The April 2 decision of a federal appeals court in New York brings a chilling new twist to the assisted suicide debate. In a unanimous decision, the three-judge panel of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled doctors can legally help terminally ill patients end their lives. “What interest can the state possibly have in requiring the prolongation of a life [...]
The Interim Patricia Cashman, Erika Garcellano, Esther Cohan, Sherry Miller, Jarjorie Wantz, Margaret Garrish, Thomas Hyde, Huge Gal—the names of desperate people who chose suicide as the answer to a prospect of suffering and hopelessness. Forgotten but for their families and friends, these are just a sampling of an increasing list of people who turned to suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian to put [...]
Interim Staff Austin Bastable, 53, of Windsor, crossed the border into Detroit in May to take advantage of Kevorkian’s assisted-suicide service. Bastable, who suffers from multiple sclerosis for the last 26 years and who attempted suicide in 1994, used Kevorkian’s carbon monoxide cylinder to end his life The death occurred in the afternoon of May 6 at the Detroit home of Janet [...]
A U.S. federal appeals court has struck down a 140-year-old Washington state law prohibiting doctor-assisted suicide. In an 8-3 decision March 6 the 9th US. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Constitution protects an individual’s “right to die.” It was the first time a federal appeals court has ruled on the issue. The decision is likely to be appealed to the U.S. [...]
A U.S. federal appeals court has struck down a 140-year-old Washington state law prohibiting doctor-assisted suicide. In an 8-3 decision March 6 the 9th US. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Constitution protects an individual’s “right to die.” It was the first time a federal appeals court has ruled on the issue. The decision is likely to be appealed to the U.S. [...]
Australia’s Northern Territory has passed the world’s first law legalizing euthanasia. The tiny tropical territory, with a population of only 180,000, recently passed a law which allows its terminally ill residents to ask doctors to end their lives. The bill was actually passed last year but had to be sent back for rewording. Pro-life groups as well as the Australian Medical Association [...]
Interim Staff After almost 40 years of decline, the suicide rate for elderly Americans rose by 9% between l980 and l992, reports the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. Americans 65 and over make up only l3% of the population but account for 20% of all suicides, the highest rate of any age group. The CDC listed as possible reasons that people [...]
After killing his 27 patients, lawyers for Jack Kevorkian are pondering a move out west. Despite having no medical license in any state, Jack Kevorkian has reportedly decided to move his business from Michigan to California and try his luck with the Golden State authorities. Although he has successfully flouted the law in Michigan which bans assisted suicide, his cause has not [...]
Man in custody for murder of local Right to Die Society president Edmonton Right to Die Society president Bruce Hutchinson, 41, got his wish last April. Firemen responded to a 911 call found his lifeless body slumped in an easy chair, with a single bullet hole in his forehead. Police initially assumed suicide; but the death-weapon was missing. So they upgraded the [...]
Man in custody for murder of local Right to Die Society president Edmonton Right to Die Society president Bruce Hutchinson, 41, got his wish last April. Firemen responded to a 911 call found his lifeless body slumped in an easy chair, with a single bullet hole in his forehead. Police initially assumed suicide; but the death-weapon was missing. So they upgraded the [...]
A suspended sentence for a Nova Scotia woman convicted of aiding and abetting her friend’s suicide sends an ominous message across the country says the president of the province’s Campaign Life organization. Herm Wills of Campaign Life Nova Scotia said a suspended sentence on an assisted suicide conviction puts out word that “mercy killing” practitioners can now set up shop in the [...]
26 suicides and no signs of letting up for Dr. Death Jack Kevorkian has attended his 26th assisted suicide. The body of Patricia Cashman, a 58-year-old woman, was found in the back seat of a car. The official cause of death is homicide by carbon monoxide poisioning. Kevorkian does not deny his part in the death of Cashman, On Larry King Life, [...]
Former convicted of second-degree murder was awaiting Supreme Court appeal The Saskatchewan Justice Department has granted Robert Latimer the right to a new trial. Latimer has been confined to his farm near Wilkie, Saskatchewan since the upholding of his July conviction of a second degree murder in the death of his daughter, Tracy, aged 12, in October of 1993. Latimer was sentenced [...]
Pro-euthanasia group uses suffering man to raise legal funds over the Internet Canadian pro-life groups took their first steps on the information highway at the beginning of October when Kelowna Right to Life inaugurated LifeNET and Campaign Life Coalition British Columbia launched the “Save Austin Bastable” web site. LifeNET is designed not only for pro-life activists, but for students researching school projects [...]
Edited by Ian Gentles Stoddart Publishing, 1995. 131 pages, $18.95 Reviewed by Sue Careless You are a high-profile, public advocate against euthanasia, but in your private life your own father, dying of bowel, stomach and liver cancer, begs you to assist him in suicide. What do you do? Ian Gentles, the editor of Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: The Current Debate recounts how, [...]