The following are excerpts from an excellent piece by columnist Dominic Lawson. He arranged to visit SCOPE, the UK disability charity that published the results of a survey earlier this year, finding that 70% of disabled respondents expressed concerns about their own safety if assisted suicide was legalized in the UK. Lawson was allowed to … Continue reading UK – Dominic Lawson: Why the disabled fear assisted suicide
(Pictured above: Profile picture of Professor Paul Longmore, copied from his facebook page.) I just received the news via various sources that Paul Longmore – professor, hisorian, disability rights scholar and disability rights activist – died unexpectedly last night. The following note from a friend and colleague of his appeared on Paul’s facebook page last … Continue reading A Tremendous Loss – Paul Longmore Has Died
About three months ago, I commented on an essay in Newsweek by a veterinary oncologist who, among other things, said that “pet owners routinely rack up $10,000 bills” to save the lives of their pets. As I said at the time, that vet doesn’t service pets and their owners in my neighborhood, where few of … Continue reading Poll: Finances Dominate Medical Decisions When it Comes to Our Pets
As a left-handed tribute to “bioethicist and medical historian” Jacob M. Appel, I have titled this blog entry as a question, leading uninformed readers to think maybe I will seriously analyze an issue with two or more sides. In fact, as readers of this blog know, I have a definite viewpoint and people come to … Continue reading Jacob Appel: Bad Medical Historian, Questionable Ethicist or Just a “Spin Doctor?”
Several blogs wrote about this issue late last month when a press release announced the publication of an issue of the Disability and Health Journal dedicated to articles on assisted suicide and disability. I held back from announcing the issue on this blog for one very important reason: A snafu resulted in the press release … Continue reading A Disability Perspective on the Issue of Physician Assisted Suicide – Disability and Health Journal
