Category Archives: News

The widow of longtime Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy has emerged as a leading opponent of a Massachusetts ballot initiative that would legalize physician-assisted suicide. “Most of us wish for a good and happy death, with as little pain as possible, … Continue reading →

There are several things Medicare beneficiaries can do to reduce their costs….[O]ne that most beneficiaries don’t pursue  is appealing denied medical claims.  While the appeals process can be complicated and time-consuming, those who press their cases enjoy relatively high success … Continue reading →

While auto repair information access and medical marijuana ballot questions continue to enjoy voter support, a proposal to allow chronically ill residents to take life-ending medications appears to be losing support. According to Suffolk University/7News poll results released Tuesday, the … Continue reading →

Individuals could be sent home with life-killing medications. State Rep. Angelo Scaccia [D – Readville]  said, “As vice-chair of the Joint Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse, I am deeply concerned with Question 2 and, specifically, its lacking of … Continue reading →

A series of surveys by QuantiaMD found that nearly half of health professionals misunderstood the components of living wills. Ninety percent of those surveyed were physicians…. The majority of survey respondents wrongly said patients with DNRs should receive significantly less … Continue reading →

It would be understandable if you thought that this was actually an event planned and presented by Compassion and Choices, with the Justice Action Center merely playing the host. It would be clear because the presence of Compassion and Choices … Continue reading →

In today’s “Newspeak” the Hemlock Society morphed into Compassion and Choices, which promotes “death with dignity” and objects to the word “suicide,” preferring “aid-in-dying” and “self-deliverance.” These terms sound more wholesome, but the undisguised act is a morally primitive, socially … Continue reading →

In a little more than a week voters in Massachusetts will decide whether to allow doctors to “prescribe medication, at the request of a terminally ill patient meeting certain conditions, to end that person’s life.”  A similar bill is being … Continue reading →

As we enable those dying, who fear losing control, or becoming a burden upon our loved ones, to take their own lives, might we blindly, collectively be encouraging them, too? I wonder if we aren’t mistaking as compassion what should … Continue reading →

My only hope is that people with complex medical illnesses can explore all these issues with their physicians and begin to make choices as to what measures they might want when they are told that “there is nothing more we … Continue reading →

At Thursday afternoon’s public forum at the Harvard Medical School, a panel of two medical and two legal experts explained the issues surrounding Question 2 on this November’s general election ballot for Massachusetts, known as the “Death with Dignity” Initiative. … Continue reading →

Cash incentive for NHS trusts that meet targets on Liverpool Care Pathway. Some hospitals set target of two thirds of all deaths should be on LCP. Hospitals are paid millions to hit targets for the number of patients who die … Continue reading →

Disability rights activist John Kelly says legalized suicide sends a damaging message that certain lives aren’t worth living. He’s also concerned that death by prescription will appeal to a health care system focused on the bottom line. “With cost controls, … Continue reading →

A major review was announced last night into the Liverpool Care Pathway, the controversial”end-of-life” treatment regime. Major review to be conducted by the Association for Palliative Medicine. Inquiry will “identify and explore concerns” over care for dying patients. Growing fears … Continue reading →

Waltham’s leaders said in a statement that they oppose the bill’s language, which allows for physician-assisted suicide without consulting a psychiatrist, notifying family members, or having a doctor present during the act. Boston.com “Waltham mayor, councilors say they will all … Continue reading →

Sen. Richard Moore (D-Uxbridge) is urging constituents to vote no on Question 2.  Moore is joining a rapidly expanding list of lawmakers, medical community organizations, clergy and other groups who say Question 2 is deeply flawed and lacks critical safeguards … Continue reading →

It is tempting to consider support for Question 2, the so-called “Death with Dignity” act which seeks to ease the final days of terminally ill patients…But the ballot initiative is deeply flawed.  The Herald recommends voting NO. Boston Herald “No … Continue reading →

Although the measure is touted as voluntary, so no doctor or health-care facility that objects would be required to participate, establishing a “right” to kill oneself could conceivable bring us closer to a legal battle over whether such a “right” … Continue reading →

The reality is that the IPAB represents an unprecedented shift of power from individual Americans and their families to a centralized authority, a controlling Board of political appointees that is virtually unaccountable, and destined to become President Obama’s version of … Continue reading →

Reaching beneath a desk in her home office, Ruth von Fuchs pulls out a white plastic box containing a collection of tubes, valves and microwave turkey roasting bags. This is her death kit. The Star (Canada) “Death’s midwife helps terminally … Continue reading →

Guardians can’t order their wards removed from life support, according to a Thursday court ruling. “Simply stated, if the Legislature intended to give a guardian the power to end the ward’s life, it would have explicitly done so,” according to … Continue reading →

Recently, NPR held a debate with utilitarian philosopher Peter Singer and an ER doctor named Arthur Kellerman arguing yes, and Christian lawyer Ken Connor and head of Pacific Research Institute Sally Pipes, arguing no. First, note the stacked question to … Continue reading →

The widow of Sen. Edward Kennedy is speaking out against a question on the Nov. 6 ballot legalizing physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients… Kennedy takes issue with the ballot question’s specification that it apply to those with a life … Continue reading →

Question 2 safeguards are hollow, unenforceable, and easily circumvented. Patients can be coerced, defrauded, psychologically abused, or financially exploited by heirs and others.  For example… No witnesses are required at death. There is no means of determining whether the patient … Continue reading →

Dr. Marcia Angell, a medical ethicist at Harvard Medical School and former editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, supports the bill.  Dr. Richard Aghababian, president of the The Massachusetts Medical Society, which also owns and publishes the New … Continue reading →