There is a long and extremely interesting article in the Guardian in London. Worth reading. To read it, go to (you may need to copy/paste this URL)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/nov/18/assisted-suicide-dignitas-house
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Inside the Dignitas house
More than 1,000 people have traveled to Switzerland to end their lives. But what is it really like inside the world’s first assisted suicide clinic?
A selected excerpt:
The vast majority of people who visit Dignitas are the terminally ill or those with an incurable, progressive disease. “Usually, if the person has terminal cancer, motor neuron disease or multiple sclerosis and they are telling us ‘I don’t like to live some weeks or months until the terrible end’, then it is quite clear and we have no difficulty in saying yes,” Minelli says.
Then there are those people who are just tired of life. With life expectancy growing and medical sophistication improving, people are increasingly worried about whether they will be “condemned to linger on”, Minelli says, “forced to end their lives in an institution. Our members say: with our pets, when they are old and in pain, we help them. Why am I not entitled to go to the vet? Why haven’t I such an opportunity? We hear this often.”
end excerpt from Guardian article
Tags: Assisted Suicide, Dignitas, dignitas switzerland, euthanasia and assisted death, Final Exit, self-delivance
Posted in Assisted Suicide, Assisted dying, Final Exit, People in the News, Politics/Law, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational), death, right to die | No Comments »
O P I N I O N
Bleak outlook for aid in dying for the mentally ill
Time was when right-to-die groups were looked to for help exclusively by terminally ill, and sometimes hopelessly ill, persons. But nowadays with our greater public visibility, credibility and legislative progress, many mentally ill persons are approaching us expecting positive help.
From their point of view, the suffering is as great as a person dying of a physical illness. And it probably is. They argue that a terminal patient knows that soon death will bring about the end of pain, whilst they are condemned to a lifetime of suffering. They report that they have endured long hours of therapy, and used mountains of prescribed medications. Still they would prefer death, they say.
Medical assisted suicide for persons with mental health problems, including severe depression, is nearly impossible to get, even in the countries where it is legal to do so. That’s the reality today.
Doctors find it raises too many red flags Continue Reading »
Tags: aid in dying, assisted death, Assisted Suicide, assisted suicide laws, choice in dying, Derek Humphry, Dignitas, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, helium suicide, hemlock society
Posted in Assisted Suicide, Assisted dying, Books, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Living Will, Politics/Law, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational), death, right to die | No Comments »
A single solid pill for a peaceful death has been developed by Exit International.
The pill that is made from a stable inert form of the barbiturate Nembutal has been developed for long term storage and transport. To use the pill to achieve a peaceful death, the pill is altered into the soluble active drug and reconstituted as a small drink.
Speaking from Darwin, Australia, Exit Director Dr Philip Nitschke said that this development offered the possibility of storage of the best end of life drug for several decades, with reliable reconstitution possible at anytime.
“Previously, people could only obtain the drug in liquid form from overseas and this presented difficulties in transportation and storage. The developed “pill” is much smaller, weighs only 10gm and is easy to safely store and transport. Exit believes that ALL seniors of sound mind should have the option of a peaceful death at the time of THEIR choosing should this be their wish – this Exit Pill will go some way to ensuring this”
An activation kit with the chemicals for reconstitution and a test kit to check the strength of the resulting product are nearing completion and will be made available by Exit International by mail order in 2010.
Dr. Nitschke will be touring the west coast of Canada and America next week.
Email: contact@exitinternational.net
Tags: Assisted Suicide, assisted suicide laws, Euthanasia, exit, Nembutal, Nitschke, self-delivance, Self-Deliverance, terminal illness
Posted in Assisted Suicide, Assisted dying, Dead, Euthanasia, People in the News, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational), death, right to die | 4 Comments »
Switzerland has announced plans to crack down on so-called ’suicide tourism’ by signalling that it might close the Dignitas clinic that has helped hundreds of terminally ill people to end their lives.
The plans, in the form of two draft Bills that will be offered for public debate, are likely to set off a rush of patients from Britain and elsewhere in Europe since Switzerland has become the main destination for those seeking assisted suicide.
Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, the Justice Minister, said that two options would be presented to parliament: either clinics such as Dignitas and Exit, which deals chiefly with Swiss patients, will have to accept much stricter regulation or they will be closed down.
Tags: Assisted Suicide, assisted suicide laws, choice in dying, Dignitas, dignitas switzerland, Final Exit
Posted in Assisted Suicide, Assisted dying, Dead, Euthanasia, Politics/Law, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational), death, right to die | No Comments »
A judge has ruled that the state of Georgia must return funds seized from a group accused of helping a man end his life because it has taken too long to file a complaint against the organization. Forsyth County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey S. Bagley signed an order last week directing Georgia to return $330,000 seized in February to the Final Exit Network and World Federation of Right to Die Societies. The state has until 6 November to file an appeal.
Tags: Assisted Suicide, Euthanasia, exit, Final Exit book, Final Exit Network, voluntary euthanasia
Posted in Assisted Suicide, Assisted dying, Books, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Suicide (rational), death, right to die | No Comments »
How ‘right-to-die’ stands in 2009
Where voluntary euthanasia (VE) and/or physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is now legally permitted under guidelines:
1. Switzerland. Physician and non-physician assisted suicide since l940. VE banned.
2. Colombia. VE since l997.
3. Oregon. PAS since l998. VE banned.*
4. The Netherlands. VE and PAS. Since 2002.
5. Belgium. VE. Since 2002.
6. Luxembourg. VE and PAS. Since 2008.
7. Washington. PAS since 2009. VE banned.*
8. Montana. PAS. Since 2008. (Under court review.)
*Oregon and Washington states are the only places where the citizens voted for this law in an election.
+++++
Where PAS law reform is currently under active legislative or court consideration:
1. Canada. (Parliament Bill C-384) Continue Reading »
Tags: Assisted Suicide, assisted suicide laws, ERGO, Euthanasia, euthanasia and assisted death, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, hemlock society, Humphrey, Oregon law, terminal illness, Washington law
Posted in Assisted Suicide, Assisted dying, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Hemlock, Politics/Law, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Suicide (rational), right to die | No Comments »
‘Final Exit’ was honored by the American Library Associations Top 100 List of Banned Books as one of the most frequently challenged books in America for 1990 – 1999. It came in at # 29.
Ten years later, it remains on the list of most commonly-challenged books in the United States, according to the A L A
The only country in the world where ‘Final Exit‘ is outright banned is France, because of a l986 catch-all law forbidding all such books.
Tags: Assisted Suicide, Derek Humphry, Digital Edition, Dignitas, ERGO, Euthanasia, Final Exit Network, Helium Method, Jean's Way, Kevorkian, terminal illness
Posted in Assisted Suicide, Assisted dying, Books, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Hemlock, Living Will, Publications/InternetMedia, RTD News, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational), right to die | No Comments »
You can view a list of my books, from l972 through 2008, at this Amazon site:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B000AQ1V2K
Also, my memoir “Good Life, Good Death”
is now on Kindle or at the ERGO Bookstore
Tags: humphry, Jean's Way, Oregon law, Sunday Times
Posted in Assisted Suicide, Assisted dying, Books, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, Film/TV/Radio, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Living Will, Opinion Pieces, People in the News, Politics/Law, Publications/InternetMedia, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Suicide (rational), right to die | No Comments »
Two popular initiatives, both dealing with assisted suicides, have gathered enough signatures to call for a vote in canton Zurich, Switzerland. No date has been scheduled for the votes.
The first calls for the canton to allow assistance but only for people who have been resident in the canton for at least a year. The second calls for the canton to insist on a change in Swiss federal law by banning all encouragement of and assistance to people committing suicide.
Tags: assisted death, Assisted Suicide, Dignitas, dignitas switzerland, physician assisted death, physician-assisted suicide, terminal illness
Posted in Assisted Suicide, Assisted dying, Euthanasia, Mercy Killing, Politics/Law, RTD News, Suicide (rational), death, right to die | No Comments »
U P D A T E
PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE FOR THE TERMINALLY OR HOPELESSLY ILL, COMPETENT, ADULT PERSON IN SWITZERLAND
— For information only
Physician-assisted suicide is legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Oregon, USA. In 2009 it also became law in Washington State and Luxembourg.
But, except for Switzerland, the laws confine the procedure to residents only, and under strict conditions. Switzerland alone allows foreigners to come for hastened death, provided it is altruistic, not profit-making nor of evil intent. Two right-to-die organizations (both called EXIT) in Switzerland help only their own members to die, but DIGNITAS will help foreign visitors to die in cases which they feel justified because of the terminal suffering. The person must be a competent adult.
The Dignitas operation is in Forch, near Zürich, Switzerland, and therefore operates under Swiss law, which, since 1940, has permitted assisted suicide, Continue Reading »
Tags: assisted death, Assisted Suicide, Dignitas, dignitas switzerland, Euthanasia, humphry, right to die, terminal illness
Posted in Assisted Suicide, Assisted dying, Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Hemlock, Politics/Law, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Suicide (rational), death, right to die | 2 Comments »
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