| Jail threat to Doctors who deny 'right to die' |
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'DOCTORS will face prosecution if they refuse to allow patients to die in accordance with their ''living wills’' New laws will mean that, for the first time, instead of fighting to save lives, doctors will be required to end them. The penalties for those who refuse to end life are set out in a code of practice on the workings of the new Mental Capacity Act, which was published yesterday. It says doctors must follow a living will – a patient’s instructions on what should happen if they become incapacitated – if it tells them to stop life-preserving treatment or remove tubes providing water and nutrition.' Daily Mail 10 March 2006 |
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| Terri Schiavo's Death: Not About Who Decides, But What We Decide |
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'TERRI SCHINDLER SCHIAVO's death occurred on the anniversary of a 1976 New Jersey Supreme Court decision authorizing the parents of Karen Ann Quinlan to remove her from a respirator so she could ''die with dignity''--although she lived for nearly 10 more years. Her father, when asked if he wanted Karen's feeding tube removed, replied, ''Oh, no, that's her nourishment.'' ' LifeNews 18 April 2006 |
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| Assisted death law 'could push the vulnerable to suicide' |
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'Vulnerable people could feel under pressure to commit suicide if a controversial assisted suicide Bill becomes law, according to an opinion poll. Two out of three people fear that it could put patients under unnecessary pressure, while almost three quarters are concerned that it could influence doctors to end lives.'' Sunday Telegraph 7 May 2006 |
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| Hello mum. Am I in hospital? |
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'For Sienie, it was the moment for which she had prayed: the day she would hear her son's voice again. ''I cannot say how much that meant to me, to have my boy back,'' she says. ''It was as though Louis had thrown off an invisible blanket. Suddenly he was animated, after three years lying silently in a world of his own.'' Sunday Telegraph 28 May 2006 |
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| Drug induced arousal from the permanent vegetative state |
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'Zolpidem is an omega 1 specific indirect GABA agonist that is used for insomnia, but may have efficacy in brain damage. The long term efficacy of zolpidem in the permanent vegetative state is described in three patients. Two motor vehicle accident patients and one near drowning patient, all of them in the permanent vegetative state for at least three years, were rated according to the Glasgow Coma and Rancho Los Amigos scale before and after zolpidem application. Long term response to daily application of this drug was monitored for 3-6 years. All patients were aroused transiently every morning after zolpidem. Glasgow Coma Scale scores ranged from 6-9/15 before to 10-15/15 after zolpidem. Rancho Los Amigos Cognitive scores ranged from I-II before to V-VII afterward. Drug efficacy did not decrease and there were no long term side effects after 3-6 years daily use. : Zolpidem appears an effective drug to restore brain function to some patients in the permanent vegetative state.'' Neurorehabilitation Issue: Volume 21, Number 1 / 2006 March 2006 |
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| When doctors 'should be allowed to kill a patient' |
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.'Professor Doyal is Professor of Medical Ethics at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry and has been a member of the British Medical Association’s ethics committee for nine years. Writing in The Royal Society of Medicine’s Clinical Ethics journal, he says: ‘Doctor-assisted deaths are taking place on a regular and recurring basis in the UK. They should be better regulated.'' Daily Mail 8 June 2006 |
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| Fighting for life |
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''Peers blocked Lord Joffe's assisted dying bill on the same day that hundreds of people, including a newly formed coalition of disabled people, demonstrated outside parliament. The demonstration followed the launch of Not Dead Yet UK (NDY UK), a new campaigning network of disabled people and organisations opposed to the bill, which teamed up with the Care Not Killing Alliance to deliver a petition of 100,000 signatures to 10 Downing Street.'' disability now June 2006 |
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| Government scraps abuse clause in secret |
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'Health minister Rosie Winterton has secretly dumped a vital piece of legislation that would have protected many more vulnerable adults from abuse, DN has discovered. The draft mental health bill included a clause that would have made it an offence for a person to ill-treat or neglect someone with a learning difficulty or mental health problem in their ''care or custody''. ' disability now June 2006 |
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| Human Rights Act under threat |
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'Furious disability campaigners and activists have attacked the Conservative Party's threat to rip up the Human Rights Act (HRA) if it gains power. Tory leader David Cameron said he would ''reform, replace or scrap'' the act, even though it provides a raft of protections for disabled people. '. ' disability now June 2006 |
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| Police protest at plan to downgrade murder |
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'ALERT Comment Under the Law Commission's proposals ''mercy killing'' would become a lesser offence. - Chief police officers have attacked government plans to end mandatory life sentences for murder.They fear some of the country’s most dangerous criminals would get softer sentences if ministers introduce a U. S.- style system where killings are graded according to their seriousness. Links to the DCA report The Law CommissionConsultation Paper No 177 (Overview)A NEW HOMICIDE ACT FOR ENGLANDAND WALES? are here as well.'' Daily Mail 17 June 2006 |
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| ''MERCY'' KILLING TO SOLVE AGE IMBALANCE? |
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'In a statement issued today a spokesman for ALERT said:''Lord Falconer's welcome on 24th June for the Law Commission's proposals to change the homicide law should sound alarm bells for the elderly and frail.''So-called 'mercy' killing could become a lesser offence than murder.''This is one way to deal with the 'graying' of Britain, but we believe it is not a good one.'''' ALERT comment 25 June 2006 |
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| Care Not Killing Alliance Submission on Mental Capacity Act Draft Codes of Practice |
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''ALERT welcome this submission - READ IT NOW'' Care NOT Killing 8 June 2006 |
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| AB 651 Language Perversion by Promoters of Assisted Suicide |
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Advocates for assisted suicide know that when their agenda is described accurately and descriptively--they lose. So, they are ever about the task of trying to come up with new gooey euphemisms to describe assisted suicide--to be, if you will, the sugar that helps the hemlock go down.'' Secondhand Smoke 19 June, 2006 |
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| BMA votes to reverse policy on euthanasia |
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The British Medical Association has voted to reinstate its policy of outright opposition to euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide, just a year after adopting a neutral stance on the issue. '' The Independent 30 June 2006 |
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| Doctors should cure, not kill |
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''The elderly of Britain - and, indeed, anyone with a heavy cold whose family might not like them very much - can at least feel relieved that the British Medical Association should have voted decisively against euthanasia this week.'' Daily Telegraph 1 July 2006 |
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| Coma patient's brain 'repaired itself' |
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'A car crash victim who awoke after 19 years in a ''minimally conscious state'' has helped neuroscientists discover that the brain retains some ability to repair itself.The finding will rekindle the debate about whether more could be done to help brain-damaged patients believed to be beyond help.' Daily Telegraph 4 July 2006 |
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| Doctors backtrack on assisted suicide |
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Last year's decision by the BMA to adopt a neutral stance on the issue of physician assisted suicide lasted only 12 months. Zosia Kmietowicz looks at what changed doctors' minds '' bmj.bmjjournals.com 8 July 2006 |
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| Dying woman, 91, 'begged for cup of tea' |
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A doctor's decision to allow his patient to starve has been challenged ''A FAMILY who claimed their elderly mother endured a terrifying death after being deliberately starved by a hospital doctor put their case before a coroner yesterday. '' The Times 25 July 2006 |
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| Coroner reforms 'would not prevent a Shipman' |
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''GOVERNMENT proposals to reform the coroners system would fail to prevent another Harold Shipman murdering his patients, according to a Commons report published today.'' The Times 1 August 2006 |
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| He died of thirst: NHS accused by widow over care |
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''A coroner investigating the death of a woman allegedly starved and deprived of fluids in hospital has been asked to hold an inquest into the death of a patient on the same ward. Relatives of Harold Speed believe that he died of dehydration, not pneumonia as his death certificate says. The 84-year-old former music teacher had been examined by the same doctor who treated Olive Nockels, who died after her drips were removed. '' The Times 7 August 2006 |
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| Leslie Burke: |
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''The European Court of Human Rights has refused to accept Leslie Burke's application to be heard — on the grounds that British domestic law protects the lives of patients already. (Copies of the ruling are available from ALERT).Since this is their interpretation of it, we must remind our Department of Health, hospital trusts and doctors that life is protected, whenever they seem to think otherwise. It is over to us now.'' - ALERT Press Release 8th August 2006 |
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| Patient loses his last plea to stop doctors from letting him die |
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''A TERMINALLY-ill man does not have the right to stop doctors withdrawing food and water when his illness reaches its final stages, European human rights judges ruled yesterday.They rejected a plea by 46year-old Leslie Burke for the right to receive artificial nourishment and water when he becomes too ill to speak for himself.'' Daily Mail 9 August 2006 |
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| Judges to decide on living wills in secret courts |
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New courts with unprecedented powers of life and death over hospital patients will be given powers to sit in secret, ministers have declared. Their decision means the first British courts in 40 years to have the right to take life can sit behind closed doors if a judge thinks the proceedings should not be made public. The secrecy rules apply to the Court of Protection, which will police the workings of the 'living wills' and 'powers of attorney' brought in under Labour's controversial Mental Capacity Act. '' Daily Mail 14 August 2006 |
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| Things Are Getting Very Secretive in Brave New Britain |
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''This time the issue is advanced medical directives and their interpretation by courts: New regulations permit these court rulings--which are often literally a matter of life and death--to be held in secret. This is terrible development. We have open courts in free societies for a reason. Secrecy permits corruption, discrimination, and heightens the potential for profound injustice. Indeed, secrecy permits the law not to be followed at all. Living will disputes are not issues of national security where confidentiality is sometimes justified. The way to keep people complacent is to, quite literally, keep them in the dark. '' Secondhand Smoke 15 August 2006 |
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| Children Fight to Save Comatose Mom From Life Support Removal |
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'The children of a comatose woman are challenging in court the ''compassionate reasons'' for a Texas hospital’s decision to remove their mother’s life-saving treatment, asserting that their mother, a devout Baptist woman, never would consent to anyone but God ending her life.' LifeSiteNews.com 21 August 2006 |
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| A duty to help the ill to live, not assist them to die |
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''Assisted suicide is an emotive subject which has divided both patient and professional opinion. In the second of a special two-part series, Baroness Finlay of Llandaff tells Health Editor Madeleine Brindley why physician-assisted suicide should not be legalised'' Western Mail 4 September 2006 |
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| Brain scan shows that vegetative patients can think |
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''PATIENTS who are in a vegetative state may be able to hear and understand much more than hitherto believed. Experiments conducted in Cambridge could change the way in which such patients are treated: the results suggest that even those who seem to be comatose can hear, understand and respond. '' The Times 8 September 2006 |
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| Detecting Awareness in the Vegetative State |
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The original article in Science Magazine (subscription) 'We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to demonstrate preserved conscious awareness in a patient fulfilling the criteria for a diagnosis of vegetative state. When asked to imagine playing tennis or moving around her home, the patient activated predicted cortical areas in a manner indistinguishable from that of healthy volunteers. '' Science Magazine 8 September 2006 |
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''We have always been told there is no recovery from persistent vegetative state - doctors can only make a sufferer's last days as painless as possible. But is that really the truth? Across three continents, severely brain-damaged patients are awake and talking after taking ... a sleeping pill. And no one is more baffled than the GP who made the breakthrough. Steve Boggan witnesses these 'strange and wonderful' rebirths '' The Guardian 12 September 2006 |
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Made with Index Generator 2.4
Recent information note
Please visit Gill Gerhardi's
Anti-Euthanasia Campaign
website to see her excellent leaflets and letters from MPs and
Peers.
To find out the facts on the tragic American
case, please see Wesley Smith's article on Terri
Schiavo. and Bobby Schindler's Blog.
If you are a Doctor, please visit our
sister site - the British
Section of the World Federation of Doctors who Respect Human Life.
Please see the results of the following
reports:-
Choose Life Poll 4 May 2006
RCP cannot support legal
change on assisted dying - survey results,
Capibus
1999 Opinion Survey
and to learn what people think of Doctors
withholding food and fluid and their 2005 Opinion Survey on a
patient's right to request and receive tube feeding
and hydration when necessary. (Public supports right-to-live case).
For earlier pages, please see Milestones and/or
Other Information.
To find an article, please
use the search facility or look into the following sections.
Recent
Information -
where they appear first
Milestones - then they go here
Landmarks - and some of them are so good they stay here.
Questions and Answers on Living
Wills
 See our Questions and Answers
section for quick answers to common questions about Living Wills.
For a brief article on Motor Neurone Disease,
that counters some of the horror stories circulating about Mrs
Pretty, see Facts on MND.
If you fear that hospices can't help everyone,
please read "Hospices only help
95%"; that is untrue. Good palliative care
is available elsewhere too, and could be universal.
Also, one of our members has contributed
two thought-provoking articles - So you
think you know? and Miss B's Choice
Warning
on Euthanasia
The
aim of ALERT is to warn people of the dangers of any type of euthanasia
legislation and pro-death initiatives. These include the promotion
of Living Wills and Advance Directives, which create a climate
for the acceptance of euthanasia.
ALERT
was founded in December 1991 to provide well-documented information
on these and related issues, and to defend the lives and rights
of the medically vulnerable, recognising that all human beings
are of equal value.
ALERT
defines euthanasia as "any action or omission which is intended
to end the life of a patient." The law in every country until
recent years protected all citizens against being killed, regardless
of their status or condition. The famous exception to this rule
was in Nazi Germany.
The
law changes the attitude of society towards its members.
In 1993 the Law Lords ruled that Tony Bland, in a so-called "Persistent
Vegetative State', could be made to die of dehydration.
Down the slippery slope from that ruling, patients have been deprived
of fluid - without the consent of their families - when only sedation
was making them incapacitated. To try to stop this happening,
ALERT supported the Patients' Protection Bill
Living
wills also threaten lives. They enable doctors to end the lives
of patients, whilst protecting the doctor from civil or criminal
liability.
It
has never been part of doctors' duty to practise meddlesome medicine
and prolong the dying process. But they should never deliberately
harm those in their care. ALERT is calling for restoration of
the law against homicide, which has served our citizens well for
centuries.
ALERT
is a British initiative, funded only by donations from people
in this country. It works closely with the International
Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide which is the
USA's primary source of information opposing Euthanasia.
As a campaigning organisation, we are not a charity.
If
you are a person with a disability, you may like to visit the
website of "Very
Much Alive".
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Original Website design by: Andy
Berry. from 2005 - Webmaster.
Against Legalised
Euthanasia Research
and Teaching
27 Walpole Street, London, SW3 4QS
England
t +44 (0)20 7730 2800 f (0)20 7730 0818
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