Dutch medics have performed the euthanasia of a sex abuse victim who could not live with the ordeal she had suffered as a girl. The woman, who was in her 20s, was given a lethal injection after battling severe psychiatric problems for 15 years. Details of the case were released by Dutch authorities anxious to Read more
The British parliament is ready to discuss euthanasia very soon. Even Lord Carey, the retired Archbishop of Canterbury finds merit in the argument for voluntary euthanasia. Other nations are already committed. I It’s clear that New Zealand will one day vote in a voluntary euthanasia law. But the ‘slippery slope’ from voluntary euthanasia to non-voluntary Read more
The ideology of absolute self-determination has become sacred and unquestionable. In 2002, Belgium became the second country in the world after its neighbour, The Netherlands, to legalise euthanasia. Over the next decade our country has become a living laboratory for radical social change. With many other countries debating legalisation at the moment, now is a Read more
German historian Götz Aly is an expert on euthanasia during the Nazi era. In a SPIEGEL interview, he discusses why many accepted the murder of the handicapped and mentally ill, and how his own daughter has shaped his views on how the disabled should be treated today. Some 200,000 people who were mentally ill or Read more
Almost 63 per cent of New Zealanders support proposed law changes that would allow ill people to end their lives, a new poll shows. Last week’s results came a day after after Auckland man Evans Mott, 61, was discharged without conviction for assisting his wife to commit suicide. Labour MP Maryan Street has drafted a Read more
A bioethics conference will focus on spiritual practices about dying, including whether the body is a temple — or a prison. Back when my father’s life was coming to an end at an excruciatingly slow pace, my brother and I vowed not to die like that, with so much compromise and indignity. But hanging on Read more
The vexed issue of euthanasia is back on the agenda for discussion because Maryan Street’s member’s bill is about to be re-introduced in parliament. Reflecting on her elderly mother’s recent death, Deborah Coddington puts forward the view that noone wants to administer euthanasia. “The NZ Medical Association is opposed to voluntary euthanasia … So the Read more