By Diane Kelsall, Deputy Editor at CMAJ, and editor of CMAJ Open Editor’s note. This article was published as a CMAJ blog on Feb 3 at cmajblogs.com. It is reprinted with permission. “CMAJ” is the Canadian Medical Association Journal. In June 1993 I attended my first international research meeting. WONCA (World Organization of National Colleges, …
Continue reading "Assisted Death: I never thought this day would come"By Wesley J. Smith The more a population accepts killing as an acceptable response to human suffering, the wider the categories of acceptable euthanasia become — and the more people are killed. Belgium validates that premise. In 2015, a record number of people died by lethal injection. From the Yahoo News story: Belgium carried out …
Continue reading "Belgium and Canada — Frontiers of the Death Culture"
By Wesley J. Smith I have been working against euthanasia/assisted suicide since 1993. During that time, I have seen a lot. But there has been one consistent theme that cuts across Kevorkian, to the Hemlock Society’s Compassion and Choices’ agendas, to the Netherlands: The utter refusal of the media to see what is before their …
Continue reading "Media Always Shocked at Visible Euthanasia Truths"Editor’s note. This analysis comes from Maryland Against Assisted Suicide. Last week, the Maryland General Assembly’s “Death with Dignity Workgroup” met for a discussion amongst themselves, going over past testimony and considering ways to change the assisted suicide bill that failed last session. What were the solutions and changes they decided on? Not much. We …
Continue reading "Maryland “Death with Dignity Workgroup” Recap"By Michael Cook Physician-assisted suicide begins in Quebec on December 10. One of the overlooked consequences of this radical change to the law is how doctors will fill out death certificates. Although the immediate cause of death will be a lethal drug, doctors have been advised to list the cause of death as an underlying …
Continue reading "Filling out euthanasia death certificates in Quebec"By Wesley J. Smith There is a logic to the euthanasia movement. Once becoming dead is transformed into a fundamental civil right, there is almost no limit to the killing/suicide license thereby created. Case in point. The Voluntary Euthanasia Society (NZZE) in the Netherlands believes the wide-open killing license granted doctors–including the mentally ill, the …
Continue reading "Never Enough Death for Euthanasia Fanatics"By Dave Andrusko Nineteen days before she committed suicide on November 1, 2014, Brittany Maynard recorded a video demanding that California legislators endorse assisted suicide–an enormous public relations coup for Compassion & Choices. It was not the only video Mrs. Maynard recorded, however. In response to a prior video, Maggie Karner, who, like Brittany, suffered …
Continue reading "A Genuine Profile in Courage: Maggie Karner, RIP"By Philippa Whitford Perhaps the most effective speech in Friday day’s debate in the British House of Commons about assisted dying came from Dr Philippa Whitford, an MP for the Scottish National Party. She spoke after many years of experience as a specialist breast cancer surgeon. Here are some excerpts. ______________________________________ I believe that this …
Continue reading "“A vote for life and dignity, not for death”"By Paul Russell, Founder, HOPE Australia Many a comedian will comment, in a serious moment, about their fear of a ‘death on the stage’. Though history records the actual death of performers in such circumstances, comedians know it as the moment when a joke or a line ‘bombs’; when they lose the audience. The Guardian …
Continue reading "Death and comedy – what’s it really all about?"By Jessica Rogers I don’t remember what I wished for as I was turning 12, though if I had to guess I would wager Power Ranger action figures were on the top of the list. It’s quite possible I even received them, and if life went on as normal for a 12 year old girl, …
Continue reading "Whom Do We Mourn?"By Dave Andrusko Last week the community of Taylor, a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania, could be forgiven if residents there expected some kind of closure in the hideous starvation death of Robert Gensiak. Lackawanna County Judge Margaret Bisignani Moyle sentenced Robert’s mother, Susan Gensiak, to 10-20 years in state prison; Robert’s sister Joan …
Continue reading "Sister found guilty in starvation death of her brother wants to withdraw guilty plea, obtain lighter sentence"By Wesley J. Smith Michael Landon, the hugely popular television star of Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie, and Highway to Heaven, died in 1991 at age fifty-four. Landon’s last act—if you will—was widely hailed as his best: He publicly announced his diagnosis with terminal pancreatic cancer, appeared on the Tonight Show to openly …
Continue reading "Of Michael Landon and Brittany Maynard: The Changing Meaning of Courage in the Face of Pending Death"