Originally published in RNZ, March 2021. By Guyon Espiner. Click here to read the article. What happens if a patient doesn’t die during a euthanasia attempt? That’s one of a number of ethical and legal questions being asked by palliative care experts who say we are woefully unprepared to introduce assisted dying. Senior nursing leaders are also concerned New Zealand won’t be ready when the law takes effect on 7 …Read More
Tag Archives: euthanasia
Euthanasia – What happens when prognosis for a terminal illness is wrong?
“Glenn’s doctors gave him a prognosis of six months to live three times over a period of nearly nine years. Prognosis cannot only be a little off, it can be flat out wrong. Would euthanasia have been legal, Glenn could have ended his life with years still left ahead of him. He would have missed out on so much, as would his wife and young daughter.” When prognosis is wrong …Read More
Why I will be a conscientious objector to Victoria’s assisted dying law
Originally published in MercartorNet, August 2018 by Adrian Dabscheck During a recent period of enforced rest, I had time to reflect on my attitude to the recently enacted voluntary assisted dying legislation in Victoria and consider my response.1 I will detail my reaction to the Act and why I have chosen to become a so-called conscientious objector. In his essay Western Attitudes Toward Death,2 French historian Philippe Ariès illustrates the …Read More
Doctor who objects to physician-assisted suicide says role is in ‘service of the sanctity of life’
Originally published in CBC News, April 2017 by Andrea Janus A Scarborough palliative care physician says she would like Ontario to adopt a direct-access model for physician-assisted suicide, making it widely available to patients while bypassing doctors who object to the procedure. Dr. Natalia Novosedlik is one of a group of doctors seeking what’s called “conscience protection” in the province’s assisted dying law, meaning physicians who oppose euthanasia or physician-assisted …Read More
Euthanasia and the common good
Originally published in Corpus, July 2018 by Charlotte Paul When I started thinking hard about euthanasia, I visited my friend who has a progressive illness affecting his body and mind, and who is in hospital-level care. His partner has moved into the same residence to help look after him. She responds to his suffering with love, and you can sometimes see in his eyes that he recognises this. I honour them both: his endurance and gratitude; her generosity. …Read More
Protecting the Careers of Medical Professionals Who Believe in the Hippocratic Oath
Originally published in The Center for Bioethics and Culture, May 2009 by Wesley J. Smith We live in a culturally diverse society in which people vary greatly in their moral beliefs about the importance of human life. These profound differences are most bitterly expressed in the medical context, particularly with regard to issues such as abortion, physician-assisted suicide, embryonic stem cell research, and other life and death policies and procedures. …Read More
Politicians wrestle with doctors’ consciences in Victoria
Originally published in MercatorNet, April 2017 by Paul Russell As the Victorian Ministerial Advisory Panel on “assisted dying” makes ready to release its interim report sometime in April, The Age newspaper turned its attention to the matter of conscience whether a doctor may refuse to take part in any action that would bring about the premature and deliberate death of a person. Conscience – or the ability to draw upon one’s …Read More