… is to be loved. The case of euthanasia in Quebec. One of the presentations at this weekend’s New York Encounter. While Quebec’s health care system lobbies to accommodate assisted suicide, a chorus of voices against this practice, that is federally outlawed, is heard on the front lines. A stream of witnesses, especially among medical […]
our primary need … Read More »
… Nicholas Tonti-Filippini’s letter to the Australian Premier discusses the illusions and dangers of euthanasia. “Relevant to this matter is the fact that I am dealing with my own terminal illness (combination of renal failure, advanced ischaemic heart disease and Rheumatoid auto-immune disease) and am dependant on haemodialysis and palliative care. I have undergone 15
a dying man explains why euthanasia is so dangerous … Read More »
… the Atlantic Monthly on Dr. John Ioannidis’ research on the quality of medical research – “Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science“. Ioannidis shows that over 3/4 of non-randomized and as many as 1/4 of randomized studies are wrong. “The studies were biased,” he says. “Sometimes they were overtly biased. Sometimes it was difficult to
medical research itself under the microscope … Read More »
… a group of prominent British medical and legal experts has authored a report summarizing the Oregon experience with physician assisted suicide (PAS). A significant concern noted is that although early in the Oregon experience one-third of those who committed suicide received psych assessment and treatment for depression and other conditions, most recently none of
oregon’s experience with physician assisted suicide … Read More »
… Vaclav Havel opens the “Forum 2000” conference … Much of what he says has direct applicability to health care, health care reform & palliative care … “I sense behind all of this not only a globally spreading short-sightedness, but also the swollen self-consciousness of this civilisation, whose basic attributes include the supercilious idea that
close together … but otherwise desperately remote … Read More »
Daniel Sulmasy, OFM MD PhD and a member of the new President’s Bioethics Commission discusses exactly what conscience is and is not … as well as proposing some boundaries for the mutual respect of conscience. “Conscience thus arises from a fundamental commitment or intention to be moral … The acts of conscience, by contrast, are
sulmasy on conscience … Read More »
… over 50 professors from McGill publish a manifesto warning against medicalized killing – euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. ““There are ramifications here that threaten the freedom and human rights of individuals, both patients and medical professionals, who may be pushed into becoming society’s executioners,” it warns. “It has always been our society’s practice to accompany
to accompany the suffering human … Read More »
… reflections of young Canadian physicians engaged in the euthanasia proposal there … Maximilian Zucchi, Laurence Normand-Rivest … and other voices … John Zucchi, Marc Beauchamp. “At the end of the session, the patient bid her farewells to the physiotherapist, then turned to me and said: “You know, it’s thanks to people like her that
fixing a new gaze on our patients … Read More »
… Teno and colleagues proposal to offer gentle hand feeding (comfort feeding) instead of feeding tubes. As I discuss elsewhere, the best guide to the person’s food and water needs is their comfort. The NYT discusses here and here.
food & water based on patient need … Read More »
