Euthanasia's open season on the mentally ill By Wesley SmithArticle first appeared in First ThingsA few years ago, I spoke about end-of-life care at a town-hall event; it quickly devolved into an intense debate on assisted suicide. When the time came for audience questions, a self-described "mentally ill" woman took the microphone and declared that she had a right to doctor-prescribed death. More than half the audience burst into applause. Continue reading

  Stephen Drake, from Not Dead Yet USA shares an excellent analysis of the UK debate and the modus operandi and larger goals fo the pro-euthanasia and assisted suicide lobby:Right now, I want to focus on a strategy being used by pro-assisted suicide advocates in the UK. Very aware that one major criticism of legalization of assisted suicide is expansion or "slippery slope" into making nonterminally ill, old and disabled people targets of the legislation. Naturally, this has meant that advocates try to steer clear of discussing the Benelux countries, which have embraced the euthanasia of nonterminally ill people, people with depression, old people who say they're tired of living and the euthanasia of "severely disabled" infants - in the Netherlands, children with Spina Bifida have been the main target of medical killing according to reports. And of course most people are aware of the group Dignitas in Switzerland, whose eligibility criteria involves mostly the ability to pay hefty fees rather than any concern about the medical diagnosis of an individual. Continue reading

This summary by Alex Schadenberg of an article in the Calgary Herald by Australian ethicist, Margaret Somerville:   The following is based on an article written by Margaret Somerville and published in the  Continue reading