On 4 May 2019, the UN International Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) – to which the matter was referred by Vincent Lambert’s parents – asked France to suspend, “as a precautionary measure,” the decision to stop Vincent Lambert’s hydration and nutrition “while this case is investigated on its merits“. “Although we…
By Richard Egan, researcher with the Australian Care Alliance The latest annual report on euthanasia and assisted suicide from the Netherlands shows that in 2018 the number of reported deaths by euthanasia decreased – for the first time since legalisation – to 6126 (a 7% decrease from 6585 cases in 2017). Dutch deaths by euthanasia for 2018 include…
When Belgium extended euthanasia to children in February 2014, by eliminating the age limit for lethal injection, we had hoped that no child would die in this manner. The first official child euthanasia in Belgium was reported in September 2016. The 2017 Belgian euthanasia data showed that the number of euthanasia deaths continues to increase,…
The One of Us Federation warns about dehumanization of euthanasia. Euthanasia means abandoning people hit by serious ill and disabilities considered without human dignity. This option does not make sense, from an ethical, medical and juridical point of view. One of us Federaton instead states the need to guarantee and improve palliative care, because human…
Under the current abortion bill, refusing to refer patients to doctors willing to perform abortions would “be a breach of the law”. While the law allows conscientious objection and allows doctors to refuse to perform abortions, it obliges them to ” make such arrangements for the transfer of care of the pregnant woman concerned as may…
Past March, 118 bishops in France signed a statement entitled, “End of life: Yes to the urgency of fraternity!” In the document, the French bishops proposed six ethical reasons for opposing the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide, which are at the core of the bill, and which in turn is the subject of a…
A group of Québec doctors held a press conference to explain that the lack of funding for palliative care in Québec is pushing people to seek death by euthanasia. CTV news reported that the doctors stated that since MAiD was legalized access to palliative care has decreased. The doctors said that: patients have told them…
“I am a disabled person and I don’t back the ‘right to die’ for one very important reason.” This is the title of an important new article published in The Independent on the 5th of October. The author, James Moore, suffers from severe physical disabilities, and is reliant upon drugs and medical interventions in order “to be able…
Suicide pill introduced in the Netherlands “The slippery slope is behind us” In the Netherlands more and more people die from euthanasia, which is accounting for 4.5 percent of all deaths. According to researchers, requests from people who aren’t terminally ill are increasing. “Euthanasia is now considered as a right”, says Kees van Helden of…
The Times of Malta published a New Year’s interview of Chief Justice emeritas Vincent De Gaetano, of the European Court of Human Rights in Malta, conducted by Matthew Xuereb. Xuereb asked Justice De Gaetano about euthanasia, assisted suicide, and Vincent Lambert, who was severely brain-injured in an accident in 2008. Justice De Gaetano responded: One cannot…