By Alex Schadenberg International Chair - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition A study concerning the euthanasia practise in the Netherlands that was published in the Journal of Medical Ethics on February 18 found that 34% of Dutch doctors will consider euthanizing a person who is either mentally ill, living with dementia or "tired of living." This recent study proves that euthanasia is expanding and is contagious.The researchers sent a questionnaire to 2269 eligible doctors with 1456 completing the questionnaire, a 64% response rate. Continue reading

Assisted suicide increased by 44% in Oregon - 2014 report.By Alex Schadenberg International Chair, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition The 2014 Oregon assisted suicide report indicates a 44% increase in assisted suicide deaths and a 28% increase in lethal prescriptions. In 2014, at least one person who died by assisted suicide obtained the lethal dose in 2012, (439 days before death) even though the law requires the person to be within 6 months of death.The 2014 annual report is similar to prior years. The preamble implies that the deaths were voluntary (self-administered), but the information reported does not address that subject. Continue reading

By Alex SchadenbergExecutive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Most people recognize that legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide will lead to abuse with some people dying without request or being coerced into euthanasia, with support for euthanasia based on the fear of living with uncontrolled pain. The control of pain has significantly improved since the late 1960's when Cicely Saunders began to develop modern hospice techniques in the UK.On November 26, Science Daily reported on a great new scientific discovery concerning the control of pain. Researchers at the St Louis University Medical Center published results of research in the medical journal Brain showing that the researchers may have found a way to block pain pathways which could lead to the effective control of neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain is usually what has developed when people have uncontrolled pain. Continue reading

Campaigners against "right-to-die" legislation, who commissioned the research, urged peers to recognise voters' fears about the move and throw out the plans when they are debated tomorrow. Proposals by Labour ex-justice secretary Lord Falconer, which would offer the chance of assisted dying to terminally ill patients deemed mentally capable and within six months of likely death, were the subject of a marathon debate in the House of Lords in July.Among backers were former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey who shocked many by declaring he had reversed his opposition - but the issue remains highly controversial and is set to provoke further fierce discussion. Continue reading

  From Alex Schadenberg's blog:International Chair - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Continue reading

By Alex SchadenbergInternational Chair - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. The 2013 Netherlands euthanasia report was released today indicating a 15% increase of reported euthanasia deaths. There were also 42 euthanasia deaths for people with psychiatric problems and 97 euthanasia deaths for people with dementia.The 2013 report indicated that there were 4829 reported euthanasia deaths which was up from 4188 in 2012. As bad as it is, the reported euthanasia deaths do not include the unreported euthanasia deaths. Continue reading

The European Institute of Bioethics looks at the latest data release on the incidence of euthanasia in Belgium. (Google translated from French) The Act of 28 May 2002 concerning euthanasia stipulates that the Federal Committee on Oversight and Enforcement, shall biennially report to the legislature. Here is the sixth version, covering the years 2012-2013.The report comprises firstly a statistical element , which we note here that the number of reported euthanasia has almost doubled in four years (an increase of 89%) , from 953 reported in 2010 to 1,807 in 2013 euthanasia The Commission considers that this increase is due to the "gradual release of information to the public and physicians ." The deaths caused today represent 1.7% of all deaths in Belgium. Continue reading

  Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition summarizes the peer reviewed journal article titled: Euthanasia and assisted suicide: a physician's and ethicist's perspectives by Dr Margaret Somerville and Dr J Donald Boudreau that was published by Medicolegal and Bioethics on July 17, 2014.Margaret Somerville is a member of the Faculty of Law, Faculty of Medicine, and Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada. Continue reading

  This paper developed by Professors Donald Boudreau and Professor Margaret Somerville from McGill University, Monreal Canada, looks as the entire issue of euthanasia, its definitions through to its unfortunate euphemisms.This article is a must read for any one serious about gaining a developed perspective of the debate. Continue reading

"how it is possible for euthanasia to be performed on physically healthy people" "There are problems with the Belgian euthanasia law.""That is cold comfort for the dead." Continue reading