Free Republic

The literal suicide of the West continues apace in Canada.Starting in March 2024, people with mental illness will be able to avail themselves of medically assisted suicide.That represents the latest expansion in the Medical Assistance in Dying, or “MAID,” law that launched in 2016. Some Canadians are getting ready to take advantage of the forthcoming law.On Saturday, Reuters reported how a 47-year-old woman with anorexia will be allowed to kill herself with state assistance next year when the law changes.“Every day is hell,” Lisa Pauli said. “I’m so tired. I’m done. I’ve tried everything. I feel like I’ve lived my...

Abstract Patients who are in the last few days of life are often too frail to take oral fluids and nutrition. This may be due entirely to the natural history of their disease, although the use of sedative drugs for symptom relief may contribute to a reduced level of consciousness and thus a reduced oral intake. Rehydration with intravenous (i.v.) fluids is the usual response in acute care settings, whereas the hospice movement has often argued against this approach. The issues are complex and involve not only physical, psychological and social concerns, but also ethical dilemmas. A review of the...

“The fact that you are reading this indicates you escaped the abortion holocaust. But don’t relax yet. We are all candidates for the growing euthanasia movement.” These oft-repeated words of Msgr. William B. Smith, one of the Church’s best moral theologians until his death last year, came to mind as my father lay in the emergency room and a grave-faced doctor called me, my brother and our mother aside for a consultation. Since this was a top-rated yet secular hospital, I was already reviewing in my mind all I knew about Church teaching regarding “ordinary” and extraordinary” care. But I...