At its policy convention in Calgary this week, the Canadian Medical Association was poised to debate one of the most emotionally charged and ethically perilous issues in medicine: doctor-assisted death. But physicians got bogged down in semantics, in lengthy discussions about the appropriate language to use to describe hastening death at the end of life, and deferred real debate to a later, unspecified date and another unspecified time.
The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is to remain opposed to any change in the law on assisted dying, it has been revealed today following one of the most comprehensive consultations of its members. More than 1,700 members responded to the consultation, which was open from 22 May 2013 until 9 October 2013. College members responded either as individuals, or through one of the RCGP Devolved Councils, one of the RCGP Faculties (local branches), or via a College committee or group. The consultation was conducted through a range of methods, including debates at local meetings, online polls and individual correspondence. Today’s Council debate on the issue ended with a resolution to “maintain the College’s position of opposition to a change in the law on assisted dying”. Seventy seven per cent of RCGP members who submitted individual responses to the consultation expressed the opinion that the College should remain opposed to a change in the law to permit assisted dying. In add
Rechtsonzekerheid voor artsen bij uitvoering euthanasie onacceptabel Artsen houden zich goed aan de euthanasiewet, zo blijkt uit de tweede evaluatie van deze wet. Maar zij worden geconfronteerd met rechtsonzekerheid over het toetsingskader. Daarom steunt de KNMG de aanbeveling van een code of practice voor de toetsingscommissies en dringt zij aan op duidelijkheid over de waarde van de schriftelijke wilsverklaring bij wilsonbekwame patiënten. De KNMG reageert hiermee op de tweede evaluatie van de Wet toetsing levensbeëindiging op verzoek en hulp bij zelfdoding (Wtl).
PUTTE, Belgium—In this small village amid an array of Flemish farms, they were an unusual but seemingly happy pair, two 43-year-olds who were identical, deaf twins. Townspeople recalled seeing Marc and Eddy Verbessem around town frequently, talking animatedly in sign language together, tooling around in a small blue car, and regularly buying two copies of a popular gossip magazine. No one expected them to decide to die on purpose.
Un débat interne à l’ensemble de l’Institution ordinale a été conduit avant cette expression publique. Il en résulte que la fin de la vie d’une personne dans ces situations implique profondément le corps médical selon les principes éthiques de bienfaisance et d’humanité. L’Ordre national des médecins propose donc de promouvoir une meilleure connaissance de la loi Leonetti et d’envisager des améliorations susceptibles de répondre à des situations exceptionnelles. L’Ordre national des médecins apportera sa contribution au débat sociétal quant à l’euthanasie délibérée et au suicide assisté.
“The current legal status of assisted dying is inadequate and incoherent...” The Commission on Assisted Dying was set up in September 2010 to consider whether the current legal and policy approach to assisted dying in England and Wales is fit for purpose. In addition to evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the legal status quo, the Commission also set out to explore the question of what a framework for assisted dying might look like, if such a system were to be implemented in the UK, and what approach to assisted dying might be most acceptable to health and social care professionals and to the general public.
Marcia Angell was an editor of the most prestigious medical journal in the world for two decades. She currently gives monthly lectures on ethics to faculty at Harvard Medical School. And she served on a panel that gave advice on medical issues to the White House. But Dr. Angell’s credentials were challenged, Wednesday, in the Supreme Court of British Columbia when a lawyer for the federal Department of Justice tried to prevent her affidavit from being entered in a case concerning physician-assisted suicide.
The words of a man who died in agonizing pain and those of his wife, who wept helplessly at his bedside for days while his life slowly ebbed, were read into the court record during the emotional opening of a right-to-die case. With a dozen lawyers in attendance, a packed public gallery inside and a crowd of placard-waving protestors opposed to change on the Supreme Court of British Columbia steps outside, lawyer Joseph Arvay started dramatically by reading the affidavits of Peter Fenker, and his wife, Grace.