Euthanasia debate revived in SA

28 Aug 08:Another attempt will be made to legalise voluntary euthanasia in South Australia. Greens MP Mark Parnell will introduce a private member's bill in the next parliamentary session. There have been four failed attempts since 1995 to legalise voluntary euthanasia. Mr Parnell says, since the last bill was introduced to the Upper House, nine of the 22 members have changed. He is hopeful his bill will be supported. Read more...

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'I'm going to die on Monday at 6.15pm'

28 Aug 08:When Marc Weide's mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she chose euthanasia. Read his shockingly frank diary of her final days. Read here....

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MPs shine in the absence of the party line – Victorian Bill

28 Aug 08: YOUR state MPs have begun confronting some of the big social questions of the ages: euthanasia and abortion. We don't yet know how these issues will be resolved — the s

Debby Purdy - date set for review of assisted suicide

26 Aug 08:A date has been set for a landmark judicial review of the law on assisted suicide, prompted by a Bradford MS sufferer. Debbie Purdy, 45, of Undercliffe, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis, is asking the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to clarify the law regarding friends or relatives who help a loved one travel to a country where assisted suicide is lawful. The review will take place on Thursday, October 2, and Friday, October 3, at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. Read more...

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California doctors may be required to explain end-of-life rights to patients

26 Aug 08:The state Senate passes a measure that calls on physicians to provide terminal patients with all options at the time of diagnosis. Doctors who diagnose people with terminal illnesses would be required to immediately tell them about the right to refuse or withdraw from life-sustaining treatment under a measure approved Wednesday by state lawmakers. The proposal, which divided the medical community, was narrowly approved on the same day the Legislature passed a bid to ban employers from taking action against workers who legally use marijuana for medical purposes. Read more...

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Victoria: deadly debate we must have

26 Aug 08:The euthanasia Bill being debated in Parliament, while adding to the discussion about death with dignity, does not deserve to be passed. Introduced by Greens MP Colleen Hartland, it lacks at the very least controls that might prevent accidental deaths. The Bill envisages a doctor prescribing a barbiturate so that patients suffering from a terminal illness can take their own lives. Read comment...

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Victorian Bill would allow lethal drinks by prescription

20 Aug 08: Doctors will be able to prescribe lethal drinks for terminally ill Victorians if a controversial Bill passes through State Parliament. Debate will resume tonight on a euthanasia Bill introduced by Upper House Greens MP Colleen Hartland in June. Read more...

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Put up with suffering or end it all – should the choice be ours?

20 Aug 08: Is euthanasia a good thing or not? The subject of assisted dying featured in two sessions at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which I am attending at the moment, and the subject matter provoked very thoughtful responses. The fact that a large proportion of the heads in the big tent were grey added a certain poignancy to the discussions. Read story...

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Golubchuk case sets precedent, family lawyer says

20 Aug 08: Although a pair of siblings who fought to keep their father on life support are dropping their lawsuit following the man's death, the family's lawyer said the case will set a legal precedent for other families who find themselves in similar disputes. Samuel Golubchuk, 85, died June 24 after seven months on life support at Winnipeg's Grace General Hospital. Read more...

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Spanish Minister of Justice vowed to help pro-euthanasia group

20 Aug 08: The Minister of Justice in Spain, Mario Fernandez Bermejo, received the members of the organization, Right to Die with Dignity, in a meeting and vowed to meet the demands of their group dedicated to promoting euthanasia and suicide.
Although the meeting did not end with a concrete agreement, the Minister published a statement in which he remarked that the board is concerned that those with terminal illnesses have a dignified end to their lives and assured that the government is in “a period of deep thought” regarding palliative care.
In the meeting, the coordinator of the association, César Caballero requested the government of Spain “make euthanasia and assisted suicide possible to those with terminal illnesses who have made the requests in advance.”

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'I let my husband die'

18 Aug 08:After granting her partner Paul's last wish to die in peace, Jill Anderson was shocked to find herself in court being blamed for his death. On the afternoon that my husband Paul decided to take his life, I was at the supermarket buying his favourite pizza for tea. As soon as I got home, my instinct told me that something was wrong. I dumped my shopping bags in the kitchen and went upstairs to our bedroom. Paul was sitting on the side of the bed with his back to me. Read story...

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Family seeks law against teaching suicide methods

18 Aug 08: Five years after his daughter's suicide, Mike Gonzales of Red Bluff is learning what it's like to try to burrow through a political logjam. Determined to get a bill through Congress that would make it a federal crime to use the Internet to teach someone how to end his or her life, Gonzales and his wife, Mary, went to Washington, D.C., last month to meet with lawmakers. Read more...

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NZ woman speaks out

13 Aug 08: A NZ woman says she is determined to die before she needs to go into a rest home or becomes a burden on her family. Joy Hunter, 77, says she has had a full and interesting life, but now wants the right to kill herself humanely.
But after three failed attempts to take her own life she wants to live long enough to see voluntary euthanasia become legal in New Zealand. Read story...

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The dying art of coping with the realities of life

13 Aug 08: Western attitudes to death have progressed from it being a public and familiar event, to it being the moment when our souls are up for judgment, to present attitudes of material finality. It remains like an elephant in our subconscious, driving the modern need to pack as much enjoyment and activity into our finite time. So says Tanveer Ahmed. Read article

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Victorian MPs weigh up euthanasia

12 Aug 08: North East Victorian MPs are still undecided ahead of a conscience vote on euthanasia legislation. The Medical Treatment (Physician Assisted Dying) Bill 2008 will permit doctors to prescribe a drug to end the life of a patient who is “suffering intolerably from a terminal or advanced incurable illness”. The legislation has been introduced as a private member’s bill in the upper house for a conscience vote before it is referred to the lower house. It is expected to pass through the Legislative Council next week. Read more...

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UK Ministers seek curbs on internet suicide sites for teenagers

01 Aug 08: Websites which encourage vulnerable teenagers to kill themselves are to be blocked under plans by the Government to tackle the dozens of suicides that have been linked to internet chatrooms. Read story...

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Right-to-die case faces legal challenge in Italy

01 Aug 08: State prosecutors in Italy lodged an appeal on Thursday against a court ruling authorizing a man to remove the feeding tube which has kept his comatose daughter alive for 16 years. The ruling by a Milan court earlier this month, a first in Italy, was condemned by the Vatican and Catholic politicians, mainly on the centre right, as justifying euthanasia. Read more...

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Czech Republic Euthanasia draft bill up for review

01 Aug 08: For the first time, the Czech Republic Parliament will discuss the possibility of giving citizens the right to have a “dignified death” by legalizing active and passive euthanasia. Independent Senator Václava Domšová has proposed a bill that would allow doctors to provide lethal medication to certain patients if they ask for it and terminate life support if a “living will” with such instructions exists. Doctors have debated the pros and cons of euthanasia for many years now, but Domšová is the first to bring the debate into political circles. Read story...