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