Tristam Engelhardt on Moral Pluralism in Bioethics
The Journal of Medicine & Philosophy has a new article,
No euthanasia legislation to be introduced by premier of Victoria, Australia
Premier of Australia’s second largest state, Victoria, has declined a cancer patient’s request that the premier initiate legislation authorizing euthanasia, saying that the issue should be decided at the national level. A bill legalizing euthanasia was defeated in the Victorian Parliment in 2008. The news story can be found here.
Rasouli decision from the Ontario Court of Appeals supports the role of the family in medical decisions
Here is report on the recent Rasouli decision from the Ontario Court of Appeals. http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/ontario-appeals-court-rules-doctors-dont-have-right-to-remove-life-support The court found that doctors didn’t have the right to withdraw medical treatment despite the family’s objection. Here is commentary from the National Right to Life website. http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2011/07/toronto-star-agrees-with-rasouli-decision/#more-2916 Richard M.
Great News Source on Life Issues Abroad
Marie Smith, wife of Congressman Chris Smith, runs a remarkable organization, the Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues (PNCI). PNCI coordinates efforts among members of democratically-elected legislatures – collectively known as parliamentarians – to advance respect for the inherent value, worth, and inviolable dignity of every human being from fertilization until natural death. The PNCI website […]
Euthanasia and Organ Procurement
Wesley Smith notes the increased acceptance of coupling euthanasia with organ harvesting in his July 4 Weekly Standard article. He notes that Julian Savulescu, a Romanian born Oxford bioethicist, supported this trend in a scholarly paper published in Bioethics. Wesley notes that Belgian doctors and bioethicists have been promoting the idea since at least 2008, […]
SSRN Access to Scholarly Papers
A valuable (and free!) interdisciplinary resource for academic research is the Social Science Research Network. It contains almost 350,000 abstracts and 280,000 manuscripts of scholarly articles in the areas of health, legal, political, philosophy, and rhetoric. I use it often to find the newest articles on a subject. An example of what you might find […]
“To Live Each Day with Dignity”
This is a quick follow up to my post of June 6, 2011. On June 16, 2011, the US Bishops approved a statement on physician-assisted suicide. Here is the link. http://www.usccb.org/toliveeachday/bishops-statement-physician-assisted-suicide.pdf The statement provides a useful summary of the problems posed by the campaign to legalize assisted suicide. The Bishops advocate “the way of love […]
US Catholic Bishops to discuss a document on assisted suicide
Here is a LifeNews story on a new document opposing assisted suicide that the US Catholic bishops will conider at a meeting in mid-June.http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/01/catholic-bishops-to-vote-on-document-opposing-assisted-suicide/ This is a welcome development. After the major public battles on the issue in the mid-1990s, this issue has to some extent flown under the radar. Richard M.
Jack Kevorkian Dies in Hospital at 83
Here is the LifeNews story on the death of Jack Kevorkian. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/03/assisted-suicide-crusader-jack-kevorkian-dies-in-hospital/ Kevorkian killed more than 100 people through assisted suicide. He was convicted for the killing of Thomas Youk and spent years in prison before being released in 2007. He was a deeply troubled man who was sympathetically treated by the media for many years. Here is […]
Wesley Smith comment on suicide obsession
Here is an interesting item from Wesley Smith entitled “Modern Suicide Obsession a Troubling Sign of Nihilistic Times.” http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2011/05/23/modern-suicide-obsession-a-troubling-sign-of-nihilistic-times/ Richard M.