by Kevin Yuill. This article was first published at Spiked-Online. A shocking case shows that assisted suicide is about more than alleviating suffering.In his sharply observed book The Culture of Narcissism, the American social critic Christopher Lasch remarked that, in modern life, 'The usual defences against the ravages of age - identification with ethical or artistic values beyond one's immediate interests, intellectual curiosity, the consoling emotional warmth derived from happy relationships in the past - can do nothing for the narcissist'. In a generation that has forgotten that it stands in the midst of a long line of past and future generations, Lasch noted, many live 'for the feeling, the momentary illusion, of personal wellbeing, health, and psychic security'. Continue reading

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

by Paul Russell: The Telegraph newspaper today is reporting on the death of elderly cousins by suicide in Switzerland that took place last November.The story does not say why the details are only becoming available at this time but the cynic in me sees a deliberate link to the current debate in the Scottish Parliament on assisted suicide.Coming in like the tide the pro-assisted suicide brigade cites this tragedy as a reason why assisted suicide should be made legal in Britain. A tenuous connection to say the least.According to the report, 'Stuart Henderson, 86, and Phyllis McConachie, 89, took their lives together in a Swiss clinic in November last year. Neither was terminally ill.'Inseparable for the last 40 years of caring for each other, the report suggests that their developing ailments may well have seen them both become residents in separate nursing homes; something that they did not want to happen.Clearly they saw that they had no choice. How is this supporting self-determination and autonomy? How would making assisted suicide available in Scotland or England solve their concerns? It would not. All it would do is save a trip to Switzerland. Pro-assisted suicide group, Friends at the End told the media that British assisted suicide laws would have spared these elderly cousins 'the ordeal' of having to travel overseas to die. This is at best faux compassion because it does nothing to address the underlying problem which, in a caring society, should be relatively easy.Balancing out 'friends' the article reports Dr Peter Saunders from the UK CareNotKilling Alliance calling out these deaths as "a great tragedy". "Assisted suicide in these circumstances is the ultimate abandonment," he said."This tragic case strongly underlines the need for comprehensive and affordable patient-centred care in which people's social and spiritual needs and not just physical needs are provided for." Continue reading

By Alex SchadenbergInternational Chair - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (published on Alex's blog) Criminal trespassing charges filed by Ludwig Minelli, the founder of the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic against Swiss police and a forensic medical team was rejected by the Swiss Federal Court.According to the Swiss media: Continue reading

  The numbers of Swiss suicides and the manner and demographic are questioned int his article by Alex Schadenberg (with acknowledgements to Mark Twain)Recent media reports have been found to have exaggerated the number of assisted suicide deaths in Switzerland, according to a report published by Swiss Info media.  Continue reading

  By Alex SchadenbergInternational Chair - Euthanasia Prevention CoalitionA journal article on a pilot study concerning assisted suicide in Switzerland has resulted in significant media promotion of the legalization of assisted suicide. Assisted suicide causes the death of people and the issue deserves further investigating concerning its actual practice in Switzerland. Continue reading

  Wesley Smith writes:Here's the advocacy con advanced by suicide promoters in the UK to bludgeon Parliament into legalizing doctor-prescribed death. Continue reading

The Swiss Exit group, that provides assisted suicide services in Switzerland for Swiss residents only, has upped the ante recently by declaring that the elderly - even if they are not ill - can access their services.     The membership of Exit voted for this policy change at their recent general meeting, The UK Guardian reporting that Exit would now allow, 'people suffering from psychological or physical problems associated with old age the choice to end their life.' Continue reading

The worldview of modern science . . . sees health not only as a foundation but also a principal goal, not only as a beginning but also an end. Relief and preservationâ��from disease and pain, from misery and necessityâ��become the defining ends of human action, and therefore of human societies.  Continue reading

found Freiburghaus guilty of killing an 89 year old man for whom there had been no formal diagnosis, even though the man had claimed to be suffering pain, had attempted suicide and was threatening suicide. The prosecution argued that Freiburghaus had "crossed the line" by failing to follow the legal regulations, which require that a doctor must properly diagnose the presence of an incurable illness and a short life expectancy before assisting suicide.Freiburghaus told the court he acted out of compassion in prescribing sodium pentobarbital to the elderly man, who was suffering from pain and had tried to end his life. Continue reading