Plans to legalize euthanasia under "strict" guidelines are expected to gain approval next year in the Netherlands, making it the first country in the world to formally legalize euthanasia. "Mercy killing" has been taking place without prosecution in Holland with greater and greater frequency over the past 25 years. A series of court decisions starting in 1973 resulted in the establishment of [...]
Asks jur, 'Look at me. Do you see a criminal?' The man critics call "Dr. Death" was found guilty March 26 of second-degree murder by a Pontiac, Mich. jury. Last Sept. 17, Jack Kevorkian injected a lethal concoction into Thomas Youk, 52, a man who had ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The whole sordid event was taped by Kevorkian and [...]
"I will follow that system of regimen which ... I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion ..." Well, there's lots more in [...]
On hearing that U.S. suicide champion Jack Kevorkian is to be tried again for "helping" someone to commit suicide, we were tempted to say, "Put us out of our misery! Convict the man already!" So far, no jury has been willing to hold the de-licensed "Dr. Death" responsible for even one of the scores of deaths he has presided over in his [...]
A few years ago, there was a popular black-market video tape called Faces of Death, showing what producers claimed was a series of actual deaths captured on tape. Some were hit by trains, some sank in quicksand, some were eaten alive by crocodiles. On Sunday, Nov. 22, the "snuff film" genre went mainstream, when 24 million Americans watched a 60 Minutes broadcast of a [...]
On Nov. 19, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Jill Hamilton upheld an earlier decision dismissing murder charges in a suspected euthanasia case. In February, Nova Scotia Provincial Court Judge Hughes Randall granted a discharge to Dr. Nancy Morrison, who is alleged to have killed patient Paul Mills last year at the Queen Elizabeth Health Sciences Centre in Halifax. Judge Randall ruled that [...]
Convicted 'mercy-killer' plans to appeal latest decision to the Supreme Court On Nov. 23, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal ruled unanimously that Robert Latimer must serve the mandatory life sentence, with no chance of parole for 10 years, for the "mercy killing" of his 12-year-old daughter Tracy in 1993. The decision overturns a lower court ruling last year, in which Mr. Justice [...]
Doctor pressed parents to allow organ donation Every parent's worst nightmare came true for Don and Margaret Romaniuk of Lethbridge, Alta., on Feb. 13, 1998. The RCMP called at 2:30 in the morning to notify them that their daughter, Julia, had been in a car accident. "Is she OK?" Mr. Romaniuk asked. "No, she is in serious condition..." came the reply, which [...]
A prominent national organization of Canadians with disabilities has come out strongly opposed to euthanasia and assisted suicide. A few years ago, the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) actually sided with Sue Rodriguez' appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada for the "right" to assisted suicide. They did so because of a commitment to the principle of self determination. On October [...]
If 76-year-old Herman Krausz had known what he was in for when he arrived at Montréal Jewish General Hospital (MJGH) in respiratory distress, he may have chosen to go to another hospital. Against his expressed wishes and the desire of his family, Mr. Krausz was removed from his life support system. Mr. Krausz was treated for a lung inflammation and seemed to [...]
The Anglican Church of Canada's highest governing body, the General Synod, approved a resolution denouncing euthanasia and assisted suicide during its meeting in Montreal May 21-29. The resolution described such measures as "a failure of human community." The Synod also called on Ottawa to maintain the current moratorium on human cloning and ensure that international trade agreements do not facilitate the practice. [...]
The country’s euthanasia debate grew even murkier Feb. 27 with a judge’s decision to drop first-degree murder charges against Halifax respirologist Dr. Nancy Morrison. Morrison was charged with first-degree murder last spring after it was alleged she administered potassium chloride to Paul Mills, 66, a Moncton, N.B. man being treated for cancer of the esophagus. Acting on information from a colleague who [...]
If there’s one thing that history has taught the pro-life and pro-family movements over the three decades or so, it’s that the subtlety of evil must never be underestimated. This principle once again came back to the fore during the recent imbroglio in Halifax concerning Dr. Nancy Morrison, the murder charge laid against her, and - almost predictably - the dropping of [...]
HALIFAX - The case of Dr. Nancy Morrison, a Halifax intensive care physician and Dalhousie Medical School professor charged with the first degree murder of Moncton resident Paul Mills, has shifted the debate about euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide onto the front burner in Atlantic Canada. Mr. Mills, 65, a throat cancer patient at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, died Nov. [...]
The following is excerpted from a homily by Vancouver's Archbishop Adam Exner at the fifth annual Mass for Life December 27, 1997. Not long ago in The Vancouver Sun (there were) shocking headlines about a poll that indicated 70 per cent of Canadians favored assisted suicide and euthanasia -- a shocking statistic which shows just how deeply death culture has become rooted [...]