That’s the title of a recent post by Wesley Smith. http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2011/11/09/whats-choice-got-to-do-with-dutch-euthanasia/ Smith discusses a recent incident in the Netherlands when a committee of doctors authorized the killing of a patient suffering severe dementia, even though the patient was unable to express her choice to die. This is, as Smith notes, not a new problem but the incident may focus […]
Category: Euthanasia
Here is a link to a post on Wesley Smith’s blog about a position paper from the Dutch Physician’s Association seeking to expand the factors to be considered in assessing whether a patient’s suffering is “unbearable,” thus making the patient eligible for assisted suicide. According to the article to which Smith refers–“Until now, factors such as income […]
SSRN has a new article entitled The Jurisprudence of Dignity (http://ssrn.com/abstract=1928768). The author, Leslie Meltzer Henry, identifies the variety of meanings given to the word “dignity” in Supreme Court cases: institutional status as dignity, liberty as dignity, equality as dignity, personal integrity as dignity, and collective virtue as dignity. The article reveals that the Court’s […]
Legalized PAS and the Werther Effect Evidence suggests that legalized PAS will result in a greater number of suicides more generally (and not simply amongst the population who opt for legalized PAS). We will have great difficulty, on the one hand, giving our and medicine’s approval to suicide as the solution to complex problems at […]
The issue of assisted suicide seemed to have been settled in Canada in 1993 by the Supreme Court decision in the case of Sue Rodriguez. In a five to four decision the Court ruled that the state’s obligation to protect the vulnerable outweighed the rights of individuals to self-determination. Now two new cases, one from British Columbia […]
SSRN has a new student article, Exploring the Potential for American Death Tourism. The author discusses the availability of physician assisted suicide in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg, and the possibility that American citizens will travel to these countries to die. He evaluates the enforcement and efficacy of foreign laws prohibiting travel for purposes […]
Public Discourse blog has a new posting by Adam MacLeod, Assisted Suicide: the Forgotten Front in the Fight for Life. He mentions the Massachusetts ballot initiative that was certified for the ballot by the state attorney general last week. Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine is among the initiative supporters. […]
That quote is from the title of a recent blog post by Wesley Smith. http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2011/09/08/medical-conscience-all-dutch-doctors-must-be-complicit-in-euthanasia-killing/ Smith is commenting on a new position paper from the Dutch Medical Association that says that doctors must participate in euthanasia or at least refer to a doctor who is so willing. We have seen this in other areas as well. For example, […]
Massachusetts Citizens for Life provide links to a new website with thoughtful commentary on physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia, “Choice” is an Illusion. The site is run by an elder law attorney, and her practical experience in the area shows. Another good website on euthanasia is the Nightingale Alliance and Wesley Smith’s blog, Secondhand Smoke, often […]
Yuval Levin discusses the two approaches to healthcare reform today in Help the Sick and Reduce the Debt: The Moral Economy of the Health-Care Debate on Public Discourse blog. He describes the Democratic proposal as one focused on expanding availability of health insurance through government programs, which they argue will reduce costs through bringing greater […]