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Assisted suicide Canada Constitutionality Death and dying Euthanasia

Two Canadian Challenges to Assisted Suicide Prohibition

The Farewell Foundation for the Right to Die has filed suit challenging the Registrar of Corporations denial of the organization’s application to incorporate. The Registrar denied the application on the basis that organizing to assist those who seek to commit suicide is not a legally permissible purpose. The petition in the law suit is available […]

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Abortion Bioethics Call for Papers Colleges and Universities Conferences Euthanasia Health exception International International Women's health

Call for Abstracts on Health and Human Rights

The 2011 Queen’s University Health and Human Rights Conference has issued a call for abstracts of reseach to be presented during its poster session on September 30 – October 1st, 2011 at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. The conference is a student-led initiative with a mandate to build bridges between the humanities, sciences and social […]

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Assisted suicide Australia Chronic pain Court Cases Death and dying Euthanasia Suicide

Prosecutors’ Role in Assisted Suicide

SSRN has posted a new article, Justins v. the Queen: Assisted Suicide, Juries and the Discretion to Prosecute examining an Australian case and arguing that prosecutors should very rarely charge defendants in cases of assisted suicide. The author notes that the British Crown Prosecution Service has developed guidelines for prosecutors regarding such charges. The guidelines […]

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Court Cases Europe Euthanasia International

important withdrawal of treatment case in England

Here is a link to a story in the National Right to Life News about an important case in England. The British take on the case can be found here. The Bland case (1993) authorized English courts to allow the withdrawal of artifically provided food and water from patients in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). […]

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Advance directives Assisted suicide Europe Euthanasia

Italy Moves Toward Euthanasia Ban

Michael Cook at Bioedge reports on Italian efforts to ban assisted suicide and euthanasia here. The legislation would also require provision of artificially administered food and hydration when needed.

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Assisted suicide Europe Euthanasia International

“Abandoning the disabled to assisted suicide in the UK”

That is the title of a recent blog post by Wesley Smith. Here is the lead paragraph of the post– “The UK is falling off a vertical moral cliff on the assisted suicide issue.  It remains a crime.  But the Public Prosecutor of England and Wales has stated that if, after a complete investigation, it […]

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Death and dying Europe

Nursing Home Residents Views on Death

A study of 121 nursing home residents in England reveals that the residents’ views on advance directives and end-of-life care do not vary much from the views of the general population, notwithstanding deaths of other nursing home residents. The study is summarized with citation at Science Direct here.

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Death and dying Europe Euthanasia Religious Views

Protestanism and Suicide

Researchers at Warwick University have published a new paper entitled Knocking on Heaven’s Door: Protestanism and Sucide. According to the abstract: We model the effect of Protestant vs. Catholic denomination in an economic theory of suicide, accounting for differences in religious-community integration, views about man’s impact on God’s grace, and the possibility of confessing sins. […]

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Assisted suicide Australia Euthanasia International Legislation

No euthanasia legislation to be introduced by premier of Victoria, Australia

Premier of Australia’s second largest state, Victoria, has declined a cancer patient’s request that the premier initiate legislation authorizing euthanasia, saying that the issue should be decided at the national level. A bill legalizing euthanasia was defeated in the Victorian Parliment in 2008. The news story can be found here.

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Assisted suicide Canada Euthanasia International

Rasouli decision from the Ontario Court of Appeals supports the role of the family in medical decisions

Here is report on the recent Rasouli decision from the Ontario Court of Appeals. http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/ontario-appeals-court-rules-doctors-dont-have-right-to-remove-life-support The court found that doctors didn’t have the right to withdraw medical treatment despite the family’s objection. Here is commentary from the National Right to Life website. http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2011/07/toronto-star-agrees-with-rasouli-decision/#more-2916 Richard M.