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In Canada, a judge in British Columbia has just struck down the law banning assisted suicide. Gloria Taylor, along with several other plaintiffs, filed suit claiming that the seriously ill should have the right to take their lives with the assistance of a doctor in Carter v. Canada. And it’s easy to sympathize with them. It’s easy to look at people suffering through a terminal illness and think that it’s cruel to deprive them of a quick, painless death as opposed to a long, drawn-out, painful one. But if you need to understand why both assisted suicide and euthanasia need...

A vulnerable patient starved to death in an NHS hospital after 26 days without proper nourishment. Martin Ryan, 43, had suffered a stroke which left him unable to swallow. But a 'total breakdown in communication' meant he was never fitted with a feeding tube. It was one of a number of horrific cases where the NHS fatally failed patients with learning difficulties, a health watchdog is expected to rule later this month. Tragedy: Martin Ryan died starving and 'in agony' in an NHS hospital after a 'communication breakdown' meant he was not fitted with a feeding tube Tragedy: Martin Ryan...

If I hadn't known better, I would have thought Fran Eaton's July 1 column, a rant against health care for poor children, was a parody of conservative positions and designed to make them look mean and stupid. But no, her condemnation of anything resembling a nurturing role for government, the "Mama state," as she calls it, was sincere. I find her views deeply disturbing but not surprising. What do conservatives stand for? Conservatives have fought long, hard losing battles against the abolition of slavery, the right of women to vote, child labor laws, the rights of workers to unionize, Social...

While attending the movies I happen to notice an advertisement on screen co-mingled with the coming attractions to buy George Lakoff's Books.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 — Fresh from their victory on Medicare, Congressional Republicans and the Bush administration say they are planning a new initiative to help provide health insurance to people under 65 who have no coverage. The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, Republican of Tennessee, is developing legislation and said it would be high on his agenda next year. Just minutes after President Bush signed the Medicare bill on Monday, Dr. Frist said he was turning his attention to the uninsured. "For my next three years," he said, "that will be the overriding issue. That's the next big challenge." Details...