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No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main . . . Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. ~JOHN DONNEFor the moment, forget everything you’ve ever heard about right-to-die or right-to-life positions. Put aside the court rulings. Push out of your mind the tug-at-your-heart stories you’ve seen in the movies or read about online.Now, with no one reading your thoughts, may I ask, “Do you know when it...

ROME - Just days before the 11th anniversary of the death of an Italian man whose battle to be allowed to die stimulated wide debate in the country over euthanasia, the Italian senate on Thursday approved a “living wills” measure strongly backed by right-to-die advocates. For the Catholic Church here, the vote marks a third major political setback in the last two years, coming on the heels of its failures to block adoption of civil unions in 2016, which the Church saw as a step toward gay marriage, and to push through a ius soli law granting immigrant children citizenship...

In one of the first legal actions involving California’s “right to die” law, the family of a deceased cancer patient is suing UCSF Medical Center, alleging the system did not appropriately aid the woman in ending her life. The San Francisco Superior Court suit, filed by attorneys for the family of Judy Dale on July 7, claims that Dale’s caretakers at the hospital told her they would assist her in obtaining medication to help her die — but then suddenly backtracked. Dale succumbed to her terminal cancer in September 2016, according to the lawsuit. She did so without the medication...

A total of 111 people in California took their own lives using lethal prescriptions during the first six months of a law that allows terminally ill people to request life-ending drugs from their doctors, according to data released Tuesday. A snapshot of the patients who took advantage of the law mirrors what’s been seen in Oregon, which was the first state to legalize the practice nearly two decades ago. Though California is far more diverse than Oregon, the majority of those who have died under aid-in-dying laws in both states were white, college-educated cancer patients older than 60. The End...

Exit, the Switzerland-based organization that helps those with incurable illnesses to end their lives, has commissioned a working group to look into the possibility of extending its remit to help elderly people who are still in good health but want to die. At the moment, Exit offers its services to those who have a terminal illness, a debilitating disease that brings intolerable suffering, or multiple age-related debilitating disabilities. On Saturday Saskia Frei, president of the German-speaking arm of the organization, announced it would fund a working group to look into extending Exit’s services to healthy elderly people who wish to...

District of Columbia residents with less than six months to live would be able to request lethal medication from their doctors under a bill approved by lawmakers. The D.C. Council approved the so-called “right to die” bill Tuesday in an 11-to-2 vote. […] In the District, opponents expressed concern that lower-income residents would be pushed to end their lives prematurely rather than undergo costly treatment. Supporters said those concerns are unfounded. …

In early July, Betsy Davis emailed her closest friends and relatives to invite them to a two-day party, telling them: "These circumstances are unlike any party you have attended before, requiring emotional stamina, centeredness and openness." And just one rule: No crying in front of her. The 41-year-old artist with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, held the gathering to say farewell before becoming one of the first Californians to take a take a lethal dose of drugs under the state's new doctor-assisted suicide law for the terminally ill.

FULL TITLE: Gay man, 39, has asked to be euthanised under Belgium's radical right to die laws because he cannot accept his sexuality A gay Belgian man who says he cannot accept his sexuality has asked for the right to die using his country's radical euthanasia laws. The 39-year-old claims he is enduring extreme psychological suffering and that his sexuality has made him 'a prisoner in my own body'.

MPs have overwhelmingly rejected the legalization of assisted dying in England and Wales after an impassioned four-and-a-half hour debate in which party lines were set aside. Members voted by three to one against giving second reading to a bill tabled by the Labour backbencher Rob Marris, to allow terminally ill patients to be supplied with a lethal dose of drugs. It was the first ever serious attempt to change Britain’s assisted suicide laws through the House of Commons, and saw calls for the issue to be put to a referendum amid polling suggesting public support running at around 80 percent....

The state Assembly on Wednesday approved a measure that would allow California physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients, sending the proposal to the Senate, which had previously approved a similar bill. Modeled on a law in Oregon, the measure by Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton) sparked an emotional debate, with many Republicans saying that it is immoral to assist in a suicide, but with supporters arguing that terminally ill Californians should have a choice to die peacefully without pain. [Snip] Opponents of the bill, including the Catholic Church and advocates for the disabled, voiced concern that the...

QUEBEC, September 2, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) -- Quebec’s professional body regulating doctors, the College des Medecins, has published a how-to manual for doctors wanting to euthanize their patients, along with contents of a death kit to be issued them by pharmacists. These follow closely on the provincial government’s release of draft regulations for doctors, which defenders of the disabled have quickly condemned as inadequate. “This is sensational,” Amy Hasbrouck of Not Dead Yet, a disabled persons’ rights group opposed to euthanasia, told LifeSiteNews, adding that the Quebec College des Medecins (QCM) has finally got down to grim details. “You can call...

Two sisters are selling tickets for a party to raise money to enable their mother to commit suicide at a Swiss clinic. Jackie Baker, 59, wants to travel to the Dignitas euthanasia clinic after developing motor neurone disease in February. Her daughters Tara O'Reilly and Rose Baker are desperately trying to raise £8,000 so their mother can "die with dignity" in Switzerland. Hairdresser Tara, 40, is selling tickets for a girls night out with drag artist and playboy waiters to raise the funds for her mother. Tara said: "It's what she wants. We were very upset at the beginning but...

In a blow to the right-to-die movement, California lawmakers on Tuesday dropped one of the strongest legislative efforts in the U.S. to allow terminally ill patients to legally end their lives. The move came despite pleas involving the case of Brittany Maynard, who moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Oregon, which has a right-to-die law, when she was 29 so she could die on her own terms after a brain cancer diagnosis. Aid-in-dying advocates had hoped the nationally publicized case would prompt a wave of new right-to-die laws. But no state has passed such legislation this year, with...

The California Medical Association has withdrawn its opposition to the End of Life Option Act, SB 128. Disability rights advocates such as state Sen. Jim Beall voted for the bill in June after protections for the disabled were strengthened. And now the California-Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church has come out in support of the law, similar to Oregon's, which would give Californians facing an imminent, excruciating death the right to end their lives peacefully if they choose. The Methodist conference joins other Protestant communities of faith representing 1.5 million members from 21 denominations in support of the law.

[JURIST] The California Senate [official website] on Thursday voted 23-14 to approve a controversial right to die bill [SB 128 materials]. The bill would protect doctors who aide individuals with terminal conditions in dying. The bill's impact is limited to patients who pass a mental competency test are have less than six months to live. The patients would also be given the option to self administer. The California bill is modeled after Oregon's law, which more than 750 people have used to assist in death since it was passed. Sen. Jeff Stone, R-Temecula stated he is worried that California will...

Overlooked in the media coverage of and academic debate about physician-assisted suicide: it’s not the people most likely to receive it who are promoting it. “It’s the well off and healthy who are calling for it,” Farr A. Curlin, M.D., the Josiah C. Trent Professor of Medical Humanities at Duke University School of Medicine said at the Heritage Foundation on March 30, 2015. On the same panel on which Dr. Curlin spoke, Ryan Anderson of the Heritage Foundation noted that disability rights groups are actively opposing such measures. Moreover, Anderson pointed out, in Oregon, which has physician-assisted suicide, “95 percent...

Colorado lawmakers rejected a proposal to give dying patients the option to seek doctors’ help ending their lives, concluding a long day of emotional testimony from more than 100 people.For one lawmaker who voted no, the issue was personal. Tearfully telling her colleagues she was a cancer survivor, Democratic Rep. Dianne Primavera recalled how a doctor told her she wouldn’t live more than five years. But she found a doctor who gave her a different opinion. […] A House committee considering the bill voted 8-5 against it after dozens of people with serious illnesses and others who have seen relatives...

New plans unveiled Friday could allow French doctors to put terminally ill patients into a deep sleep until they die. The French parliament will debate the issue in a new draft law, according to The Telegraph. So far only Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland explicitly permit euthanasia or assisted suicide. A 2005 French law already allows “passive euthanasia,” where a person causes death by withholding or withdrawing treatment that is necessary to maintain life, but the new proposal takes the idea further. The proposals by two MPs — one from the ruling Socialists, the other from the opposition UMP —...

Brittany Maynard’s mother is responding angrily to the Vatican's criticism of Maynard’s decision to end her life early under an Oregon law written to let terminally ill patients die on their own terms. […] Maynard’s mother, Debbie Ziegler, issued a sharp written response Tuesday. She says the Vatican official’s comments came as the family was grieving and were “more than a slap in the face.” …

A terminally ill 29-year-old woman has chosen November 1 as the day she will die. Shortly after her wedding in 2013, Brittany Maynard of Portland, Ore., began experiencing debilitating headaches. While on vacation with her husband in January, Brittany was diagnosed with grade II Astrocytoma, a severe brain tumor. Doctors told her she had 10 years left to live. “I have to tell you,” she says in the video, “when you’re 29 years old, being told you have that kind of timeline still feels like being told you’re going to die tomorrow.” Following the original diagnosis, doctors said her cancer...