Ruth Institute Blog

Charlie Butts – OneNewsNow -

Switzerland has earned a reputation for suicide tourism.

Although assisted suicide is technically illegal in the country, it is tolerated if the person assisting is not doing so for personal profit. But the reputation has prompted the Swiss to crack down, according to media reports. Rita Marker, head of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide (ITF), reports that this “crack down” is not as serious as the public may think. Read more…

Margaret Somerville, Mercatornet.com

Legalising euthanasia will have incalculable consequences for healthcare professionals.

Last week, the Quebec College of Physicians and Surgeons tentatively approved euthanasia. That means it’s essential that we look, specifically, at the impact that euthanasia would have on physicians and the profession of medicine, in order to understand why this approval is a very bad idea. Read more…

Barbara Kay, National Post

They don’t call it the scary-sounding “Hemlock Society” any more. The new name is “Compassion and Choices.” Under this cuddly rubric, bespoke death is now endorsed by respected society matrons and politicians as euthanasia’s version of Planned Parenthood. The once-reviled euthanasia obsessional — and criminal — Dr. Kevorkian, is raking in $50,000 a pop on the lecture circuit. The cultural wind is in euthanasia’s sails and the most unlikely people are heeding its siren call. Read more…

Michael Cook, BioEdge

“Amicably separated” parents in Britain are at loggerheads over whether to let their disabled 13-month-old son die. RB, as the boy is called to protect the family’s privacy, has congenital myasthenia syndrome, a rare neuromuscular condition that prevents him from breathing on his own and severely restricts his power to move his limbs. The British health service has applied to the High Court in London to allow life-saving care to be withdrawn.

His doctor, who cannot be named, has described the child as at the “most severe end” of physical disability. He lacks the ability to cough or swallow and must be moved every two hours to prevent pressure sores. The mother believes that her child will be better off dead. But the father contends that he should have a tracheotomy so that he can be cared for at home. Unlike many children with severe developmental disorders, RB may have normal intelligence. The father contends that he can see, hear, feel, and recognise his parents and deserves to live. Read more…

Michael Cook, BioEdge

Swiss suicide clinics are facing a crackdown. Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf says either the clinics will have to accept much tougher regulations or they will be closed down. A bill will come before parliament in March. Read more…

Margaret Somerville Mercatornet.com

There are deeply-rooted cultural reasons why the Western world returns again and again to euthanasia as a solution to the problems of suffering and death.

Euthanasia is back on the agenda in Canada. The first hour of debate on a “euthanasia bill”, Bill C-384, has already taken place in Parliament and a second hour is scheduled for November 16. As a “private member’s bill”, it is limited to two hours of debate and is expected to go to a second reading vote on November 18. If passed, it would be referred to committee for detailed discussion. Read more…

Michael Cook

A poll released this week claims that three-quarters of medical specialists in Québec are in favour of euthanasia. More than 2,000 of them were surveyed in the Ipsos Descarie poll, with 75% declaring that they were “certainly” or “probably” in favour of legalizing euthanasia, as long as the practice were strictly regulated. Read more…

By Charles Lewis, National Post

Amending the Criminal Code to make euthanasia legal in Canada would likely gain the support of three-quarters of Quebec’s medical specialists, says a new survey that is the latest chapter in a growing debate on physician-assisted suicide.

The Quebec Federation of Medical Specialists, which represents more than 8,700 physicians in the province, said yesterday that “75% of medical specialists would certainly or probably be favourable to euthanasia within a clearly defined legislative limit.” Read more…

by Michael Cook

Doctors were right to allow a 26-year-old woman to die after swallowing antifreeze because she had made a living will, a British coroner has found.

Before her death in September 2007 Kerrie Wooltorton had swallowed antifreeze nine times. Each time, however, she had accepted dialysis treatment to flush the poison from her system. Finally she wrote a living will which instructed doctors to give her nothing except comfort care. Three days later she swallowed more antifreeze and when she arrived at hospital, she handed the letter to the doctors. It said that she was “100 per cent aware” of the consequences and did not want to be treated. She had only called an ambulance because she did not want to die alone and in pain and not because she wanted to be treated. Read more…

Britons who want to help ill or dying loved-ones commit suicide find it easier now. The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, has clarified when he will prosecute for assisted suicide. However, he insists that this move in no way supports euthanasia. Read more…

Barbara Kay

MONTREAL – Lately, we have witnessed a pernicious cultural trend toward the rebranding of legalized euthanasia as a gift rather than a menace to society’s most vulnerable citizens.

I doubt that Bloc Quebecois’ Francine Lalonde’s Bill C-384 bill seeking to decriminalize euthanasia (her third attempt since 2005!) will find many takers. At present, there’s no political gain here for any national party. But soon enough there may be. Polls show growing sympathy for the notion. Doctor-provided euthanasia would indeed benefit the truly suicidal few, but only by introducing a new “treatment option” to the many: those dilatorily dying, handicapped and depressed patients upon whom the onus would fall to justify their right to a natural life span they formerly took for granted. Read more…

Charlie Butts and Jim Brown – OneNewsNow -

The “America’s Healthy Future Act” presents nothing new for pro-lifers – and “significant unresolved issues” in the measure are keeping one GOP senator from supporting it.

Two of the primary objections to healthcare reform proposals so far involve federal funding of abortions and healthcare rationing. National Right to Life Committee executive director David O’Steen tells OneNewsNow that Max Baucus’ (D-Montana) healthcare proposal is no different. Read more…