Starting in 2022, Austrians who are “chronically, seriously ill or have no prospect of recovery will be able to state their will to die” and be given suicide assistance. The article published by the Associated Press calls this allowance to die by assisted suicide “tightly limited”. These “tightly limited” allowances enable people with disabilities to

Assisted suicide is legal in California. Earlier this year, California adjusted one of its “safeguards” on the waiting period between the first request for lethal drugs and the second formal request. The original law maintained that the patient must wait 15 days between the first request and the second. California shortened that “safeguard” to a

Recently, The New York Times wrote about the assisted suicide debate being inflamed by Philip Nitschke’s suicide pod. Besides the disquieting thought of a personalized gas chamber invented by the man who wants to make suicide available to everyone without barriers, the Sarco pod does not actually ignite the debate on assisted suicide. The device

Assisted suicide is dangerous and discriminatory. One example of this is that some medical professionals decide which patients to give suicide prevention to and which patients to assist.  “Interviews with hospice staff in Washington in the US, where a form of medically assisted dying is available, found that they encountered different types of suicide, and

    Cancer Patients are Suffering From Mental Distress According to Healthline, research shows more than 80% of oncologists say they frequently see mental health distress in their patients; more than 90% of oncologists agree or strongly agree that mental health has a significant impact on cancer outcomes; approximately 93% of oncologists surveyed say they’ve

  The Devastating Reality of Suicide Contagion The New York Times investigative team talks about a disturbing discovery on an episode of The Daily podcast titled “Kids Are Dying How Are These Sites Still Allowed?” and a companion article called “Where the Despairing Log On, and Learn Ways to Die” The podcast is about websites that exist online where

Yesterday’s “safeguards”, which proponents use to get laws passed in the first place, become today’s obstacles. In January 2020, Oregon adjusted the safeguard requiring a 15-day waiting period between the formal request for lethal drugs and receiving the prescription. Starting in January 2022, California’s waiting period will be reduced from 15 days to a meager

Patients from around the world travel to Switzerland to end their lives at euthanasia clinics inside the country’s border. Erika Preisig, President at a Swiss assisted suicide clinic, and proponent of the practice calls the burden on doctors to choose which patients live and which die difficult, but justifies it with a quality of life

The first assisted suicide approved in Italy is a man with disabilities who was involved in a car accident ten years ago. What kind of precedent does this set for Italians with disabilities?  In the 2019 report by The National Council on Disability, it is clear that assisted suicide laws are rife with dangers to

Hospice and palliative care neither hasten nor prevent death, as founded by Dame Cicely Saunders. The vast majority of those who work in hospice and palliative care practice according to this philosophy. Assisted suicide proponents, however, are trying to co-opt this medical speciality and make killing patients part of relieving their pain. The top five

October 20, 2021. Dr. Mark Rollo of Fitchburg, MA, wrote a letter to the editors of the Sentinel and Enterprise and the Lowell Sun that was published on October 9, 2021 about proposed assisted suicide bill “An Act Relative to End of Life Options” [H2381/S1384]. Dr. Rollo calls out the tragic irony that the Massachusetts

October, 20th 2021. A letter to the editor of the Boston Globe was published on October 17 from Dr. Ronald W. Pies of Lexington, Dr. Mark Rollo of Fitchburg, and Dr. Thomas Sullivan of Beverly, who weigh in on the assisted suicide debate in Massachusetts. The letter maintains that there is no need or ethical

  Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby published an opinion piece Legalizing assisted suicide would send a devastating message on October 10th, 2021. The article summarizes the problems with assisted suicide legislation following the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Public Health’s hearing on October 1, 2021. The Committee heard testimony on bills H2381 and S1384. These bills