…A recent article in Kaiser Health News deals with the topic of senior citizens who “want the option to take ‘preemptive action’ before their health declines in their later years, particularly due to dementia.” Dena Davis, a professor of bioethics at Lehigh University, is pushing a new term to describe this “preemptive action”: “Rational …
A man who has lived eight years longer than his medical prognosis, has revealed how he was able to publish a book despite having surgery to remove the part of the brain that enables reading. Martino Sclavi, 46, from London who was first diagnosed with Glioblastoma grade IV in 2011, has lived eight years beyond his …
…Because Maine is one of 23 states that provides citizens with a process for veto referendums, voters could still have the final word on physician-assisted death. Kandyce Powell, executive director of the Maine Hospice Council, filed the veto referendum after the 2019 legislative session adjourned on June 20, 2019. The veto referendum was approved for …
Maine could vote on a physician assisted suicide referendum in November or June Read More »
As we approach the end of our lives, it’s not uncommon to feel lonely, isolated, and afraid. At the end of life, just like every other stage of our lives, we yearn to feel connected with others, to feel loved. One of the ways we, as a society, can lovingly and compassionately care for …
Volunteers needed to help comfort veterans in hospice Read More »
…As a doctor who trained in the Netherlands and practiced there for 22 years, I have seen the practice of euthanasia first hand. I also got a number of requests from patients to assist them with the active termination of their life. I have seen how this practice has changed over the past 30 …
Now, in Massachusetts, our legislature is considering making assisted suicide a medical treatment, and I cannot help but to think about my experience with suicide. Forty-six years ago, my husband chose suicide by shooting himself in the back of his head in our bed. We both were 31, our daughter was 8 and our three …
As I see it: Suicide is not the answer to my terminal illness Read More »
A pair of startling new reports from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General paints a troubling picture of America’s hospice system — with serious deficiencies in some cases and a lack of action from the federal government to remedy them. According to the reports, released Tuesday, 87% of hospices …
87% of US hospices surveyed had deficiencies, inspector general says Read More »
Just as organs harvested after a fatal drug overdose can often be safely transplanted, so may livers taken from individuals undergoing physician-assisted suicide, Belgian researchers reported in a JAMA research letter. In a retrospective single-center review, Diethard Monbaliu, MD, PhD, of University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium, and colleagues found the following 3-year outcomes for …
On June 12, the Mashpee Republican Town Committee invited Dr. Roger Kligler to address our membership regarding medical aid in dying, a newly coined moniker for physician-assisted suicide. Dr. Kligler is a local, retired internist and cancer patient. He is currently endorsing the passage of “An Act Relative to End of Life Options,” House Bill …
GOP committee raises concerns about end-of-life bills Read More »
Dr. Tatiana Santos is a young physician who explains that assisted suicide is one of the biggest threats to authentic medicine. Her words of caution are especially poignant given our current profit-driven healthcare system where doctors are put under tremendous pressure for cost containment.