Dutch doctors given thumbs-up for euthanasia for dementia patients
The Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG) has released guidelines for the euthanasia of patients with dementia who have made a written advance directive. It will...
Quebec moving toward euthanasia for dementia patients
A government commission in Quebec has recommended the use of advance directives in euthanasia. In a report released this week, the committee says that "a...
Quebec anaesthetist fighting euthanasia allegations
Police blotter. Here is a case from Quebec which suggests two things. First, that Canada’s medical aid in dying legislation does not mean that doctors...
Euthanasia takes a backward step in Portugal and Colombia
The president of Portugal has refused to sign a bill legalising euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa criticised its wording as imprecise. This...
Belgian euthanasia doctors intimidated by lawyers
Euthanasia has become normalised in Belgium. Accounting to official figures, about 1 death in 50 is due to euthanasia – and a large proportion are...
Euthanasia updates: Bailiwick of Jersey and New South Wales
Lawmakers on the island of Jersey, the small UK dependency in the English Channel (population 110,000), have approved the principle of legalising assisted dying. A...
‘The Economist’ backs assisted dying
As a reflection of the influence of classical liberal thought upon current affairs, the British “newspaper”, The Economist, has no peer. Its tightly written leaders...
NSW Parliament debates ‘assisted dying’
On Friday the Parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales began its debate on the controversial bill to legalise “voluntary assisted dying”. The...
Anscombe Bioethics Centre releases position papers on euthanasia
The Anscombe Bioethics Centre in the UK has commissioned several briefing papers on to clarify the issues at stake in debates around the world...
‘Quick and painless death’: easier said than done
‘Quick and painless’ is a great slogan but it’s hard to achieve.
Protracted ‘assisted dying’ in Colorado
Assisted dying was not the kind of farewell that she had imagined for her husband. She felt “numb, in shock, stressed.”
Can ‘assisted dying’ ever be fully autonomous?
Respect for autonomy, even more than fear of pain, is the fundamental reason why the argument for “assisted dying” has been so powerful. But will...