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A euthanasia case in the Netherlands made international headlines last year after it came to light that a woman was euthanized against her will. Now, the doctor who killed her is finally being held responsible. The patient, who has not been identified, was 74 years old and reportedly suffering dementia. She was living in a nursing home, and had previously said she wanted to undergo assisted suicide when “the time is right.” However, she never put in a request for assisted suicide, so even though her dementia had progressed to the point that she was no longer capable of giving...

FULL TITLE: Supreme Court rules that doctors can remove food and fluids from brain-damaged patients without going to court (ENGLAND) My Radio Four Today programme interview on this case is here. Five Live here. Should doctors be able to withdraw food and fluids from severely brain-damaged people who are not imminently dying? And if so, in what circumstances? The answer to these questions has changed significantly today because of a decision by the Supreme Court. Patients with permanent vegetative state (PVS) and minimally conscious state (MCS) can now be effectively starved and dehydrated to death if the medical staff and...

Multiple news outlets are reporting that Robert Latimer has submitted a letter to the Minister of Justice seeking a pardon or a new trial following his conviction for the murder of his daughter Tracy in 1993. Latimer has been free on parole since 2010. Contrary to some media reports, Latimer has been able to travel outside Canada since 2015, according to the Globe and Mail. Disability rights activists are concerned that the pardon request is a “symptom and effect of the continuing devaluation of disabled people” as shown by the legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia in 2016, according to...

FULL TITLE: Jahi McMath, the teen declared brain dead by doctors in 2013, has died undergoing surgery in New Jersey after a five-year bitter legal fight by her mother who insisted medics were wrong and she was still alive A girl at the center of the medical and religious debate over brain death has died after surgery in New Jersey, her mother said Thursday. Nailah Winkfield said doctors declared her daughter Jahi McMath dead on June 22 from excessive bleeding and liver failure after an operation to treat an intestinal issue. McMath was declared dead in December 2013 when she...

FULL TITLE: Dying anorexia patient, 25, is denied treatment for the disorder by her insurance company who claim 'it's a luxury' as her weight drops to 58lbs A 25-year-old woman with a debilitating eating disorder is preparing for the possibility of an early death as her insurance company treats a medical program she requires to live on as a luxury. Katrina Howard, who succumbed to anorexia nervosa in her early teen years, has been sent from hospital to hospital for treatment - but doctors fear they are running out of effective options for the young woman - who has whittled...

FULL TITLE: Two families are fighting to keep their sons on life support at Philadelphia children's hospital despite doctors insisting both are brain dead Two families have now gone to court to keep their sons on life support at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Anna and Jonathan Auyeung filed for a temporary restraining order in Common Pleas Court on Wednesday to keep their 10-year-old son Jayden alive. It comes less than a month after Rumpa Banerjee was granted the same order to keep her 14-year-old son Areen Chakrabarti on life support. Jayden, who suffers from a genetic motor neuron disease,...

In a heart-wrenching new video, a mother can be heard begging Ohio hospital staff to save the lives of her premature twin boys before they died. The video, released by the pro-life group Created Equal, alleges staff at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio refused to help the micro-preemies on June 24, 2017 after their mother, Amanda, gave birth at 22 weeks and five days of pregnancy. “You’re going to save him, right? Promise me you’re going to save him,” Amanda’s heartbroken plea can be heard on the video as she holds her son Emery right after giving birth. “Look...

The grief-stricken father of Alfie Evans today buried his son. Although no one from the media or Alfie’s Army was able to attend the private funeral to talk with him or hear remarks to his family, since it was closed to the public, the flowers that adorned the hearse carrying Alfie’s body to the funeral park gave people an indication of what his father Tom thinks of his little boy. The hearse was decorated in flowers with the words “Warrior” and “our hero” on top. The casket itself was adorned with images appropriate for a little boy — with pictures...

This is the second in a five-part series contrasting the ways our society could handle end-of-life care moving forward. The right to die is an odd concept. Everyone will inevitably die. Many people fear what sort of condition they may be when they are older or suffering from a terminal disease. Some people express that fear in these exact words: “I don’t want to be hooked up to all of those machines.” Patients certainly have a right to refuse unwanted medical treatment. But when people speak of the “right to die,” they don’t mean allowing someone at the end of...

The story of Alfie Evans in the United Kingdom shocked and captivated an international audience. His death on April 28 was tragic, leaving his parents and countless people across the globe heartbroken, including his devoted online advocates in “Alfie’s Army.” Many things happened during his case. The medical details are complex, with Alfie perhaps suffering from a unique disease. While the details may be hard to follow, the controversy over Alfie is really quite simple: Alfie’s medical care was forcibly removed from him because of his quality of life. This was a fight about imposing “quality of life” judgments on...

About once a week my search for “Today in History” turns up a reminder, positive or negative, of something that pro-lifers should carefully ponder. Ninety one years ago today, in Buck v. Bell, the United States Supreme Court upheld a Virginia law that allowed the forced sterilization of people to promote the “health of the patient and the welfare of society.” Specifically, the 8-1 decision, written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes permitted an innocent woman by the name of Carrie Buck to be involuntarily sterilized. Carrie Buck’s “crime”? She was supposedly “feeble-minded.” As Social Darwinist Justice Holmes pronounced, in one...

Sources close to the family of Alfie Evans are refuting a story that appeared in an Italian newspaper claiming that Alfie was given four unknown drugs just two hours before he died. Caroline Farrow, a British journalist and broadcaster who has been working closely with administrators of the Alfie Army website, informed LifeNews today that the Italian newspaper article is incorrect. Not only is the article inaccurate but administrators of Facebook page to support Alfie and his family say the claims in the article are causing more stress for Alfie’s family just days after he passed away. If true, the...

FULL TITLE: British Prime Minister Defends Hospital That Ended Alfie Evans’ Life, Says “Clinicians Should Decide” Not Parents Now that little Alfie Evans has died, apologists are coming out of the woodwork defending the hospital, the doctors, and the courts, that yanked his life support over his parents’ objections. As Alfie’s family mourns his death on Saturday, and as millions of supporters of his family across the globe share their condolences, some people are defending Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. That is the hospital where doctors decided Alfie was too far gone and revoked his life support without his parents’ permission....

The hospital that was at the center of the controversy over Alfie Evans and ultimately yanked his life support was once embroiled in a controversy surrounding the selling of children’s organs after surgery. Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in London came under considerable criticism after fighting with Alfie’s parents for months and withdrawing off his life support without their consent following a massive legal battle. The hospital came under additional criticism when it did not feed it Alfie for longer than 24 hours after removing his life support. But this is not the first time Alder Hey Children’s Hospital has been...

The main judge in the Alfie Evans case has already come under fire for the kinds of comments he made in the courtroom. Justice Hayden said that he did not want to be reminded that Alfie is a human being and told attorneys for Alfie’s family that there is supposedly nothing left of his brain. Now the judge is coming under fire for comments he made about a Christian legal group whose attorneys helped represent Alfie’s family. In the courtroom he slammed the group calling one law student who was assisting the family “deluded and fanatical.” Lawyers and others from...

The brother of Terri Schiavo has slammed the British court system that essentially condemned Alfie Evans to death. Bobby Schindler tells LifeNews that courts should never have prevent Afie’s parents from caring for their son, who ultimately died on Saturday less than a week after doctors yanked his life support without their consent. Bobby Schindler and his family fought a losing uphill battle against the court system that decided Terri was better off dead than living as a disabled patient. He certainly understands what happens when courts and doctors say someone should die. Alfie Evans ended up dying very early...

The Liverpool hospital, where the toddler's life support was turned off on Monday, said: "All of us feel deeply for Alfie, Kate, Tom and his whole family" Alder Hey Hospital has expressed its "heartfelt sympathy" to Alfie Evans's devastated parents after the toddler died in the early hours of today. The Liverpool-based hospital, where little Alfie's life support was turned off on Monday night, posted a statement on its website this morning. It said: "We wish to express our heartfelt sympathy and condolences to Alfie's family at this extremely distressing time. All of us feel deeply for Alfie, Kate, Tom...

FULL TITLE: Alfie Evans' father spent last 10 minutes of his son's life desperately trying to revive him with mouth-to-mouth, family reveals, as supporters claim they have seen tragic boy's face in a cloud Alfie Evans' dad battled to keep his son alive with mouth-to-mouth before being forced to accept he could not save him, it has emerged. Family members have revealed how Tom, 21, was 'blowing and blowing' as he tried to resuscitate Alfie for ten minutes in the early hours of Saturday. The 23-month-old who was at the centre of a legal battle by his parents to take...

FULL TITLE: NHS Doctor: Starving Alfie Evans to Death ‘Is Not the Killing of A Child,’ It’s Just ‘Redirecting Care’ Forcing 23 month-old Alfie Evans to die by starvation “is not killing,” Dr. Ranj Singh argued on U.K.’s “This Morning” ITV program Friday, Express reports. Withdrawing life-support and refusing to allow Alfie’s parents to take him home, feed and care for him, is, instead merely “redirecting care,” Dr. Singh said: “This is not the killing of a child - this is redirecting care to make them more comfortable.” In Alfie’s case, redirecting care to make him “more comfortable” means denying...

Hundreds of tearful supporters of Alfie Evans and his family gathered at a park near Alder Hey Children’s Hospital to release balloons today to honor the little boy after his death. Five days after a children’s hospital yanked his life support without his parent’s permission, little Alfie Evans has died. Alfie’s death comes after a massive legal battle between the hospital and his parents Tom and Kate. An administrator of the Alfie Army Facebook page posted a video of the moving ceremony. Supporters shouted “I love you” and let off balloons outside Alder Hey hospital as the world paid tribute...