Organ Donation by Death Row Inmates – Get Ready to Start Hearing More About How it’s “Good” for Everyone

March 11, 2011Art Caplan, Ben Goldhirsh, bioethics, crime and punishment, death penalty, Dylan Ratigan, Eric Meslin, good magazine, Graeme Wood, Kevorkian, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, reality check, Wesley SmithStephen Drake

…l without giving him any credit for it. It turns out there are a number of online sites devoted to information on this topic. None that I’ve found mention any of Kevorkian’s numerous articles on the subject or the 1991 book cited above. For example, Eric Meslin, the bioethicist who appeared on Ratigan’s show to pitch death row organ donation, has a page devoted to the subject. Anything by Kevorkian on the subject is conspicuously absent. How is th…

Five Things a “TakePart.com” Author Really DIDN’T Know About Assisted Suicide

June 2, 2011Allan MacDonell, assisted suicide, euthanasia, final exit network, Oregon, Our News & Commentary Blog, pets, reality check, slippery slope, Switzerland, TakePart.comStephen Drake

…for one, and also a Social Action Network that includes individuals, NGOs, online communities and brands who share a common interest in making the world a better place. We are a division of Participant Media, which has produced culture-shifting films such as An Inconvenient Truth, The Cove, and Waiting for Superman. To date, Participant has developed programs and active, working relationships with more than 300 non-profits. Collectively, we have t…

Reality Check – Factual Information on Jack Kevorkian from a Surprising Source

June 6, 2011Kevorkian, media coverage, media issues, Our News & Commentary Blog, reality check, satire, spoof.comStephen Drake

…and sanitized account of Jack Kevorkian. Instead, we have to go to humor site – where it can get published only because it runs under the guise of being satire – and fictional. Maybe some of the so-called news media – print, online, etc. – ought to consider running a disclaimer warning people that some of their content might be fictional and they’ll have to sort the fiction from the fact for themselves. That would be some real truth in reporting….

Disability Activists in the UK Push Back Against BBC and Terry Pratchett Promotion of Assisted Suicide

June 14, 2011assisted suicide, BBC, clair lewis, Derek Humphry, disability rights, Disabled People Fight Back, final exit network, miss dennis queen, Our News & Commentary Blog, sanjay gupta, Terry Pratchett, United KingdomStephen Drake

…ity rights activist there (Liz Carr) and one religious representative. BBC online news last night gave brief overview on this matter: Ms Carr said: “I and many other disabled older and terminally ill people, are quite fearful of what legalising assisted suicide would do and mean and those arguments aren’t being debated, teased out, the safeguards aren’t being looked at. “Until we have a programme that does that, then I won’t be happy to move onto…

Suicide Promotion During Suicide Prevention Week – Blog from Wesley Smith and a Little More from Me

September 9, 2011assisted suicide, final exit network, lanny berman, national suicide prevention week, Our News & Commentary Blog, suicide, suicide prevention, Wesley Smith, world suicide prevention dayStephen Drake

…lly absent from this debate. In June, 2010, a reporter for a San Francisco online news site managed to get reactions from two professionals connected to organizations that seek to prevent and reduce the number of suicides in the US. In that story, the reporter somehow managed to get Lanny Berman, president of the International Association of Suicide Prevention to condemn billboards being put up by FEN across the country that promote suicide: “This…