If the SPCA is filled to capacity, what options are left to our canine and feline friends if they are no longer wanted for whatever reason? Many are subjected to abuse, or just dropped off anywhere to fend for themselves, resulting in their unknown fate.

Having euthanasia as an available option for many of those unadoptable pets is more humane than indefinite incarceration in a confining enclosure. After a predetermined length of time, if an animal is still not adopted into a loving home, it should be humanely put to sleep with a simple injection. At that time, that pets confined suffering will end, leaving the caged home available to some other unwanted pet, who could very well be adopted rather than cast aside to whatever fate.

Ken LaDue

Lewiston

Read this article:

Letter: Euthanasia is preferable to endless days in a cage - Buffalo News