AMA’s stand on assisted suicide weakens after annual meeting
Possibility of a push for “neutrality” The American Medical Association’s official position on assisted suicide is to oppose it as “fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s...
Suicide rate rises steeply in US
Up 30% in 20 yearsTwo American celebrities committed suicide during the week: Kate Spade, a 55-year-old fashion designer, and Anthony Bourdain, a 61-year-old chef and...
Switzerland: Minelli cleared; doctors OK to help in assisted suicide
Dignitas founder found innocent of 'profiteering'The founder of Switzerland’s best known assisted suicide group, Dignitas, has been cleared of charges of “profiteering” from helping people to...
Is euthanasia the next step for Ireland after abortion?
Junior minister is drafting a bill Hard on the heels of Ireland’s historic approval of abortion in a constitutional referendum last week comes a bill...
Most Americans support some form of the ‘right to die’: Gallup poll
Since World War II, attitudes have changed dramatically The latest Gallup poll shows that a broad majority of Americans, 72%, continue to believe that a...
Head of Dignitas charged with profiting from assisted suicide
First case of its kind in Switzerland The founder of Switzerland’s best-known assisted suicide group, Dignitas, 85-year-old Ludwig Minelli, has been charged with profiting from...
US states could use nitrogen to execute prisoners
If it works for underground assisted suicide networks, why not in prisons? Underground methods of illegal assisted suicide could be used as a model for...
104-year-old Australian scientist boards plane for Swiss suicide clinic
In a case which has attracted world-wide attention, a 104-year-old Australian scientist has boarded a plane which will take him to Switzerland to die at...
Are organ donors really dead?
The circulatory criterion for death has come under fire. What does it mean for a human being to “die”? This question is more complex than one...
British toddler Alfie Evans dies in hospital
Protesters have attempted to storm Alder Hey Hospital. Terminally ill British toddler Alfie Evans has died just a little under one week after having life...
Wow! How many people are Flemish doctors REALLY euthanasing?
Only about 15% of cases are officially reported Only about 15% of euthanasia cases in the semi-autonomous region of Flanders, in Belgium, are being reported,...
The ethical complexities of ageing
Two new themed editions of journals deal with the ethics of ageing. The “ethics of ageing” has become a pressing concern in recent years, with...