Netherlands: One-third of Doctors Willing to Euthanize Patients with Early Dementia

June 28, 2011dementia, euthanasia, media coverage, media issues, Netherlands, Our News & Commentary Blog, reality check, researchStephen Drake

…s refers to those willing as “Just 33 percent of Dutch doctors” while DutchNews.nl refers to “Only one third of Dutch doctors” (Emphasis added.) They seem… what? Relieved? Reassured? Or is it the rest of the world that they are trying to reassure? That one-third is really a very small and insignificant percentage of doctors? To me, the fact that one out of three doctors seems like an awful lot of doctors in the Netherlands are willing to go ahead…

LA Times and ProPublica: Dozens of Calif. Nurses with Felony Convictions Fully Licensed to Practice

October 6, 2008california, media coverage, Oregon, Our News & Commentary Blog, professional accountabilityStephen Drake

…example, many medical professionals participated in the alleged attempt to rush Ruben Navarro’s death in a botched organ harvesting attempt. One transplant physician was the subject of criminal charges, but the other nurses and doctors in the room were exonerated by their respective review boards. In Oregon, after a series of embarrassing investigative articles, a governor’s inquiry led to the resignation of the top two members of the Nursing Revi…

Connecticut: Assisted Suicide Advocates Attempt to Exploit Tragic Murder-Suicide

May 14, 2010assisted suicide, barbara coombs lee, bullshit, Compassion & Choices, Conflation and Con jobs, Connecticut, exploitation, homicide, kathryn tucker, Our News & Commentary Blog, reality checkStephen Drake

…Sept. 11, 2001, death of their son, Edward Vanacore, 29, who worked at the World Trade Center. More recently, Thomas Vanacore was being treated for a late-stage cancer, and his wife had Alzheimer’s disease. Police received a 911 call about 3:30 p.m. Monday when a visiting nurse known to the couple reported the shooting. The nurse had received permission to run an errand, and returned to find the scene. Her name was not released, and she declined t…

Disabled Feminists Issue Statement: on Robert Edwards, Virginia Ironside and Unnecessary Opposition of Rights

October 22, 2010clair lewis, disability activists, disability rights, eugenics, feminism, Laura Hershey, Our News & Commentary Blog, UKStephen Drake

…vey the message that reducing the number of disabled infants born into the world is a laudable outcome of the increasing use of prenatal screening techniques. NDY keeps these issues separate – we have our hands full with threats to the lives of people with disabilities after we’re born. Once in awhile, some story or article ties the two issues together, and we get a lot of pointers to the item, with suggestions we say or do something about it. One…

Australia – Great Essay: Looking at the Bigger Picture Regarding Euthanasia

January 25, 2013assisted suicide, Australia, Belgium, disability rights, discrimination, euthanasia, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, suicideStephen Drake

…sing? People take their lives for all sorts of reasons – they might be bankrupt, old, ill, lonely, overworked, trapped in poverty, abused, addicted, confused about their sexuality, at the sharp edge of family breakdown, in shame or at the end of a long set of bad life experiences. If suicide is a gift for one group of people who feel their lives have become unbearable, then why not for everyone who feels like this? Imagine the reaction if someone…