Sunday 3rd January 2016- The Independent: Charity launches website to give people ‘greater control over their death’

‘A website will be launched this week that will allow people to complete an online declaration of how they wish to be treated in the final weeks of their life.

The charity behind the site said anyone who completes the document, known as an “advance decision” – detailing how someone can refuse a specific type of medical treatment or drug at some time in the future – will have greater control over their death.

Compassion in Dying said it created MyDecisions.org.uk  in response to growing concerns about how few people were planning ahead for end-of-life  treatment should they lose the ability to make their own decisions.

The website will take people through different scenarios that they may encounter if their health fails. From Thursday, users can receive a copy of their advance decision, otherwise known as a living will, or a copy of an “advance statement”.

An advance decision is legally binding, so if a healthcare professional ignores it they can be taken to court.

An advance statement differs from an advance decision in that it sets down a person’s preferences, wishes, beliefs as a guide for anyone who might have to make choices if they have lost the capacity to make decisions.’

‘Research commissioned by Compassion in Dying revealed last year that only 4 per cent of Britons have made a record of their preferences or appointed a lasting power of attorney. ‘

See:

Charity launches website to give people ‘greater control over their death’

Wednesday 30th December 2015- The British Medical Journal: Voluntary euthanasia is now legal in Quebec, says appeal court

‘Quebec’s law permitting assisted dying and voluntary euthanasia is now in force, even though the federal government in Ottawa is still drawing up national legislation on the right to die. Quebec has been allowed to go ahead with its own law after the province’s highest court rejected a challenge led by a physicians’ group and a disabled patient.’

See:

Voluntary euthanasia is now legal in Quebec, says appeal court

Thursday 3rd December 2015- BBC News: Woman who refused treatment after losing ‘sparkle’ dies

‘A woman who rejected life-saving kidney treatment, saying she felt she had lost her “sparkle” and did not want to get old, has died, it has emerged.

The 50-year-old, known only as C, had been at the centre of litigation at the Court of Protection and last month a judge ruled she could refuse dialysis.

A solicitor representing one of her daughters said C died on Saturday.

C had damaged her kidneys when taking a drug overdose in a suicide attempt but did not want to undergo dialysis.

The court, which considers cases relating to sick and vulnerable people, had to decide if she had the mental capacity to refuse treatment, in a case brought by the trust with responsibility for her care.

The hearing was told that C’s life “had always revolved around her looks, men and material possessions”.

In a statement, one of C’s daughters told the court said: “‘Recovery’ to her does not just relate to her kidney function, but to regaining her ‘sparkle’ [her expensive, material and looks-oriented social life], which she believes she is too old to regain.”‘

‘King’s College Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, in London, had wanted dialysis forced on C, claiming a “dysfunction of the mind” meant she could not decide for herself.

Mr Justice MacDonald dismissed the hospital trust’s application, saying C was “sovereign” of her “own body and mind” and thus “entitled” to make such a decision.

But he said many people may be horrified by C’s thinking and that the decision to refuse treatment could be described as “unwise”, with some considering it “immoral”.

His ruling was made on 13 November and it has emerged that she died 15 days later.’

Related Article:

Woman who refused treatment after losing ‘sparkle’ dies

Right-to-die socialite was diagnosed with a narcissistic personality disorder- The Telegraph

Socialite who lost her ‘sparkle’ has the right to die, court rules- The Independent

Court grants woman right to die after ‘losing her sparkle’- The Guardian

Sunday 1st November 2015- The Independent: French euthanasia doctor Nicolas Bonnemaison accused of poisoning patient ‘tries to kill himself’

‘A former emergency doctor has reportedly tried to kill himself after being convicted of poisoning one of his terminally ill patients.

Nicolas Bonnemaison, 54, was handed a two-year suspended sentence last week for killing one of his patients’.

‘One week later he was found slumped in a vehicle in southwestern France after reportedly trying to gas himself with exhaust fumes, according the Daily Telegraph.

He was flown to hospital by helicopter where he is in a serious condition.

In a trial that has gripped France, Bonnemaison was accused of poisoning “particularly vulnerable people” – five women and two men – between March 2010 and July 2011.

He said he gave the injections to “relieve but not to kill” patients who were suffering when he appeared in front of the appeals court, according to The Local.

This month the appeals court acquitted him of six of the deaths, backing a lower court ruling on the case.’

‘Assisted dying is legal in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. In France, a law allowing medics to place terminally ill patients in a deep sleep until they die was overwhelmingly agreed in March, CCN reported at the time, while UK MPs overwhelmingly rejected plans to give patients “the right to die” last month.’

Related Articles:

French euthanasia doctor Nicolas Bonnemaison accused of poisoning patient ‘tries to kill himself’

French ‘euthanasia’ doctor gets symbolic suspended sentence- The Telegraph

Friday 11th September 2015- The Telegraph: Breast cancer sufferer: ‘I don’t want to die, but Parliament needs to let me go’

‘Today, MP Rob Marris’s Assisted Dying Bill will be brought before the Commons for its second reading. If I can get a seat, I will be in the public gallery myself, having followed the heartfelt and compelling arguments presented on both sides with more interest than most.

I am currently undergoing my third round of chemotherapy for recurring triple negative breast cancer. It is an aggressive form of cancer with more limited treatment options available than with other types.

The quick succession of recurrences in my case means it is considered incurable. I have recently joined a clinical trial and do try to retain some sense of hope, but the reality is that I will most likely die from this disease.

It is not a question of if, but when.

If the Assisted Dying bill were to pass, it would provide me, and at least as importantly my children, family and friends, with peace of mind that I won’t have to suffer an unnecessarily agonising death.’

See:

Breast cancer sufferer: ‘I don’t want to die, but Parliament needs to let me go’

Friday 11th September 2015- BBC News: Assisted Dying Bill: MPs reject ‘right to die’ law

‘MPs have rejected plans for a right to die in England and Wales in their first vote on the issue in almost 20 years.

In a free vote in the Commons, 118 MPs were in favour and 330 against plans to allow some terminally ill adults to end their lives with medical supervision.

In a passionate debate, some argued the plans allowed a “dignified and peaceful death” while others said they were “totally unacceptable”.

Pro-assisted dying campaigners said the result showed MPs were out of touch.

Under the proposals, people with fewer than six months to live could have been prescribed a lethal dose of drugs, which they had to be able to take themselves. Two doctors and a High Court judge would have needed to approve each case.’

See:

Assisted Dying Bill: MPs reject ‘right to die’ law

Assisted dying: Hearing arguments for and against a Bill that’s divided Britain- The Independent

Saturday 29th August 2015- The Telegraph: Former chief prosecutor says laws must change to allow people to die

‘People must be helped to take their own lives without being forced to travel to Switzerland, a former Crown Prosecution Service chief has urged as politicians prepare to debate a possible change in the law.

Sir Keir Starmer said it is time politicians protected compassionate loved ones from prosecution by legalising assisted dying.

Last year at least 35 Britons went to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland to end their lives, campaign group Dignity in Dying said.

A fresh Commons bid to give terminally-ill patients the right to die will be considered when Parliament returns next month.

Sir Keir, now a Labour MP, told The Times: “The law needs to be changed.’

See:

Former chief prosecutor says laws must change to allow people to die

Thursday 13th August 2015- The Independent: Lord Carey: Euthanasia for terminally ill is ‘profoundly Christian’

‘Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has attacked the idea that bearing excruciating pain while terminally ill is a “noble thing”, in a message of support for the Assisted Dying Bill.

In a video for campaign group Dignity in Dying, Lord Carey insisted it was “profoundly Christian” to allow people to end their lives if they wished to do so, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The House of Commons is to debate the Assisted Dying Bill next month. Under the proposals, lethal drugs could be given to patients with less than six months to live if this was their “clear and settled intention” and two doctors agreed.

Lord Carey said: “Some people have said on the issue of compassion that actually pain is a noble thing, to bear pain and to say that we are suffering with you is, in my view, a very poor argument indeed.

“There is nothing noble about excruciating pain and I think we need as a nation to give people the right to decide their own fate.

“And in my view it is a profoundly Christian and moral thing to devise a law that enables people, if they so choose, to end their lives with dignity.”’

See:

Lord Carey: Euthanasia for terminally ill is ‘profoundly Christian’

Sunday 19th October 2014- The Guardian: Right-to-die campaigner who starved herself said she had ‘no alternative’

“What alternative do I have? The other methods, to my knowledge, are either illegal or I would need to go to [the Dignitas clinic in] Switzerland, and I want to die in my own bed.”

These were the words behind the decision made by Jean Davies, 86, to end her life through a 5 week fast, which she admited to being an ‘intolerable’ method but the only option for her to exercise her right to die.

In England and Wales both euthanasia and assisted dying are illegal.

She passed away on the 1st October 2014.

See:

Right-to-die campaigner who starved herself said she had ‘no alternative’

 

Tuesday 15th January 2013- The Daily Telegraph: Euthanasia twins ‘had nothing to live for’

The deaf Belgian 45-year-old twins requested to die after learning from doctors that they would eventually go blind due to a ‘genetically caused form of glaucoma’. After having been denied by their local hospital, the brothers finally found a medical institution willing to provide and perform the lethal injection almost 2 years later.

Related articles

• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/9801251/Euthanasia-twins-had-nothing-to-live-for.html