NY Lawsuit Claims Organ Donor Network Engaged in ‘Shameful Practices,’ Pressuring Staff and Families

October 19, 2012brain death, brain injury, litigation, New York Organ Donor Network, organ donation, organ transplants, Our News & Commentary Blog, rush to judgmentStephen Drake

…ewed as rightly theirs—organs that would have a salutary effect on another human being. I use the word “hover” deliberately, if a bit provocatively, because that is how families of many brain injury patients viewed it. I know this from interviews with more than 40 families, each with a member who had a disorder of consciousness, who came to Weill Cornell Medical College for enrollment in neuroimaging and EEG studies designed to elucidate mechanism…

The Atlantic: “Physician-Assisted Suicide Is Not Progressive” by Ira Byock

October 26, 2012assisted suicide, hospice, ira byock, Our News & Commentary Blog, palliative careStephen Drake

…t a slogan. No civil right to commit suicide exists in any social compact. Human beings have a biologically imposed obligation to die; and, as Jean Paul Sartre reminded us, suicide is always an option. However, even if a civic right to suicide did exist, suicide and assisted suicide are very different things. Suicide might be a purely private act; but physician-assisted suicide involves two people, one of whom is trained, certified, licensed, and…

PBS Airs Frontline “The Suicide Plan” – Video Tape Exposes Final Exit Network’s Big Lie

November 14, 2012assisted suicide, final exit network, Frontline, Georgia, murder, Our News & Commentary Blog, zealotryStephen Drake

…GOODWIN: Like that. GBI AGENT: You can do it. TED GOODWIN: I can do that. Trust me. NARRATOR: As soon as physical contact was made, agents arrested Ted Goodwin. The tape is striking – in the last part, Goodwin gives a demonstration of how he would hold the agent’s arms down as the agent is down on the bed. The agent looks like he’s struggling to get his hands up – Goodwin is successful in holding them down. It gets worse, though. In an earlier exc…

Canada: Council of Canadians with Disabilities, Canadian Assoc. for Community Living and Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Granted Intervener Status by BC Appeal Court

December 13, 2012alex schadenberg, assisted suicide, Canada, Canadian Association for Community Living, courts, euthanasia, euthanasia prevention coalition, Our News & Commentary Blog, Rhonda WiebeStephen Drake

…tervention at the BC Court of Appeal in the Carter Case. CCD is a national human rights organization of people with disabilities working for an inclusive and accessible Canada. CCD is the leading national organization of people with disabilities in Canada. CCD/CACL oppose assisted suicide and have been granted the right to make the following arguments before the BC Court of Appeal in the Carter case: 1. they will provide insight into the interpret…

Minnesota: Final Exit Network Argues Assisted Suicide Law Violates Free Speech Rights in Court

December 19, 2012assisted suicide, court cases, Frontline, Georgia, lawrence egbert, Minnesota, Our News & Commentary Blog, thaddeus pope, vigilantes, zealotryStephen Drake

…on FEN’s latest round in the court closes with this: Final Exit Network is run by volunteers who believe that mentally competent adults have a basic human right to end their lives if they suffer from “fatal or irreversible illness or intractable pain” and meet other criteria, according to the group’s website. “We do not encourage anyone to end their life, are opposed to anyone’s encouraging another to end his life, do not provide the means to do s…