Case for ‘death with dignity’ collapses under scrutiny

By John Kelly Editor’s note. John Kelly is director of Second Thoughts Massachusetts: Disability Rights Activists Against Assisted Suicide. This letter was published in the Berkshire Eagle on September 19. To the editor: I write to respond to the oped by John Berkowitz and three Western Massachusetts legislators in support of assisted suicide bill H.1994 …

Continue reading "Case for ‘death with dignity’ collapses under scrutiny"

Elderly man needs a pal, not a lethal pill

By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Every once in a while I read a letter to the editor that hits the nail on the head. This letter was published at Saukvalley.com on Friday March 10. The publication covers news in Northern Illinois. ———————– By Margaret Brechon Dixon I read with sadness the article …

Continue reading "Elderly man needs a pal, not a lethal pill"

Facing Death With Dignity

By Deirdre A. McQuade October is Respect Life Month in the United States. This year, it began with a stark reminder of the need to remain vigilant in facing threats to human life. On October 5, Governor Jerry Brown signed a new California law legalizing physician-assisted suicide. Cardinal O’Malley, chair of the bishops’ Committee on …

Continue reading "Facing Death With Dignity"

More Time for Maynard-Type Cancer Patients

  By Wesley J. Smith We have been hearing so much that suicide is “dignity” in the wake of Brittany Maynard’s death by lethal prescription, I thought this story should receive more play. An experimental device, with no serious side effects, appears to be extending the lives of people with the kind of brain cancer …

Continue reading "More Time for Maynard-Type Cancer Patients"

Suicide is not “Dignity,” it is “Suicide”

  By Wesley J. Smith Beware movements that word engineer and deploy gooey euphemisms to further their agenda. It generally means there is something very wrong with the agenda. In the wake of Brittany Maynard’s death, suicide promoters are now using the word “dignity” as a synonym for suicide, more than implying that dying naturally …

Continue reading "Suicide is not “Dignity,” it is “Suicide”"

Pushing Starvation as “Death with Dignity”

  By Wesley J. Smith The “death with dignity” and bioethics crowds grow increasingly extreme. Now, they are pushing starvation. First, it was removing feeding tubes from the cognitively disabled, slow killing excused as removing medical treatment. Do it to a dog and go to jail. Do it to Terri Schiavo and it’s merely “medical …

Continue reading "Pushing Starvation as “Death with Dignity”"

Self-Starvation as the New “Death with Dignity”

  By Wesley Smith Self-starvation has become the latest craze among the “death with dignity” crowd. This has been coming on for some time. Removing feeding tubes from cognitively disabled people who can’t swallow has been allowed for decades, under the right to refuse unwanted “medical treatment.” But what about people who can eat and …

Continue reading "Self-Starvation as the New “Death with Dignity”"

Assisted Suicide Word Engineering Propaganda

  By Wesley J. Smith Was it Eldridge Cleaver who said that he who controls the definitions, wins the debate? I seem to recall reading that in Soul on Ice. Cleaver or no, the assisted suicide advocacy group Hemlock Society Compassion and Choices has spent years blurring definitions and redefining terms–with the active compliance of …

Continue reading "Assisted Suicide Word Engineering Propaganda"

Siri to Prevent Suicide–But Not “Death With Dignity”

By Wesley J. Smith So Apple is putting a suicide prevention function into Siri, the ”personal assistant” installed in the i-phone. From the ABC story: Apple’s snarky assistant has been updated with a helpful, serious feature. Siri will now respond to suicidal statements with useful suicide prevention information. Prior to this week if you had …

Continue reading "Siri to Prevent Suicide–But Not “Death With Dignity”"

Suicide Contagion is Real

By Wesley J. Smith One suicide begets another, a study in Canada has demonstrated. From the Ottawa Citizen story: That suicide is contagious is a widely held–and controversial–theory. A groundbreaking new study co-authored by a University of Ottawa researchers has found that teens who know of a schoolmate who died of suicide are far more …

Continue reading "Suicide Contagion is Real"

Kansans for Life opposes ‘Death with Dignity,’ explains failed ‘safeguards’

By Kathy Ostrowski, KFL Legislative Director Assisted suicide has been illegal in Kansas since 1998, and physician involvement in suicide is opposed by the Kansas Medical Society. Forces now activated in Lawrence are promoting assisted suicide as a ‘right’ and re-labeling it ‘physician-assisted death’, and ‘Death with Dignity.’ Two identical so-called Death with Dignity bills …

Continue reading "Kansans for Life opposes ‘Death with Dignity,’ explains failed ‘safeguards’"

Dignity in Dying misleads supporters about opposition’s resources in order to boost campaign to legalize assisted suicide

Editor’s note. Peter Saunders is CEO of the Christian Medical Fellowship, a “UK-based organization with 4,500 UK doctors and 1,000 medical students as members.”  The following appears here. Not so long ago I received a fund-raising letter written by Edward Turner, Treasurer of ‘Dignity in Dying’, formerly known as the Voluntary Euthanasia Society (VES). Dignity …

Continue reading "Dignity in Dying misleads supporters about opposition’s resources in order to boost campaign to legalize assisted suicide"