Head of Vermont Alliance for Ethical Health Care talks with The Interim Editor’s Note: Euthanasia Prevention Coalition executive director Alex Schadenberg interviewed Dr. Bob Orr, president of the Vermont Alliance for Ethical Health Care, for The Interim. On March 21, 2007, the Vermont Legislature rejected Bill H. 44, which if passed would have legalized assisted suicide in Vermont. The bill was defeated [...]
The Canadian Medical A ssociation released a new ethics statement concerning euthanasia and assisted suicide on May 29 that re-affirmed the CMA's opposition to these practices and asks its membership to uphold the principles of palliative care. The policy summary includes definitions of euthanasia and assisted suicide, background information, basic medical ethical principles and physician concerns about legalization of euthanasia and assisted [...]
On June 21, the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition received a request from a supporter in Nova Scotia, asking us to read the obituary in the Halifax Chronicle Herald newspaper for an Elizabeth MacDonald. The obituary stated that MacDonald, who had multiple sclerosis, died on June 8 in Switzerland at the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic. The obituary specifically thanked Ludwig Minelli and the members [...]
As a young man, Alex Schadenberg travelled the country promoting the culture of life. His parents, Harry and Mary Schadenberg, were pioneers in Canada’s pro-life movement. During his first year of university, Alex was elected the national youth president of the Canadian Youth Pro-Life Organization. In giving his talks across the country, he rubbed shoulders with Canada’s pro-lifers from all walks of [...]
A report entitled “End-of Life Practices in the Netherlands under the Euthanasia Act” was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on May 10. The media are claiming that the report states euthanasia in the Netherlands has dropped since its legalization in 2002. When reading the actual report, however, we learn of a different reality than that presented in the media. [...]
For the third time in as many years, a Quebecker has made headlines by assisting in the suicide of a sick loved one. Stephen Dufour, 29, was arrested after police investigated the death of his uncle, Chantal Maltais who suffered from, depending on the news source, either polio or muscular dystrophy. Maltais was confined to a wheel chair and his nephew assisted [...]
Pro-life activist and executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Alex Schadenberg, was a featured speaker at the recent Catholic Women’s League convention for the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. He warned of the dangers of legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide. Evelyn Theriault, the outgoing CWL diocesan president, told The Interim that, “For many of us, euthanasia is something that we are [...]
The Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops has released a statement clarifying the church’s position on euthanasia and assisted suicide. It is also calling on Catholics to question politicians about their stands on the issue. “Catholics, like all other citizens, have the right and duty to participate in the political processes of our democracy,” the bishops state. “Our elected representatives should be questioned [...]
It appears that the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association has decided to move from a position of opposing euthanasia and assisted suicide to a position of temporary neurality. This creates great concern for both opponents of euthanasia and advocates for people with disabilities in relation to the end-of-life care for the most vulnerable members of society. In 2005, the British Medical Association [...]
After spending more than eight years behind bars for his last “mercy killing,” Jack Kevorkian will be freed from a Michigan prison in June, a prison spokesman announced. Kevorkian, the infamous ‘Dr. Death’ and poster boy for the euthanasia movement, killed over 130 people through assisted suicides in the 1990s, until he was sent to jail in 1999 for violating Michigan’s ban [...]
It seems that negative attitudes toward people with disabilities have recently grown from the theoretical ideas of Peter Singer of Princeton University, who believes that it is acceptable to kill disabled infants, into the actual practice of allowing infants with disabilities to be euthanized. In any other time in history, this was known as the crime of infanticide. It is now becoming [...]
Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, attended the World Federation of Right to Die Societies biennial conference in Toronto and learned a lot about its strategies to bring about euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. This article is a shortened version of the full report that is available directly from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. The World Federation of Right to Die [...]
Andre Bergeron was sentenced to three years’ probation and no jail time for an attempted euthanasia on his wife, which he failed to complete. In July 2005, Bergeron attempted to asphyxiate his wife, who suffered from Friedreich’s Ataxia (a degenerative disorder), with a plastic bag. He called 911 prior to her death, but she died three days later in hospital. According to [...]
Comatose patients could be used for experiments MELBOURNE – An Australian medical official has suggested using incapacitated patients - people in a so-called permanent vegetative states - for medical experiments. Dr. Steven Curry, of the University of Melbourne, says that, “Those who are in a PVS ... have no continuing interest in their own survival,” and thus could benefit others. U.S. Supreme [...]
On June 29, 2006, at an annual meeting, the British Medical Association (BMA) voted to clearly oppose euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. The margin of the vote was 65 per cent to 35 per cent, a resounding victory. Last year’s annual meeting resulted in the BMA taking a neutral position on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. The 2005 BMA meeting orchestrated a vote on [...]