Italy: Eluana Englaro is Dead – Questions Remain

"end of life", Italy, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, policy, politics, vegetative state

A couple of people have contacted me to point out the Eluana Englaro tragedy in Italy – a tragedy that has played out over the past few weeks. Englaro, who died yesterday, was at a center of a life-and-death dispute that involved her father, the Italian courts, Italian legislators, Italy’s president and prime minister, and the Vatican.

Englaro has been described in the media reports as being in a vegetative state for 17 years. Her parents fought in court to have her feeding tube removed – and won. Legislative efforts were underway to prohibit the dehydration death of Englaro when she died after only 4 days after having her feeding tube removed.

Instead of providing a bunch of different links, I’d suggest that anyone who wants to know more can perform a search on “Eluana Englaro” and come up with hundreds of articles to choose from for more information.

Having said that, however, one news agency deserves special mention for outstandingly inaccurate and outrageous coverage of the Englaro tragedy.

Flavia Krause-Jackson and Steve Scherer of Bloomberg News both deserve “credit” (discredit would be more accurate) for filing news stories that inaccurately referred to Englaro as “brain-dead” and “force-fed.”

To be fair, it’s possible that maybe Krause-Jackson and Scherer weren’t personally responsible for the repeated use of the term “brain-dead” in article headlines.

However, they clearly chose to use the term “force-fed” to describe the delivery of nutritional supplements to Englaro through a feeding tube.

Wikipedia describes “force-feeding” this way:

Force-feeding, which in some circumstances is also called gavage, is the practice of feeding a person or an animal against their will.

The image that the term “force-feeding” conjures is a violent act inflicted against an unwilling and resisting “victim.”

How can a person described as permanently unconscious resist? How can she be “force-fed?”

Answer – she can’t. The use of the term is the work of dramatists – it’s certainly not journalism.

Speaking of answers, many would like an explanation for the unexpectedly swift death of Englaro – dehydration generally takes much longer than four days to kill a person. –Stephen Drake

Dick Sobsey: Blog Entry on Recent Studies Re: Abuse and Disability

abuse, blog recommendations, dick sobsey, Our News & Commentary Blog, research

This will probably be of interest to readers – at least some of our readers.

Dick Sobsey’s latest post on ICAD concerns recent research on Abuse & Disability:

This post lists 15 studies on the relationship between abuse and disability that were published in 2008 and 2009. A brief description of each study is reported.

Read the complete entry at Violence & Disability: 15 Recent Studies.

Germany: Oops! Man Allegedly Kills Friend Who Was Misdiagnosed as Terminally Ill

crime and punishment, Germany, Homicide / 'Mercy Killing', Our News & Commentary Blog

In case anyone wonders what the unintended consequences of lowered criminal penalties for “mercy killings” or “compassionate homicides” can look like, one only needs to look to Germany. (This is aside from the obviously discrimatory standard in officially labeling the murders of old, ill and disabled people as less serious crimes than the murders of nondisabled ones)

In 2002, the uproar and outrage over the murder and cannibalization of Bernd Jürgen Brandes by Armin Meiwes was increased when it was announced that Meiwes would be charged with manslaughter instead of murder. The reason for this is that Brandes had consented to his own murder, a situation that triggered a lesser charge. The outrage, of course, was that the use of the charge against Meiwes was a misuse of the law, which was meant to apply to the killing of old, ill and disabled people who wanted to be killed. Eventually, German authorities found a rationale to retry Meiwes for murder instead of manslaughter and he received a life sentence. The whole saga is chronicled in the Wikipedia entry on Meiwes.

The latest case that will no doubt spark some degree of misdirected outrage – or maybe just discomfort – is the alleged murder of a man who – because of a misdiagnosis – believed he was terminally ill.

Here’s the story:

Bochum man demands mercy killing over false cancer diagnosis

Published: 6 Feb 09 19:40 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20090206-17287.html

A Bochum man who thought he was terminally ill with cancer convinced a friend to stab him to death but authorities later tragically confirmed he was not sick at all, according to daily Bild.

Police discovered the body of the man, identified as 40-year-old Achim K., in his apartment at his parents’ house on Thursday morning after his alleged killer called the fire brigade regarding the incident. Following his arrest, the 32-year-old suspect indicated his friend had asked him to commit the murder, Bild reported on Friday.

The Public Attorney’s Office in Bochum has collected six witness accounts confirming the suspect’s statement, although a suicide note has yet to be found. Several witnesses – including the parents of the deceased – confirmed that Achim K. had spoken of being seriously ill with cancer in the weeks leading up to the event.

Toxicology tests should reveal in coming weeks whether the man was completely sober at the time of the event. Should the suspect be convicted of a mercy killing, he could face anywhere from six months to five years in jail, according to Bild .

The Local (news@thelocal.de)

It’s hard to predict the outcome here. The fact that the murder was done through a multiple stabbing tends to make people less sympathetic to murderers and less inclined to think “mercy” was a motive. OTOH, the German public and courts could just shrug and decide that an honest belief that someone is dying and suffering is a good enough reason to evade a murder charge and qualify for a lesser one. –Stephen Drake

Two Highly Recommended Blog Reads Today

assisted suicide, blog recommendations, dick sobsey, Homicide / 'Mercy Killing', Our News & Commentary Blog, policy, william peace

Part of my daily routine involves checking news and blogs for material relevant to NDY issues. Most often I excerpt and link to relevant pieces – critiquing ones that kind of demand a response of some kind. Then there are those happy times I find bloggers who have written some things that are so on-target to NDY issues, all I can do is post a brief excerpt, provide a link and tell people to go read them.

This morning, I found two. In order of discovery, then:

Dick Sobsey has written a really good analysis of the concepts of “mercy killing” and the proposed statutes of alleged “compassionate homicides”:

5 February 2009 – The notion of mercy killing or compassionate homicide periodically reappears in the news, editorials, or legislative agendae. For example, here in Canada in 1994, a Senate Committee recommended legislation that would create a third category of murder, classified as “compassionate homicide.” This new category would apply to cases where an individual killed another person when the motivation was compassion rather than malice. In other words, it would differ from other forms of murder, not in the actions of the killer or the outcome of those actions. It would differ from other murders only in the motivation behind the action and by the fact that there would be a lesser penalty, with no minimum sentence. Some have even suggested that compassionate homicide should not be considered a crime at all.

There are many problems related to this idea, and I am only going to discuss two closely related ones here: (1) Criminalizing motivation, and (2) equal protection of the law.

Please read the rest of No Mercy – In My Opinion

At the same time, William Peace at Bad Cripple has also written a very thoughtful essay on the intersections of disability, illness and assisted suicide:

It is frigid in New York. When I woke up it was 4 f. and I measure this sort of cold by the creeks and cranks that materialize in my wheelchair when the temperature dips near zero. Since it is too cold to spend much time outdoors I have been doing a lot of reading. Last night I finished Edwin Black’s searing War Against the Weak, one of the best books I have ever read about the Eugenics movement in the United States. This morning I read too much about California’s Terminal Patients’ Right to Know End-of-Life Options Act that was signed into law recently. My reading choices have made me cranky. The assisted death movement has gained tremendous momentum in the last year and I am deeply worried about the implications of recent legal changes in Washington, Montana and California. When I expressed these reservations to a friend they thought I was being reactionary. “Come on”, this person said, “you live in the burbs and have nothing to worry about. Hospitals and doctors would never treat you poorly.” This assessment is wrong and indicates why the assisted suicide movement has been so successful.

Please read the rest of Framing the Debate: Assisted Suicide and Disability

BTW, I’ve referred readers to both of these blogs before. I’ve bookmarked them both and it might not be a bad idea for others to do the same. –Stephen Drake

Barbara Coombs-Lee and “Compassion” Join “Last Goodnights” Book Promotion

assisted suicide, Homicide / 'Mercy Killing', media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, reality check

Yesterday, I wrote about Good Morning America‘s fawning rollout of John West and his memoir, “The Last Goodnights.” In the book, he claims to have facilitated/aided the suicides of both his father and mother about ten years ago.

It turns out that West’s lone publicity tour is looking more like a bandwagon. Today, I found out that the site “medicalnewstoday.com” published an “article” that looks an awful lot like a press release from Compassion & Choices, the largest U.S. organization devoted to promoting legalization of assisted suicide.

Given the claims of Mr. West regarding his parents’ deaths, there are some “interesting” statements by C & C’s President, Barbara Coombs-Lee:

“Society must address the need for expanded end of life choice,” said Compassion & Choices President Barbara Coombs Lee. “No family member should have to risk prosecution, as Mr. West has. Aid in dying should be the final option on a continuum of legal medical decisions. Failing to legalize and regulate aid in dying only encourages an unsafe, underground practice. State legislatures should step up to their responsibility and meet the needs of their citizens. This family’s difficult situation arises directly from California’s failure to enact a Death with Dignity law.”

“As a wealthy, resourceful lawyer Mr. West was able to obtain potent medication and help his parents die well. Most families are not so lucky, and the law in 47 states discriminates against them. Legalization offers equal access and the protection of skilled clinicians and an open procedure. Only an open, transparent and legal practice gives people the equal opportunity to explore all options and die on their own terms,” said Lee.

Let’s unpack the claims here. Coombs-Lee is implying that the laws in Oregon and the recently passed Washington referendum would have prevented the “need” for the private suicides claimed in West’s memoir.

Again, if what West has written is true, it’s possible his father could have gone to a physician in Oregon and obtained his own prescription, legally.

But West also claims to have assisted in the suicide of his mother, who had been recently diagnosed with alzheimer’s. His mother would be ineligible for a legal prescription in Oregon and would be under the statute that will be in effect in Washington State?

I guess there are several ways to interpret Coombs-Lee’s statements here. She could simply be deliberately misleading a largely misinformed public and press about the actual impact of an Oregon-type law for people such as West’s mother. Maybe she’s signalling that doctors aren’t really that rigourous about adhering to the “strict guidelines” for eligibility.

Or maybe she’s signalling the next step in assisted suicide advocacy by her organization – opening up “eligibility” for lethal prescriptions to a wider spectrum of old, ill and disabled people.

Come to think of it, maybe all three explanations are correct. –Stephen Drake