A St. Anthony, N.L., mother who says she was told assisted suicide is an option for her 25-year-old daughter wants an apology from Labrador-Grenfell Health.
[W]hy is there such intense pressure to legalise medically assisted suicide or euthanasia? In the past 5 years in the UK there have been three bills introduced into the House of Lords seeking to legalise “assisted dying” in England and Wales; none has made progress and the last one was roundly defeated on a vote in 2006. Yet, despite Parliament's clear lack of appetite to change the law in this area, campaigners have redoubled their efforts, and the main pressure group (Dignity in Dying, formerly the Voluntary Euthanasia Society) is constantly presenting its case in the media.
A mother of a prominent ME sufferer and campaigner has admitted aiding and abetting the suicide of her daughter. Bridget Kathleen Gilderdale, 54, of Stonegate, near Heathfield, Sussex, pleaded guilty to the charge at Lewes Crown Court. But she denied a charge of attempted murder and one of aiding and abetting attempted suicide.
There is no justification for a claim that Christianity must oppose the assisted death of a person who has made their own decision to die, provided that such a person can convince others that their desire to die is fully considered. I will make this argument given two conditions: first that the person is capable of making an educated decision, and second that their end-of-life experience includes full access to both pastoral and medical care.
Proponents of assisted suicide believe support for legalisation is growing among lawmakers and the public around the world. In the past year three names have been added to the list of places which permit it. The BBC's Vincent Dowd investigates whether assisted suicide is set to become even more common.
A question has arisen as to whether it was in the public interest for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to have prosecuted Kay Gilderdale for attempted murder. This is an important question and, in the interests of transparency and accountability, I have decided to issue a short public answer. As is well known, before proceeding with a case, the CPS must be satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and that it is in the public interest to bring the case before a court.
The new Scotland Parliament bill to legalize assisted suicide–which I noted in an earlier post, permits disabled or dying teenagers access to “end of life assistance”–clearly includes active mercy killing. Note that since the method of killing isn’t specified or limited, it would seem that any method agreed upon by the suicidal person and the killing actor would be legal, theoretically including being shot in the head, so long as it “allowed a person to die with dignity,” which is in the eye of the dying person, it would seem, and caused “a minimum of distress,” which a bullet to the head would provide. And it is very clear that the actual suicide assister/killer need not be the patient’s physician or, for that matter, even a health care practioner.
... over the years there have been numerous complaints by hon. Members regarding the persistent bias of the BBC on matters relating to euthanasia and other life issues and on the manner in which the BBC have misused public funds to promote changes in the law; ... the bias of the Corporation applies not only to news programmes but to drama, with thinly-disguised plays and soap operas being used to promote the use of euthanasia ...; ... these presentations have culminated in the last weeks with a multi-million pound campaign featuring Mrs Kay Gilderdale in Panorama and ... Sir Terry Pratchett, given centre stage to present this year's BBC Richard Dimbleby lecture calling for euthanasia and supported by the BBC website; ... every disability rights group in the UK is opposed to the legalisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia on the grounds that from experience they know it would undermine the right to life of the disabled; ...
Today I am publishing the Crown Prosecution Service’s policy on encouraging or assisting suicide. When it passed the Suicide Act 1961, Parliament specifically required discretion to be exercised in every case and my consent is needed before any prosecution for assisted suicide can be brought. In the case brought by Debbie Purdy last year, the House of Lords understood that. It did not question whether there should be a discretion to prosecute or not. But, accepting that discretion, it required me, as DPP, to “clarify what [my] position is as to the factors that [I] regard as relevant for and against prosecution”.
On 25 February, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, launched the Policy for Prosecutors in respect of cases of Encouraging or Assisting Suicide.