By Dr Peter Saunders, Campaign Director of CareNotKilling UK Last week I was contacted by the Sunday Times who were planning to run a high profile story about a 75 year old retired nurse being helped to kill herself in Switzerland.The story of Gill Pharaoh's death was later published last Sunday under the title 'Why I'd rather die than get old'(Paywall). Continue reading

This testimony was published on the Not Dead Yet website on June 23, 2015. Chairperson Alexander, Members of the Committee on Health and Human Services:I am the director of Massachusetts Second Thoughts: People with Disabilities Opposing the Legalization of Assisted Suicide. We were the progressive voice in Massachusetts that helped defeat the assisted suicide ballot question in 2012, and again in the legislature last year. Our opposition is based in universal principles of social justice that apply to everyone, whether disabled or not. Drawing on those same principles, we supported the medical marijuana ballot question in 2012 of the relief it brings to many disabled people. Continue reading

By Dr Kevin Fitzpatrick OBE, is the director of Hope Ireland. (First published on Alex Schadenberg's Blog) February 6, 2015 was a disastrous day for Canadians with disabilities - not just for them - but for all disabled people everywhere, and all people made vulnerable by the fact that they are facing end-of-life decisions.The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) judgement writes euthanasia into law on the grounds of disability alone. That is archetypal disability discrimination - in this case, to death. Continue reading

First published on The Leading Edge Blog of Brendan Malone. Ed: we have confirmed with Brendan that he knows the nurse personally even though this post was published anonymously.I'm a registered nurse, of admittedly only a short career of seven years. I worked for three years in the hospital wing of a rest home as I studied, and since graduation I have worked in various hospitals around the country. Continue reading

The boundaries of euthanasia in Belgium and the Netherlands keep expanding, says a world expert.Raphael Cohen-Almagor First published by MercatorNet on July 31st 2015Raphael Cohen-Almagor, of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom, is a world expert on euthanasia in the Netherlands and Belgium. He recently contributed an article to the Journal of Medical Ethics on one of the most worrying aspects of the euthanasia in Belgiumâ��the deliberate shortening of lives of some patients without their explicit voluntary request. In this interview with MercatorNet, explains some of his concerns.MercatorNet: Are the figures of euthanasia cases rising? Continue reading

By Alex SchadenbergExecutive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition On Friday I published an article on a study concerning 100 requests for euthanasia for psychiatric reasons in Belgium.Lieve Thienport, the psychiatrist who approved the euthanasia death of "Laura" the 24-year-old physically healthy Belgian woman who lives with suicidal thoughts is also the psychiatrist who examined the 100 people who requested euthanasia in this study. Continue reading

Prime Minister, The Rt Hon David Cameron, MP 14 July 2015Dear Prime Minister Continue reading

This report from Peter Saunders' UK blog: Disabled people descended on Westminster today (14th July) in droves to lobby MPs on Rob Marris's Assisted Dying (no 2) Bill.Marris wants to give adults who are terminally ill and mentally competent the 'right' to have assistance to kill themselves using lethal drugs on the say-so of two doctors and one high court judge. The bill is due its second reading on 11 September. Continue reading

by Paul Russell: New Zealand born South African based euthanasia advocate Sean Davison is in the press again, once more seemingly stepping across the line into assisting in suicide.In 2011, Davison was convicted in a New Zealand Court of assisting with the suicide of his own mother in 2006; a matte that came to light in the review of a draft of Davison's book, Before we say goodbye'. Davison admitted in 2010 to crushing 18 morphine tablets and mixing it into a glass of water before handing it to his mother, who had cancer. He was committed to home detention for five months before returning to South Africa and founding a 'right-to-die' movement.In September last year, Davison admitted at the world 'right-to-die' conference in Chicago that he had assisted in the suicide death of quadriplegic medical doctor in 2013. Australia's other 'Dr Death' Rodney Syme, gave a talk at that event was entitled: Challenging the Legal System - and getting away with it. Perhaps, Davison heeded Syme's advice as, on that occasion, no charges were ever brought against him.Only a few days before Davison made this revelation to his international cohort, his Dignity SA twitter feed hand-on-heart tweeted: "Dignity SA is committed to good palliative care. Assisted Dying (sic) is a last resort for a small % for whom palliative care is not enough." The doctor in question was not terminally ill. So much for standards.This week, according to South Africa's IOL news online, an anonymous caller had tipped off the Cape Times that Davison was about to assist in another suicide, this time of a patient in hospice care, apparently in his own home.When contacted by the Cape Times, Davison would neither confirm nor deny. However, he effectively admitted that something was afoot by telling the press: Continue reading

There seems to me to be a cognitive dissonance in the suicide prevention arena that seems to set aside concern about suicides that are related to advocacy networks such as Exit International. This happens at a number of levels and in a number of ways; some perhaps understandable but none excusable. Australia has one of the highest incidences of youth suicide in the western world. It makes good sense to focus resources in this critical area of prevention. But there's something missing in the public discussion that should have become crystal clear from recent media coverage in the Fairfax press.Journalist Craig Butt reports on suicide deaths using Nembutal and highlights its use by young people: Continue reading