If you’ve not yet seen “Choosing to Die”, Terry Pratchett’s film about Dignitas from Monday night, I recommend that you go and watch it now. (I don’t know if it’s available outside the UK: I’m sure it’ll appear on YouTube soon, though; or, if you’re outside th UK, get a Brit to download it and […]
Category: Life and Death
To Breed, or not to Breed?
There’s a very interesting article on the BBC news website at the moment concerning the decision of Jono, a man with Treacher Collins Syndrome, about whether or not to have children of his own. His having the syndrome himself has led to a number of difficulties – but he seems to have got off fairly lightly […]
Assisted Dying for the non-Terminal
I’m a bit behind the curve with this, but I thought it worth noting the story of Nan Maitland, who recently travelled to Dignitas* at the start of March. She was suffering from arthritis – which, though painful, is a long way short of a terminal illness. (Her story is reminiscent of Robert and Jennifer […]
A New Standard for Medics: Perfection
Lord knows why, but I keep going back to Secondhand Smoke, the pro-life, global-warmin’-denyin’, public-healthcare-hatin’, intelligent-design-lovin’, Daily-Mail-quotin’ blog written by Discovery Institute affiliated lawyer Wesley Smith. I try to stay away, but like a child peeping between his fingers while hiding his eyes, I’m just fascinated by it. A recent post concerns a Kiwi woman […]
Wow. Nebraska, Iowa and Georgia… just Wow.
I mentioned a few days ago the proposed law in South Dakota that would provide a defence of justifiable homicide for to those accused of killing abortion doctors. That proposal was shelved… but reports keep coming in of proposed laws, each of which is crazier than the last. I’m beginning to wonder if there’s a […]
Assisted Suicide in Oregon: a Counterblast from the Antis
Ilora Finlay and Rob George* have a new paper in the JME that takes issue with Battin et al‘s 2007 paper, concerning who makes use of physician assisted suicide in Oregon and Holland. Battin’s claim had been that there was no evidence of heightened risk for the elderly, women, the uninsured (inapplicable in the Netherlands, where […]
Wow. South Dakota… just Wow (part 2).
I think that this is worthy of its own entry, rather than just an update of the one ↓down there↓; South Dakota has shelved its lunatic proposed law on justifiable homicide. When even anti-abortion activists were against it, that was probably inevitable. On the other hand, it’s only been shelved. Things can come off the […]
Wow. South Dakota… just Wow.
I’m a bit bowled over by this. There’s a Bill currently before the South Dakota legislature that would, if passed, change the scope of justifiable homicide laws. FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act to expand the definition of justifiable homicide to provide for the protection of certain unborn children. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF […]
Ethics (without the brain?)
I’ve set my RSS to receive updates from Secondhand Smoke, which is one of the blogs at First Things. It’s written by Wesley Smith, who is affiliated to the Discovery Institute, the creationist thinktank in Seattle: that gives you an indication of the sort of position he occupies – not just on bioethics, but also […]
Saviour Siblings, Ends and Means: How far can you go?
It would appear that France is being forced to grapple with the idea of saviour siblings in a case that looks to be in essence a copy of the UK’s Hashmi case from 2002. That case concerned a couple who wanted to screen embryos to ensure compatibility in order that cord blood from the baby […]