Articles Tagged ‘Euthanasia’
Written on 30 Sep, 2011 at 11:26 in
Euthanasia | Author:
Paul Tuns In August, British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Lynn Smith made two important decisions in cases challenging Canada’s laws against euthanasia and assisted suicide.
On August 4, Smith fast-tracked the Carter/Taylor case and on August 17 she rejected a lawsuit filed by the Farewell Foundation for the Right to Die challenging Canadian laws against assisted suicide.
The Carter/Taylor case will be heard Nov. 15. The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is representing Gloria Taylor and the family of Kay Carter, who launched the challenge ... (Continue reading)
Written on 21 Sep, 2011 at 11:12 in
Columnist, Rory Leishman | Author:
Rory Leishman
It is, and always has been, a serious criminal offence in Canada for anyone to counsel or assist another person to commit suicide. Time and again, the advocates of euthanasia have vainly tried to get Parliament to change that law.
In the most recent attempt, former Bloc Quebecois MP Francine Lalonde introduced a private members’ bill into Parliament in 2009 that would have authorized any medical practitioner to kill or assist in killing ... (Continue reading)
Written on 11 Aug, 2011 at 10:14 in
Euthanasia | Author:
Alex Schadenberg On June 29, the Ontario Court of Appeal unanimously upheld a lower court decision requiring doctors to obtain consent from substitute decision-makers before withdrawing life-support, where such a decision is anticipated to result in the death of the patient. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition applauded the unanimous decision.
The Court of Appeal ruled that it is necessary for doctors to raise any objections or concerns they may have about consent before the Ontario Consent ... (Continue reading)
Written on 18 Jul, 2011 at 8:18 in
Announcements, Euthanasia, Features | Author:
Interim Staff
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition’s third annual International Symposium on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide was held in Vancouver, June 3-4 and organizer Alex Schadenberg called it an “incredible success” that “exceeded expectations.”
The conference was entitled “Celebrating our successes; preparing for new challenges,” and to that end Schadenberg, executive director of the EPC, brought together speakers from Australia, Canada, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States that have been dealing with the ... (Continue reading)
Written on 4 Jul, 2011 at 10:47 in
Announcements, Euthanasia, Features | Author:
Paul Tuns On June 3, euthanasia advocate and convicted murderer Jack Kevorkian passed away naturally in Royal Oak, Michigan after being hospitalized for difficulties connected to pneumonia and kidney problems. His death occasioned laudatory obituaries in the media that ignored the man’s ghoulish history.
The Detroit News and Washington Post compared him to civil rights heroes, fighting for what the News euphemistically referred to as “death rights.” Broadcaster Barbara Walters complained about the moniker Dr. ... (Continue reading)
Written on 28 Jun, 2011 at 17:13 in
Euthanasia | Author:
The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association filed a lawsuit challenging Canada’s ban on assisted suicide. The suit was filed in the province’s Supreme Court on April 26 on behalf of Lee and Hollis Johnson. The couple took Lee’s mother, 89-year-old Kay Carter, to Switzerland in January 2010 to have her killed by lethal injection, a crime that is punishable in Canada by up to 14 years imprisonment. According to the lawsuit, Section 241 of the Criminal Code, which prohibits counseling ... (Continue reading)
Written on 28 Jun, 2011 at 17:12 in
Euthanasia | Author:
Thaddeus Baklinski Special to the Interim Swiss voters rejected a proposal to ban assisted suicide and suicide tourism in the Canton (political district) of Zurich.
In a referendum on May 15, about 85 per cent of voters in Zurich rejected a proposal to end legalized assisted suicide while about 78 per cent rejected a separate proposal to stop the practice of suicide tourism by foreigners in their Canton.
Two conservative political parties, the Evangelical People’s Party and the Federal Democratic Union, supported the referendum, promoting palliative care as ... (Continue reading)
Written on 29 Apr, 2011 at 12:43 in
Euthanasia | Author:
Pauline Kosalka
Baby Joseph, son of Moe Maraachli and Sana Nader of Windsor, is one year old and suffering from a undiagnosed neurological disorder that impairs his breathing. He was put under the care of the London Health Sciences Centre and is staying alive with the help of a respirator. LHSC officials said that Joseph is in a vegetative state and will not recover. In light of this, the hospital had opted to take ... (Continue reading)
Written on 24 Apr, 2011 at 11:56 in
Euthanasia | Author:
Alex Schadenberg Now that baby Joseph Maraachli has gone to the Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, it is important to once again consider why this battle occurred and why the Ontario government needs to change the Health Care Consent Act.
The baby Joseph case was not about euthanasia. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition became involved in the baby Joseph case because the way that the decision was made will affect everyone. Many people ... (Continue reading)
Written on 11 Apr, 2011 at 19:20 in
Euthanasia | Author:
Pauline Kosalka An expert witness for the Quebec National Assembly’s Special Commission on the Issue of Dying with Dignity testified on Feb. 17 that legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide will lead to widespread abuse and the killing of the vulnerable.
Dr. François Primeau, a professor of psychiatry at Laval University and Chief of Geranto-Psychiatry at the Hôtel-Dieu de Lévis Hospital, used the Netherlands as an example of the impossibility of posing restrictions on the practice. “In the face of the experience of the ... (Continue reading)
Written on 28 Jan, 2011 at 12:17 in
Euthanasia | Author:
Paul Tuns
On Nov. 29, child murderer Robert Latimer was granted full parole. Latimer, 58, was convicted in 1997 for second-degree murder after the 1993 gassing death of his daughter Tracy, then 12 and who had cerebral palsy.
Latimer, a Saskatchewan farmer, was granted day parole in March 2008, but last year the parole board refused to grant him full parole. He sought looser restrictions and in September 2009, Latimer was required to check ... (Continue reading)
Written on 28 Jan, 2011 at 11:56 in
Columnist, Euthanasia, Paul Tuns | Author:
Paul Tuns Robert Latimer has been granted full parole. I am not surprised by the decision, just ticked off. It sends a terrible signal to society that the life of a person with a disability is less valuable than the life of an able-bodied person. That is sick, perverse and dehumanizing. Canada is better than that. As the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition’s Alex Schadenberg says, “the EPC has always held that Robert Latimer should be treated in ... (Continue reading)
Written on 21 Jan, 2011 at 12:03 in
Euthanasia | Author:
Commentary Alex Schadenberg A study published in the Oct. 5 British Medical Journal found that nearly half of all euthanasia deaths in the Flanders region of Belgium were not reported. This study combined with the recent study that was published in the CMAJ in May 2010 that indicated that 32 per cent of all euthanasia deaths in the Flanders region of Belgium were without request or consent suggests that the Belgium euthanasia model is ... (Continue reading)
Written on 21 Dec, 2010 at 9:37 in
Euthanasia | Author:
Alex Schadenberg For many years the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition has been analyzing Canadian survey results related to euthanasia and assisted suicide. The first major survey that the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition commissioned was part of an Environics Group – National Omnibus survey in April 2001.
The recent Environics Group survey, sponsored by Life Canada, shows that the EPC strategy not only convinced MPs to vote against legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada, but has also helped to shift public opinion against the legalization ... (Continue reading)
Written on 22 Jun, 2010 at 5:55 in
Euthanasia, Politics | Author:
Paul Tuns (Continue reading)
