SOARS: An Interesting New Society

The picture is the banner on the homepage of a new British Society: SOARS. It stands for "Society for Old Age Rational Suicide." SOARS, founded in December 2009, states its purpose like this:

Presently, the main objective of SOARS is to begin a campaign to get the law eventually changed in the UK so that very elderly, mentally competent individuals, who are suffering unbearably from various health problems (although none of them is “terminal”) are allowed to receive a doctor’s assistance to die, if this is their persistent choice. Surely the decision to decide, at an advanced age, that enough is enough and, avoiding further suffering, to have a dignified death is the ultimate human right for a very elderly person.

Basically, what they are asking for, is what Dying With Dignity Canada stands for, a change in the law, so that those who have a good reason to die may receive assistance to do so. The first annual SOARS lecture was given this year by Baroness Mary Warnock on 17th September. Baroness Warnock has written, with Elisabeth Macdonald a very good introductory book on assisted dying entitled Easeful Death. You can access SOARS by clicking on this link: SOARS

The Banned Assisted Suicide Video

Is it illegal to post this video?

The Television Bureau of Canada has been nobbled by the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. Write to the Television Bureau of Canada to voice your complaint that the freedom of Canadians to debate the question of Physician Assisted-Dying is being denied. You can access the TVB here. Alex Schadenburg and Hugh Scher should not be able to stop Canadians from watching this TV ad.

In the Canadian Criminal Code -- the law that Dying With Dignity Canada wants to change -- citizens are forbidden to counsel suicide or to assist suicide. The law does not prohibit providing information about suicide. Nor does it prohibit arguing or campaigning for a change in the law. This is what this video does. It is not against the law. Complain to the TVB for interfering with freedom of speech, your freedom and mine to argue for a change in the law. Once again, the address for the Television Bureau of Canada. Tell them you disapprove of their decision to ban this ad.

Ad Campaign for Assisted Suicide Banned in Canada

Opponents of assisted suicide have successfully lobbied to ban from Canadian airwaves a TV commercial promoting the right to choose death, and now they're taking aim at the controversial messenger.

..Dr. Philip Nitschke, an Australian physician at the forefront of promoting doctor-assisted suicide in that country, planned an ad campaign in advance of presenting his “Safe Exit” workshops in Toronto, Vancouver and several U.S. cities next month.

The Television Bureau of Canada imposed the ban Friday, saying the spot, combined with Dr. Nitschke's open instruction on how to commit suicide, might break Canadian law.

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Member Activism

We do so appreciate all of our members who lend their voice to the cause. The constant letters, phone calls and talks our members do on behalf of the movement and on behalf of the organization are brilliant.

Thanks to Susan Bracken, who made this video - among others - as just another step in her unending support.

We've still got a lot of work to do...

It seems Britain is the best place in the world to die. Canada sits tied with America in 9^th place out of 40 countries, based on the results of the newly created Quality of Death Index, which ranks countries according to their provision of end-of-life care. It also shows the best places to die in Canada are Victoria, Edmonton and the Niagara region

Britain topped the index, prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit, because it takes hospice and palliative care seriously: It has decided, as a matter of public policy, that the quality of death is as important as the quality of life.

There are four principal reasons for the mediocre showing:

• End-of-life care is poorly coordinated
• It is expensive and many services and drugs needed at the end of life are not covered
• Patient-centred care is lacking - wishes of patients are not respected nearly enough
• There is a shortage of policy leadership

André Picard from the Globe and Mail writes:

As the quality-of-death report notes, there are many taboos surrounding death that have hampered open discussion of end-of-life care. We have to move beyond the religious sentiment that holds life is sacrosanct, and ensure palliative care so that death is dignified. We also have to make the distinction between euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, which relate to a tiny minority of deaths, and the broader concept of hospice/palliative care, which is a must for everyone with a terminal illness.

Patients should be able to expect, as an integral part of their health care, effective pain management, emotional and spiritual support, and comfort and care from compassionate and skillful people who are committed to honouring their dignity.

Read the full article here.

WE welcome your comments on this article. This news definitely deserves thoughtful, clear discussion.

The Voice; July 2010 Issue

Below is a link to our July 2010 issue of The Voice. 

The focus of this issue is on our Annual General Meeting, held on June 05 in Toronto, with summaries of most presentations and questions asked. 

We were happy to have had almost 60 members attend our AGM - however, many more were not able to attend. For those who were not in attendance, we hope you find this summary full and inclusive of topics discussed at the three hour meeting. 

If you were among the members at the AGM, there is also new information for you in this 8 page issue: new Canadian cancer statistics, international news, new Canadian polls, book reviews and more.

Click Here to see the issue.

If you would like to receive a paper hard-copy, please email us at info@dyingwithdignity.ca. 

Choice Reads

Imperfect Endings: A Daughter's Tale of Life and Death; Zoe FitzGerald Carter      

After living with Parkinson's for 20 years, Carter's headstrong mother, Margaret, decides she wants to end her life - and have her three daughters by her side when she goes. It's a decision that leaves Carter, the youngest child, in distress.

Will her mother really go through with it? If so, how soon? Margaret, it turns out, has already contacted the Hemlock Society. Bookshelves loaded with literature about death and dying further attest to her convictions.

Bringing a provocative new perspective to the assisted suicide debate, Imperfect Endings is the uplifting true story of a woman determined to die on her own terms and the family who has to learn to let her go.  

Available for $20 through Dying With Dignity Canada. Contact us at 1. 800. 0495. 6156 or info@dyingwithdignity.ca

For more information on the Author or the book, see: www.zoefitzgeraldcarter.com

International News: Germany Clarifies Assisted-Dying Laws

In a landmark ruling that will make it easier for people to allow relatives and loved ones to die, Germany’s highest court ruled today that it is not a criminal offense to cut off life-sustaining treatment for a patient.

The verdict is likely to spur significant changes in the practice of assisted suicide and is certain to restart the debate over euthanasia and the right to die in Germany.

In its decision, the court clearly distinguished between “killing with the aim of terminating life” and an action, “which let a patient die with his or her own consent.”

The ruling strengthens the individual’s right to die with dignity, since terminating life-sustaining treatments will no longer be a crime if patients have declared their wishes.

Lawyer, Wolfgang Putz says: “It protects against abuse and it sets down clear boundaries. It helps the patients and it helps the doctors. It takes away at last the fear of punishment.”

In the case before the court, the woman, Erika Küllmer, was in a persistent vegetative state for five years after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage in 2002. Although the woman had expressed the wish not to be kept alive under such circumstances, the management at her nursing home had refused to let her die.

Chairman of the German Doctors’ Association, Rudolf Henke says: “Before life-sustaining measures are stopped, legal regulations must determine what kind of action is required to reflect the will of the patient. The killing of people remains prohibited.”

.......

Read the full article here.

TVO's The Agenda: Whose Death is it Anyway?

Two weeks ago, Dying With Dignity Canada was invited to a live debate on TVO's The Agenda. Part of a week long series on death and dying, the discussion, "Whose Death is it Anyway?" featured Sholom Glouberman, President of Patients’ Association of Canada; Eric MacDonald, Dying With Dignity Canada; Jose Pereira, Professor of Palliative Care at the University of Ottawa and Margaret Somerville, an ‘Ethicist’ with the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law.

The full, hour long episode can be watched here:




You can also see the episode page here for more information, and to read the live chat discussion that was had during the original airing.

Study: Parents Weigh Hastening End for Dying Children

Watching a child suffer from a fatal illness is undoubtedly one of the greatest agonies a parent can face. Less discussed, however, are the lengths to which a parent may be willing to go to end such pain.

An intriguing new study led by doctors at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston aimed to explore that question through a series of interviews conducted with 141 parents whose children had died of cancer.
 
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