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Nevada governor vetoes medical aid-in-dying bill
This week (June 8, 2023) Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo vetoed Senate Bill 239 which would have allowed medical aid in dying in Nevada.
Lombardo said in a statement that  “end of life decisions are never easy,” acknowledging that “individuals and families must often come together to face many challenges including what is the best course of medical treatment” for a patient.
(June 8, 2023)
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Canadian province of Quebec has a grotesque practice that leads to what could be considered one-stop-shopping for death.
“Euthanasia in Quebec: seamless service at a friendly funeral parlour”
(Bioedge — May 30, 2023)
“In Quebec, the number of cases of euthanasia has risen from 63 in 2015-2016 to 3663 in 2012-2022.  Nowadays many patients find it difficult to find a place where they can receive the lethal injection.
“A funeral director in Quebec has come up with a novel solution.  Clients of the Haut-Richelieu funeral home use one of its rooms to die in and are then transported to the workshop for embalming and placement in a casket.  It is a seamless service….
“The doctors interviewed were not disconcerted by the novelty of the business. ‘With medical assistance in dying, it takes a company anyway to pick up the remains, said one doctor. So if for an additional fee they provide people with a living room for a few hours before medical assistance in dying, why not?   It’s a matter of personal choice'”
More on Canada

“A stroke at 33 left her with locked-in syndrome and a grim prognosis.  She defied both.”
(American Heart Association News — May 18, 2023)
Adamson is especially determined when it comes to her patients.
“I work really hard to be an example to them, to show that we are all capable of going through difficult life challenges while still maintaining a positive attitude and making a difference in the world.”

Telemedicine — Expansion for Prescription of Controlled Substances
On May 11, 2023, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration issued the “Temporary Extension of Covid-19 Telemedicine Flexibilities for Prescription of Controlled Medications” (six-month extension for people seeking to fill controlled medications via telemedicine).  The temporary rule takes effect on May 11, 2023 and extends the full set of telemedicine flexibilities through November 11, 2023 for any practitioner-patient telemedicine relationships that have been or will be established up to November 11, 2023 and will be extended for one year – through November 11, 2024.
(https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2023-09936.pdf)
More on Telemedicine

“Canada shouldn’t deny assisted suicide if social conditions made life intolerable: bioethicists”
(National Post — May 9, 2023)
Two University of Toronto bioethicists argue that, while decisions may be “deeply tragic,” it would be wrong to deny medical assistance in dying to people whose request is being driven most of all by poverty or other unjust conditions.
More on euthanasia & assisted suicide in Canada

“More than we imagined? Unresolved tensions and the current state of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in Canada
(MLI — April 20, 2023)
Canadian legislators appear determined to make Canada a world leader on access to Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) or as it is called in other countries: physician-assisted suicide, medically assisted death, or euthanasia.
More on euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada

Suicide Tourism
“Vermont allows out-of-staters to use assisted suicide law”
(Associated Press — May 3, 2023)
Vermont on Tuesday became the first state in the country to change its assisted suicide law to allow people from out of state to access prescribed suicide.
More on Vermont

“The myth of assisted suicide safeguards”
(Reno gazette journal — April 10, 2023)
When the assisted suicide advocates promote the safeguards of their bill, I hope our elected officials will see through their disingenuous representations.  The bait-and-switch practice of assisted suicide advocates is evidenced by the actions and comments of their various spokespersons.
J.M. Sorrell, the executive director of Massachusetts Death with Dignity, told a Massachusetts newspaper, “Once you get something passed, you can always work on amendments later, so I’m working to be patient.”
More on Nevada

Latest official report on Oregon now available. Released in March 2023.

“Death Activists Oppose Limits on Virtual Access to Assisted Suicide”
(National Review — March 22, 2023)
“Assisted-suicide advocates say they believe in ‘strict guidelines to guard against abuse.’ They don’t”…
“Now, with residency requirements to obtain assisted suicide being repealed in Oregon and Vermont, without a new rule, a suicidal patient could plausibly obtain lethal drugs from out of state without ever having a personal consultation with a single doctor involved in the assisted-suicide process.”
More on Telemedicine

No matter where and no matter when, assisted suicide activists never give up
“Six weeks since this state launched assisted dying laws”
(SBS News [South Australia] — March 21, 2023)
The new laws came into operation six weeks ago.  It took more than 25 years to get legislation through the South Australian state parliament.
More on Australia

No matter how long it takes.

By way of comparison, it took 18 years for assisted suicide to be transformed into a
“medical treatment” in Hawaii.

“Belgian women euthanised for extreme psychological suffering”
(BioEdge — March 7, 2023)
Whenever euthanasia is debated, the clincher argument is that it will spare a patient agonising pain in a terminal illness.  But as these cases from Belgium suggest, euthanasia deaths are being used as an escape route from the aftermath of crime by both victims and criminals.  And women may be particularly susceptible.
More on Belgium.

“From cradle to compost: the disruptors who want to make a death greener”
(The Guardian — February  19, 2023)
“Startups rush to gain foothold in a burgeoning industry as New York and California move to legalize human composting….
” ‘ I was thinking about how I personally would like to become a tree after death, and I realized that there weren’t any options out there to make that happen — I’d have to do it myself.’ ”
More on Human Composting

“Yale University economics professor sparks outrage by proposing mass  suicide and disembowelment of elderly people in Japan to deal with the country’s aging society”
(Daily Mail — February 13, 2023)
Yusuke Narita, an assistant professor of economics at Yale, defended his views in a New York Times profile this weekend after he made remarks on a streaming news program in 2021….[H]e said that euthanasia could become mandatory in the future….
He claims that this would allow younger generations to make their way in business,politics and other aspects of society that the older generation refuses to leave.
More on Japan

“Suicide Tourism Comes to Oregon”
(National Review — February 9, 2023
Assisted-suicide activists always promise that strict guidelines will protect against abuse.  It’s a big con. The guidelines are not really strict.  They rely primarily on self-reporting.  And they are meant to be temporary.  As soon as political conditions permit, the access to doctor-prescribed death expands.
More on Oregon

Other states are also loosening “strict guidelines.”  For example, Vermont permits virtual assisted suicide, meaning the consultation can be over Zoom or Skype.
More on Vermont

“Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) Activity Book”
According to the National Post, the assisted suicide “Activity Book” is funded by the Canadian government.  It was first published in July 2022 by the group Canadian Virtual Hospice.
More on Children and Teens

What is happening in your state?
Go to SITE MAP to see what is taking  place in your state and to find information about issues that can affect you and your loved ones.

Who will speak for you?
Imagine you are very seriously ill or are in an accident tomorrow and so severely injured that you aren’t able to communicate about your health care wishes for several weeks. Who would make health care decisions for you during that time?

Every person from the age of 18 and older should have a well written durable power of attorney for health care in which they have named an individual they know and trust, who agrees with their views and values, and who can be assertive on their behalf.

To obtain a durable power of attorney for health care called the Protective Medical Decisions Document (PMDD) that complies with the law of the state in which you are a resident, call the Patients Rights Council (800-958-5678 or 740-282-3810) between 8:30am and 4:30pm (eastern time).
More on Advance Directives
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States that have transformed the crime of assisted suicide into a “medical treatment.”

Attempts to legalize euthanasia or assisted suicide in the United States since 1994.
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For a listing of all categories on this web site, see Site Map.
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Featured Articles

“Art Imitates Life — Inside the Insidious World of Elder Guardianships”
(Diane Dimond — February 27, 2021)
“I found a myriad of actual cases, nationwide, in which that original petition for guardianship was grossly exaggerated and, in some cases, completely fabricated.  But once a judge accepts such a petition and the senior becomes a “ward of the court,” it is next to impossible to undo.  Guardians, often paid hundreds of dollars an hour, and those they hire on to attend to the elderly are paid out of the ward’s life savings.  It is a cottage industry of elder law attorneys, guardians, caregivers, real estate agents and others who feast on the spoils of the ward’s life after guardianship takes hold.”
More on Guardianship

Previously Featured Articles
Also see site map to access specific topics which include previously featured articles.

Have you heard about VSED?  
It stands for voluntarily stopping eating and drinking. VSED is being promoted by assisted-suicide activists who are also working to force health care providers to participate in it.  Important Questions & Answers about VSED

From the bookshelf…
In 1991, Ann Humphry, the co-founder of the Hemlock Society (now called Compassion and Choices) committed suicide. Her death made headlines worldwide.

Prior to her death, Ann contacted Rita Marker, a staunch euthanasia opponent. Over time, the two became close friends, and Ann asked Rita to make public secrets about the right-to-die movement — secrets that had weighed heavily on Ann.

Two years after Ann’s tragic death, the book, Deadly Compassion: The Death of Ann Humphry and the Truth About Euthanasia was published. It recounts Ann’s personal story, the founding of the Hemlock Society, and activities of euthanasia and doctor-prescribed suicide advocates. Thousands of copies of the book were sold in the United States, England, Canada and Australia. (Read excerpts from reviews of the book.)

Now, for the first time, you can read Deadly Compassion in its entirety on line in PDF format.