Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

It’s a Wonderful Life

In the classic movie It's a Wonderful Life, George Bailey discovers how mistaken he was to wish that he had never been born. With the angel Clarence's guidance, George's whole perspective changes. He discovers that life is wonderful--adversities and all. A human life is precious beyond ...

If Peter had received the proper care, would he still be with us?

Having a child die is a devastating experience for any family. Having a child die due to negligence, or discrimination in care or treatment, adds a whole new level of pain for families and loved ones. Imagine finding out that a do-not-resuscitate order was put into your child's chart without ...

UNDER ATTACK! Conscience Rights: Healthcare Providers’ Right to Refuse to Kill

By Ralph A. Capone, M.D. and Julie Grimstad Conscientious objection, when exercised by healthcare practitioners, is a refusal to provide a legal "medical service" (such as abortion or assisted suicide) that conflicts with their deeply held religious or moral convictions. Calls to Exclude Conscientious Objectors from Medical Practice On ...
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An Imposed Death in Hospice

Mr. Dennis Barry's wife, Lucy, age 90, was admitted to a hospice facility for a "respite" and died shortly thereafter. A little over a year after she died, Dennis called the Hospice Patients Alliance to tell her tragic story. At a hospice, Lucy Barry was given Haldol (an antipsychotic drug), ...
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Quinlan: First “Right To Die” Case’s Far-Reaching Consequences

Recently, I had reason to go look through through the collection of book reviews I've written over the years, searching for one on Karen Ann Quinlan's mother's autobiography. I have resurrected that review and reprint it in this edition of the PHA Monthly for two reasons: (1) The 1976 ...
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Who will be encouraged to consider assisted suicide?

By Dr. Virginia Stark-Vance MD Physicians are under increasing pressure to not offer patients care. Sometimes this pressure comes from the hospital or medical staff, sometimes from the insurance company. One medical staff chief tried to force me to withdraw from the hospital staff because the nursing staff had complained ...
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Response to the APA on Physician Assisted Suicide

LifeNews published an article by Michael Cook, entitled "American Psychiatric Association Takes Strong Stance Against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia" This article immediately raised red flags. Dr. Karl Benzio, MD, founder and director of Lighthouse Network, has ...
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Assisted Suicide: News & Commentary

Below are recent articles offering news and commentary on the push for assisted suicide and the concerns about and impact of these dangerous trends. The good news so far has been the success in many states to reject efforts to legalize assisted suicide. Unfortunately, Canada received a negative high court ...

A Patient Advocate’s Story: Saving A Life From Four States Away

By Allison Wiggins I was a guardian to a homeless man in Corpus Christi in 1998. This man, Stanley Nowak, was inhis late 80s, but very lucid, not an alcoholic or schizophrenic. Stanley would sit outside the Cathedral where I attended daily noon Mass. Due to his appearance, he wouldn't ...
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Considering Some Consequences of Government-Sanctioned Assisted Suicide

A 2015 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 68 percent of Americans favor decriminalizing physician-assisted suicide (PAS) for painful and incurable conditions.[i] Apparently, many people are influenced by the propaganda of PAS advocates (e.g., Compassion & Choices, formerly known as the Hemlock Society), with the support of ...
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Case In Point: Treating Patients with Serious Health Issues

Below are some examples of real life experiences of patients facing serious health issues. Whether these health issues develop gradually or suddenly, reports on situations and experiences faced by others may be helpful in making critical medical decisions on issues such as: hospice care, feeding tubes, ventilators, CPR, life support, ...

Brain Death Run Amok

Here is another dangerous medical futility trend that originates in California. First there was Jahi McMath, who is still alive over two years later, after barely escaping from a California hospital where she was declared "brain dead" and called a corpse. Now Israel Stinson has faced the same ...
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When Going To Die Becomes Supposed To Die

By Jennifer Warner Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is often touted as essential for patient autonomy. However, apart from the immorality of helping to end a life, not enough attention is given to how PAS might also be misused by people with selfish aims. In 2014, shortly before the End of Life ...

Life Is Always Worth Living

By Adam Crouch I was deeply saddened to hear that Brittany Maynard decided to accept the laws in Oregon, USA (where euthanasia is legal) and ended her life in November 2014, after a battle with brain cancer. I am a victim of brain cancer myself. I was diagnosed with a ...

Euphemistically called Aid in Dying, but really Permission to Kill

New Hampshire: Testimony Opposing SB426 (Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia Commission) Euphemistically called Aid in Dying, but is really Permission to Kill. Note: Dr. Benzio’s testimony has been condensed for this newsletter. Hello. My name is Karl Benzio. I am the Pennsylvania Director for the American Academy of Medical Ethics, and the ...

Hastened Death in Hospice Facility

3/10/2016 To Whom It May Concern, Today is my mother's Birthday! Our family is not able to celebrate with her, however we are blessed to know she is in Heaven. Uncomfortable as it is to write this and bring it to public awareness, I know in my heart that, for ...

Activist promotes assisted suicide based on her decision to force her mother to continue medical treatment

Activist promotes assisted suicide based on her decision to force her mother to continue medical treatment by Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director and International Chair - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Posted Friday, April 10, 2015, Reprinted with permission. An assisted suicide campaigner in California says that she is supporting the California ...

Witness to Hastened Death

My name is Daniela. I am 46 years old and live in Oregon. I believe my grandmother was killed in a hospital on June 24, 2014. She was in the emergency room for three hours and was given morphine after we had refused it and clearly asked for her right ...

Persistent Vegetative State

A person's inability to satisfy our longing for response does not justify abandonment or imposed death Human beings are not "vegetables." The dehumanizing term "persistent vegetative state" (PVS), crafted in 1972, became more familiar in the 1980s as "right to die" activists, courts, state legislatures, physicians and bioethicists[1] began to ...

Principles for making moral medical decisions

1. No matter what life-sustaining procedure/medical treatment is in question, when in doubt, err on the side of life. You can always try an intervention with the option of stopping it if it proves ineffective or excessively burdensome for the patient. 2. It is the physician’s obligation to truthfully and ...

The Rise of Stealth Euthanasia

The Rise of Stealth Euthanasia Imposed Death Disguised as Pain Relief by Ralph A. Capone, MD, FACP, Kenneth R. Stevens Jr., MD, FACR, Julie Grimstad, and Ron Panzer, LPN Medications used to manage pain and other symptoms—opiates, sedatives and barbiturates—can be misused to cause death. The intention to kill a ...

Restoring the Culture of Life (The Ethics of Life in Healthcare and Society)

Read online at links below or get the . I. 1.0 Dedication and Acknowledgement 1.1 1.2 1.3 Man and Our Awesome God 1.4.1

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

Euthanasia: an act, omission, or both, to end the life of an individual so that suffering may be eliminated. Euthanasia can be an action such as a lethal injection, drug overdose, smothering or shooting — sometimes called "mercy killing." Euthanasia can be an omission such as withholding or withdrawal of ...

Confusing Language Masks Deadly Agenda

Does medical decision making confuse or intimidate you? If so, you are not alone. This is partly so because, for many people, medical language is a foreign language. However, much of the confusion has been deliberately sown by the "right to die" movement which is determined to make euthanasia and ...

The Dark Heart of Euthanasia: Selling Death

“Eleanor” (not her real name) was larger than life even when she became ill with cancer in her 50s. Spirited and feisty with a wicked sense of humor, Eleanor regaled us doctors and nurses with her tales about her event-filled life. But as her cancer treatments failed to cure her, ...

A Personal Story of Death by Dehydration in the United States

Note from Alex Schadenberg, Exec. Dir. of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition: Yesterday the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition received this email from a woman who had contacted us through the internet. She wrote us concerning the dehydration death of her husband and how his death was an abuse of the use of ...

Stealth Euthanasia: Health Care Tyranny in America

Stealth Euthanasia: Health Care Tyranny in America (Hospice, Palliative Care and Health Care Reform) By Ron Panzer Copyright © Ron Panzer October, 2011 HTML/web version Published by Hospice Patients Alliance, Inc. www.hospicepatients.org 4680 Shank Street, NE Rockford, MI 49341 For more information: Tel. 616-866-9127 This book is also available in ...