Categories
Assisted suicide Constitutionality Euthanasia

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Rejects Fundamental Right to Assisted Suicide

Here is a link to an article in the National Right to Life News about this important decision. This decision follows the trend (which is of course not universal) of state  supreme courts (even quite liberal such courts) rejecting the argument that there is a fundamental constitutional right to assisted suicide under the state constitution. […]

Categories
Court Cases Europe Euthanasia International

Important Ruling from European Court on Euthanasia

Here is a link to a report from ADF International about an important ruling from the European Court of Human Rights. “In a major case on the right to life, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of Tom Mortier, son of Godelieva de Troyer, who died by lethal injection in 2012, aged […]

Categories
Assisted suicide Death and dying Euthanasia

John Keown on the Link between Voluntary and Non-Voluntary Euthanasia

Here is a link to an excellent paper by John Keown, which was recently published in the Cambridge Law Journal. The paper is entitled “The Logical Link Between Voluntary and Non-Voluntary Euthanasia.” Here is the abstract– “The logical “slippery slope” argument is of key relevance to the ongoing debate about “assisted dying”. The argument runs […]

Categories
Assisted suicide Constitutionality Court Cases Death and dying Euthanasia Suicide

Massachusetts Court Considers Right to Assisted Suicide

Here is a link to a Reuters story on the oral argument before the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. The Court is considering whether there is a state constitutional right to assisted suicide. In 1997, the US Supreme Court rejected a federal constitutional challenge to laws banning assisted suicide.

Categories
Death and dying Euthanasia International

Anscombe Centre Reports on Euthanasia

Here is a link to a short item in the National Right to Life News mentioning that the Anscombe Bioethics Centre has recently released three papers on euthanasia. The papers are by David Albert Jones, John Keown, and Mark Komrad. All three are of high quality and are strongly recommended. Jones’s paper is entitled “Defining […]

Categories
Euthanasia

Peter Singer on Euthanasia and Mental Illness

Here is blog post by Alex Schadenberg on a recent article by Peter Singer on euthanasia and mental illness. Here is the concluding passage from Schadenberg’s post– “Euthanasia promoters, such as Singer ignore the reality that there is no proof that certain psychiatric conditions are untreatable and secondly, they ignore the fact that a symptom […]

Categories
Death and dying Europe Euthanasia International

“Belgian euthanasia is broken”

Here is a link to a good article by Michael Cook describing a recently published study demonstrating flaws in the Belgian practice of euthanasia. The study, by Kasper Raus, Bert Vanderhaegen, and Sigrid Sterckx, was recently published in the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. Here are some key findings, as summarized by Cook: “Yet the […]

Categories
Bioethics Death and dying Euthanasia

The Euthanasia Cancer Spreads”

Here is a link to a good piece by Wesley Smith documenting some of the disturbing trends concerning the legalization of euthanasia. Here is his conclusion: “Resisting assisted suicide and euthanasia isn’t about “winning,” but saving lives. So regardless of how things ultimately turn out, those of us who understand that hastening death corrupts medicine […]

Categories
Abortion Assisted suicide Constitutionality Constitutionality

Senate Confirms Amy Coney Barrett

By a vote of 52-48, the US Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Barrett replaces Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who died on September 18, 2020. Barrett adheres to the same judicial philosophy as Justice Antonin Scalia, for whom Barrett clerked in the late 1990s. As a […]

Categories
Death and dying Euthanasia Religious Views Religious views

“Solidarity vs. solitude: a meditation on euthanasia”

Here is a link to good essay by Michael Cook discussing the Vatican’s recent document on assisted suicide and euthanasia. In response to the trend towards legalization and acceptance of assisted suicide and euthanasia, the document (which is entitled Samaritanus Bonus) from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith sets forth a clear reaffirmation […]