Legislation to sanction euthanasia has been introduced in Victoria and New South Wales, and the inevitable effects upon the disabled community are disturbing. Continue reading

by Paul Russell: Euthanasia and assisted suicide is sold to the public as a matter of choice; perhaps the ultimate act of autonomy. We all want choice and we all want to enjoy the experience of a sense of control and self-determination that making our own choices brings.Coercion and pressure are serious concerns with euthanasia & assisted suicide. Is the person's 'choice' genuine, made without pressure or coercion and always with a clear perspective? Continue reading

Elder Abuse in Victorian Nursing Homes by Paul Russell: Anyone who cannot see that coercion and abuse of the elderly and infirmed confirms that assisted suicide and euthanasia can never be made safe from abuse really isn't paying attention. Continue reading

by Sam Connor First published on Sam's blog 'Gimpled'An Open Letter to the Greens on Euthanasia Safeguards (ALL MPs take note!) Continue reading

by Paul Russell: In the wake of the parliamentary debate in South Australia yesterday concerning euthanasia, the South Australian Upper House has referred the matter of Elder Abuse to a select committee of the parliament for an inquiry. (NB: this is an accident of timing only)This comes only a few months after the Parliament of New South Wales received its committee report on the same matter. This new inquiry was prompted, in part at least, by a shocking report of abuse of a nursing home resident by a support worker in Adelaide a few months ago. Continue reading

This article was published by William Peace on his Bad Cripple blog on Wednesday August 10. William Peace is a Syracuse University Professor and disability activist JAMA Internal Medicine has been in the news and references to a recent article abound on various social media platforms. Here I refer to "States Worse than Death Among Hospitalized Patients with Serious Illnesses" by Emily Rubin and other researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. Over eight months a team of researchers surveyed 180 patients who had been admitted to a hospital in Philadelphia with serious illnesses that included heart and lung disease. All the patients interviewed were 60 years and older. The study was conducted between July 1, 2015 and March 7, 2016. None of the patients had limitations on any life sustaining treatment in their electronic medical records. Researchers asked these patients to hypothesize whether they would prefer to die than be in a progressively worse state of being. In typically terse language Rubin wrote: Continue reading

This last week I changed my profile picture on my social media accounts for the first time. A seemingly common reaction to world events these days, I have never before been motivated to do so. Not that I have not grieved over horrible events such as the Charlie Hebdo massacre, the terrorist attacks in Paris or Nice or any of the other atrocities that seem sadly to be all too common these days. I have. But on July 26, 19 intellectually disabled men and women were executed as they slept in a pre-dawn attack upon a care facility in Sagamirihara, Japan. Aged from 19 to 70 years, there were also 26 others who were injured in the attack.The media characterised the attacks as 'senseless' and 'incomprehensible'. At one level, this attack on innocent defenceless people by a lone madman is, indeed, 'incomprehensible'. But for my many friends in the disability community it is, perhaps, an extreme and example of the kind of prejudice that they experience all too often; a chilling and visceral reminder of the subtle and not so subtle discrimination that is never far from them and that echoes through history. Continue reading

by Paul Russell: We talk about 'human nature' as code for our base instincts and actions of the lowest kind and, paradoxically, also as an appeal to the highest of human ideals as a remedy. But it is an inescapable reality that not every person acts or will act at all times with the best intentions towards others.No-one can deny that abuses do happen. We live in a less-than-perfect world that requires vigilance as well as the creation and application of laws that frown upon abuse while, at the same time, creating penalties for those who do abuse. Continue reading

"vulnerable people�the elderly, lonely, sick or distressed�would feel pressure, whether real or imagined, to request early death" House of Lords. By Paul Russell: The Legal and Social Issues Committee of the Victorian Parliament handed down its Report into End-of-Life choices in Victoria today. Continue reading

Opening in June in Australia, the Hollywood movie Me Before You should be shunned, avoided and condemned. Me Before You is a story about a rich young banker who becomes a quadriplegic. He is carered for by a young woman engaged by his family to keep him from taking his own life. They develop a love relationship, but that is not enough and he eventually heads of to Dignitas to suicide.Critics in the disability community have called it a 'disability snuff movie'. It's portrayal of disability centres around pity. The male character's desire for death, understandable and accepted. Continue reading