Dr. Ira Byock, professor at Dartmouth University's Geisel School of Medicine, former head of Dartmouth Hospital's palliative care department, and currently chief medical officer of the Providence Institute for Human Caring of Providence Health and Services, has been debating Compassion and Choices' Barbara Coombs Lee on various radio and tv shows during the period of intense … [Read more...] about Disability Rights Groups Protest Attempts to Silence Dr. Ira Byock, Assisted Suicide Opponent
Nurse who lost her daughter to suicide speaks out
Are we being repetitive? Yes. Brittany Maynard's planned suicide has unleashed a cacophony of voices in opposition to assisted suicide, and we are grateful for the opportunity to give some of those voices a forum here. Read this commentary by Nancy Valko, RN, on the Witherspoon Institute's blog, Public Discourse, for another view of the dangers inherent in assisted suicide: … [Read more...] about Nurse who lost her daughter to suicide speaks out
This is How to Die with Dignity: Serving Others unti the Very End
In the light of how people are portraying courage in confronting the end of life these days, here's what the real thing looks like. Sgt. Jason Allen, a Rutland VT policeman, died at 35 last week, of cancer. He had come to the sheriff's department in 2002 and apparently became a friend, role model, and mentor to everybody he met, even the people he arrested. Until the very … [Read more...] about This is How to Die with Dignity: Serving Others unti the Very End
The Slippery Slope from Michael Landon to Brittany Maynard
Think there isn’t a slippery slope? We are in the first stages of a cultural move toward acceptance of euthanasia, driven by the slick PR efforts of Compassion and Choices and others of their ilk. This piece by Wesley Smith on First Things deftly summarizes how attitudes have changed in just 20 … [Read more...] about The Slippery Slope from Michael Landon to Brittany Maynard
Disability Rights Activist: Where Assisted Suicide is Legal, People Will Die against Their Will Through Mistakes or Abuse
This article, by Marilyn Golden, Senior Policy Analyst of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, appeared on CNN October 14, 2014. Golden writes: "At less than $300, assisted suicide is, to put it bluntly, the cheapest treatment for a terminal illness. This means that in places where assisted suicide is legal, coercion is not even necessary. If life-sustaining … [Read more...] about Disability Rights Activist: Where Assisted Suicide is Legal, People Will Die against Their Will Through Mistakes or Abuse