Some Victories and Welcome Developments This Week – Quebec and New Hampshire

March 7, 2014assisted suicide, Canada, euthanasia, legislation, New Hampshire, Our News & Commentary Blog, Quebecassisted suicide, Canada, euthanasia, legislation, New Hampshire, QuebecStephen Drake

A fair amount of news this week. Most of it is good news. And none of it’s really bad. First – the good. Not one, but three assisted suicide measures were voted down in New Hampshire! (You can read about specifics regarding the main bill – HB 1325 – here.) Here is info on 2 of the 3 bills – kind of “back door” assisted suicide bills – from the March 6 edition of the New Hampshire Union Leader: The House Wednesday killed legislation that would hav…

Final Exit Network Members Passing Off “Boilerplate” Op-eds As Original Work?

March 31, 2009ethics, final exit network, media coverage, media issues, Our News & Commentary BlogStephen Drake

…more of these. I learned a lesson these past few days about how little one newspaper – the Summit Daily News – seems to care if columns aren’t exactly “original work.” I called the managing editor at the paper and left voice mail asking if they had a policy in regard to columns and op-eds being original work. I sent email to the same editor asking the same question and gave a link to the Wettstein op-ed in the Arizona Daily Star. To date, there ha…

Minimally Conscious State, Research, and the Elephant in the Living Room

September 25, 2007bioethics, life-ending decisions, Our News & Commentary Blog, researchStephen Drake

…for dead in a robbery while walking home one night in 1999. His skull was crushed and his brain severely damaged. For six years, the man could not speak or feed himself. On occasion he showed signs of awareness, and he moved his eyes or a thumb to communicate. His arms were useless. He was fed through a tube. But researchers chose him for an experimental attempt to rev up his brain by placing electrodes in it. And here’s how his mother describes t…

Latest Pro-Euthanasia Research Makes Headlines by Redefining Slippery Slope and Use of Soft Data

September 27, 2007assisted suicide, blog recommendations, euthanasia, media issues, Netherlands, Oregon, Our News & Commentary Blog, researchStephen Drake

…jectivity of Battin and her colleagues goes unquestioned in the mainstream news reports. I have a hard time imagining the publication of an article with contrary findings by an anti-euthanasia advocate that wouldn’t get challenged harshly on its objectivity. Many of the articles that have come out since yesterday are little more than reproductions of the press release issued by the University of Utah. This Reuters story by Will Dunham is one such…

From Stephen Mendelsohn: More Media, Etc. From Connecticut Hearings on Assisted Suicide

March 25, 2013assisted suicide, Connecticut, disability activists, disability rights advocates, legislation, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, Second ThoughtsStephen Drake

…wtnh.com/dpp/news/politics/weighing-in-on-assisted-suicide#.UVAfWDcsDRp CT News Junkie: http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/right-to-die_or_assisted_suicide/ Picture from Second Thoughts Connecticut press conference, on the website of Senator Joe Markley: http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8509/8574564003_4797be77d7_b.jpg (I am standing on the left, and next to Cathy in the second video above) (Editor – Stephen Mendelsohn on left and n…