Tag: dementia

Sedating them to death: a remedy for dementia, stroke and brain injury

British Medical Association considers terminal sedation for large numbers of non-dying patients. By Peter Saunders Editor’s note. This appears on the blog of the Christian Medical Fellowship and is reposted with Dr. Saunders’ permission. Is it justifiable to withdraw food and fluids from patients with dementia, stroke and brain injury who are not imminently dying? New …

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The Push to Starve Dementia Patients Appears in the New York Times

By Wesley J. Smith First, bioethicists said people should be able to refuse being “hooked up to machines” even if that meant almost certain death. Then, they pushed that meme farther, arguing that the right of refusal (including by surrogates) should also include nourishment by tube so the patient dehydrates to death. Give them an …

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220 Dutch doctors take out ad to oppose euthanasia for patients with dementia

By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition An article written last week by Janene Pieters and published in the NL Times reports A group of 220 Dutch doctors took out an advertisement in NRC [a daily evening newspaper] on Friday to show that they are against granting euthanasia to advanced dementia patients. The doctors …

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British Psychiatrist approves six dementia patients deaths at Swiss suicide clinics

By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director – Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Over the weekend the Daily Mail reported that Colin Brewer, a British psychiatrist who had lost his medical license, had approved the assisted suicide deaths of six people with dementia. “Five of the Britons died at Dignitas in Zurich, while the other died at another Swiss …

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Push Continues to Starve Dementia Patients

By Wesley J. Smith People have the right to refuse medical treatment, including in an advance directive. But they do not–and most definitely, should not–have the right to force caregivers to starve them to death when sustenance is not medically delivered, e.g., spoon feeding. There has already been one Canadian case–lost–to force a nursing home …

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Five Things my Mother (and Daughter) Taught Me about Caring for People with Dementia

By Nancy Valko My mother developed Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of dementia, in her early 60s. Later on, she was diagnosed with an aggressive thyroid cancer that required a surgical opening in her throat called a tracheostomy so that she would not suffocate from the tumor. My father and siblings were naturally distraught …

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The Netherlands approves euthanasia for patients with severe dementia

By Alex Schadenberg, International Chair – Euthanasia Prevention Coalition The Netherlands government has decided to extend euthanasia to people with severe dementia who are incompetent to request death by lethal injection, if the person requested euthanasia while still competent. The new guide appears to be designed to protect doctors who were already killing people with …

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Court tussle over right to euthanize Dutch woman with dementia

By Michael Cook Sorry, we missed this euthanasia story from the Netherlands. It deserves to be more widely known. An 80-year-old Dutch woman suffering from dementia was euthanized on April 24 after a sternly-worded court order addressed to her nursing home. The woman, who was later identified as Cobi Luck, had a stroke two years …

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“Alive Inside”: the power of music to rouse patients with dementia

  By Michael Cook Helping patients with dementia will probably be one of the biggest human dignity issues of our century, as the proportion of elderly grows across the globe. It seems disgraceful to warehouse them in nursing homes, but often there are few alternatives. So I was really delighted to see a ray of …

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The privilege of remembering for both of us

  By Dave Andrusko Editor’s note. We are approaching the fourth anniversary (can it be four years?!) since “Kay” passed away and three years since I wrote about our experience with her. Kay made such a lasting impression on my wife and myself that periodically I try to share the lessons I learned from her …

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People with severe dementia should be starved and dehydrated to death to save money says BMJ editorial

By Dr. Peter Saunders Editor’s note.  Dr. Saunders is a former general surgeon and CEO of Christian Medical Fellowship, a UK-based organization with 4,500 UK doctors and 1,000 medical students as members. There is an editorial in the British Medical Journal  by a retired professor of philosophy titled ‘Sanctity of life law has gone too …

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A “Life Worth Ending” or a “Life Worth Celebrating”?

By Dave Andrusko http://twitter.com/daveha All week I meant to talk about a remarkably depressing—and ominous—article written by Michael Wolff for New York Magazine about his mother’s Alzheimer’s. The title gives you some idea where he’s headed: “A Life Worth Ending.” Wesley Smith offered a keen insight in his blog post, “Should We Kill Alzheimer’s Patients?” …

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