Physician-assisted death includes both physician-assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia. The court and society have thrust assisted-death squarely into the laps of physicians and we are now left grappling with what this will look like. My perspective as a palliative care physician on living and dying has been shaped by the thousands of patients and families Read more
A New Zealander who was convicted of assisting his mother’s suicide is now facing two charges of murder in South Africa. In September Sean Davison was charged with murder after helping a quadriplegic friend die. On Friday he was charged with another killing of a man suffering from motor neuron disease. Mr Davison is a Read more
The Belgian Brothers of Charity have not reappointed two pro-euthanasia board members who allowed a protocol that allowed hospitals owned by the religious congregation to perform euthanasia in limited circumstances. Read more
The superior general of the Brothers of Charity order has sued two of its Belgian members for misuse of one million euros over the Belgian province’s decision to allow euthanasia at its psychiatric hospitals there. The accused brothers have denied the order’s charge that they misused the province’s funds. They say the province had agreed Read more
Euthanasia was authorised by Canada’s Supreme Court in June 2016. It was a controversial decision and the controversy is far from over. Three issues were left hanging: euthanasia for “mature minors”, euthanasia for people with mental illness, and advance directives for euthanasia. The government asked the Council of Canadian Academies to produce a report on Read more
New Zealander Sean Davison helped his cancer-ravaged mother end her life, he was charged this week with doing the same for a disabled friend – and now South African authorities suspect he has assisted with more deaths. Continue reading
As children are put to death, Belgium’s experience shows the ‘slippery slope’ is real. One striking thing about modern Western societies is how quickly bioethical practices that would once have been shocking quickly become unremarkable. It happened with abortion, it happened with embryo selection, and now it is happening with euthanasia. Last week it emerged Read more
An Australian medical ethicist has called on the Senate to reject a bill clearing the way to legalise voluntary assisted dying across Australia. University of Notre Dame bioethics Professor Margaret Somerville says international experience demonstrates euthanasia is being used as a cheaper alternative to psychiatric and palliative care. In a paper published in the Journal Read more
Psychiatrists who go against the liberal interpretation of Belgium’s euthanasia laws are being derided as inhumane and lacking empathy for those facing unbearable suffering. Dr Willem Lemmens, who is a bioethicist, spoke out last weekend after a symposium which looked at the ethics surrounding suicide and euthanasia, psychiatry and mental health care. “In just a few Read more
Parliament has started hearing submissions on the End of Life Choice Bill, and if the last round of submissions is anything to go by, they’ll hear a lot of opposition. In response, MPs may be tempted to think they can fix the Bill—narrowing the scope, tightening the wording, maybe limiting it to terminal illness and Read more