The ‘slippery slope’ argument proves valid One argument against euthanasia - one worth putting forward as it appears that Francine Lalonde’s private member’s bill is to be re-introduced in Parliament - is that it is wrong. Quite simply, that killing people for any reason other than immediate self-defenxe or in the course of a just war is immoral. There are, alas, a [...]
Terri Schiavo - A Life That Matters by Mary and Robert Schindler et al (Warner Books, $32.95 272 pages). She's a human being," I cried out. "Nobody seems to notice." For well over a decade, these two sentences described the plight of Mary Schindler and her family. Medical experts had declared their daughter, Terri Schindler-Schiavo, to be in a persistently vegetative state. [...]
Four speakers delved into the issue of whether euthanasia is an individual decision or collective choice during an April 7 debate at the science faculty of the Université du Québec à Montréal, to celebrate the UN-sponsored International Day of Health. Francine Lalonde, MP for the Bloc Québécois and author of euthanasia Bill C-407 - which died on the order table last November [...]
It will be legal to euthanize children in Holland within a few weeks. Doctors will now be able to collaborate openly with parents for the deaths of severely handicapped or suffering children, without risking charges of murder. The country has set up a committee to regulate the illicit killing of seriously ill infants by doctors. The Groningen Protocol, drafted by euthanist Dr. [...]
On March 3, Liberal Senator Sharon Carstairs, head of the Senate committee responsible for palliative care in Canada, gave the Cardinal Ambrozic lecture at St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. In her talk, entitled, “The State of Palliative Care in Canada: End of Life Care,” Carstairs said Canada is not in a favourable position to engage in a debate on [...]
Just after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, rumors circulated that at least one hospital had euthanized patients during the mayhem. LifeSiteNews.com reported in September 2005 that an unnamed doctor admitted to a U.K. newspaper such activities had taken place at Memorial Medical Centre. In October, another doctor at the hospital confirmed in a CNN interview that he suspected such activities and admitted [...]
Interim Staff The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition remains concerned that a bill to legalize euthanasia and/or assisted suicide is still capable of passing through the newly elected Parliament, even though the Conservative Party won a minority. The election of a Conservative minority may not have changed the configuration of support for euthanasia or assisted suicide enough to create a climate where a bill [...]
Interim Staff On Dec. 2, 2005 the Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Bioethics Institute hosted a meeting in Toronto for the purpose of bringing Catholic leaders from across Ontario together to focus on euthanasia and assisted suicide. Alex Schadenberg, of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, found the meeting to be an excellent opportunity to bring leaders from the Knights of [...]
“Don’t let up! The lines for the next attempt to legalize euthanasia are being drawn right now!” That’s the current battle call of pro-life groups and other concerned parties. Due to political divisions, the Gomery report and other factors, an election was called and as a result, Bill C-407, the bill to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada, died a natural [...]
Speaking in the House of Commons on Oct. 31, Bloc Quebecois MP Francine Lalonde said that “the Parliament of Canada and its members cannot dither any longer and expect the courts or government to make the necessary changes to the Criminal Code to recognize the right to die with dignity for the people of Quebec and Canada.” There are several things wrong [...]
Tony Gosgnach The Interim A proposal explicitly to deny pharmacists in Ontario a right to refuse to provide services on the basis of religious belief or personal conviction has implications beyond the matters of simply abortifacient medications and birth control. Some pharmacists fear that, under such a stricture, they may eventually be called on to dispense medications for the purposes of euthanasia, [...]
A rogue’s gallery: The Interim recently invited its readers* to nominate those who have most helped lead the moral assault on Canada. Here are the results. * The preponderance of Liberals on this list reflects the response of Interim readers and not the newspaper or its editorial advisory board. We were surprised that readers did not suggest, for example, former Prime Minister [...]
Paul Tuns The Interim Early reports of 10,000 deaths in the wake of Hurricane Katrina are now, fortunately, higher than reality but the death toll may still ignore the victim’s of the storm’s chaotic aftermath. England’s Sunday Mail broke a story of hospital staff committing euthanasia in the days after Katrina hit New Orleans, knocking out electricity, cutting off transportation and stranding [...]
Is Canada heading toward a policy of allowing terminally ill patients to be killed for body parts? LifeSiteNews.com Special to The Interim Before the practice of organ donation and transplants began, the definition of death was not very difficult. If a person had no signs of life, if his brain, heart and other organs had ceased to show any activity, he was [...]
A Concise History of Euthanasia: Life, Death, God and Medicine by Ian Dowbiggin (Rowan and Littlefield, $25, 176 pages) Reviewed by Alex Schadenberg The Interim If you do not know the history, you are doomed to relive the errors of the past. Ian Dowbiggin, the chair of the history department at the University of P.E.I. and author of A Merciful End: The [...]