Eugenics wrapped up in a new package

Last week I attended a congress in Rome on the issues related to the new eugenics. Eugenics is a philosophy concerning racial hygiene or the purification of the human race. Eugenics rears its ugly head in issues of moral ethics today. For instance the Groningen Protocol in the Netherlands that allows for the killing of newborns with disabilities is eugenic. Also decisions to deny a person with a disability beneficial medical treatment because of the disability.

Hitler believed in eugenics and therefore instituted the euthanasia policy that led to the deaths of thousands of people with disabilities, and also the attempted elimination of people of the Jewish race. Millions of people died in Nazi Germany due to the instigation of the eugenic philosophy.

Most people agree that we should never return to that dark time in human history. Yet, today we have the new promotion of eugenics, except that it is now wrapped in a new package.

An article from the BBC News explains how a fertility clinic is now charging a special fee to select the traits that parents prefer for their children.

The clinic does not guarantee perfect success all the time, but their techniques improve the chances of parents designing their baby.

Link to the article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7918296.stm

Wesley Smith has produced an excellent commentary on this story that can be found at:
http://www.wesleyjsmith.com/blog/2009/03/new-eugenics-selecting-embryos-for-eye.html

The concept of Eugenics is like a pandora's box. Everyone dreams of the perfect child and scientists seem to be striving to eliminate the imperfect human genes. But what will this mean for people born with disabilities or other imperfections? Will these people be viewed as less than human? Will we decide to euthanize people with disabilities to save them from their "suffering?"

I am not suggesting that this represents a slippery slope, I am telling you that we have slipped down the slope and we are now looking up at our inhumane decisions.

Do assisted suicide laws apply to the virtual world?

The Toronto Star article published an about the case of Nadia Kajouji (18), the Carlton University student in Ottawa who was allegedly counselled to commit suicide in March 2008 by William Melchert-Dinkel, a nurse from Minnesota, over the internet. This case really clarifies the need for our laws to explicitly outlaw internet suicide websites and aiding, abeting and counselling suicide via the internet and other communications devices.

If the alleged crime that Melchert-Dinkel is accused of doing actually happened, then Melchert-Dinkel is a suicide predator.

The Toronto Star article suggests that if Melchert-Dinkel is convicted of assisted suicide or a similar charge that it would be precedent setting in Minnesota. I suggest that the Minnesota justice system attempt to set that precedent.

We need to protect vulnerable people from suicide predators who prey on the vulnerable for their own kicks.

Australia changed their assisted suicide law in 2005 to specifically outlaw internet suicide counselling. Every Western nation, especially Canada needs to also update our laws to specifically protect vulnerable people from suicide predators.

This is the text from the Toronto Star article that was written by Robyn Doolittle and published on March 2, 2009.

Minnesota officials say they'll make arrest soon

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – When investigators lay charges against a suspect they allege has counselled several individuals via the Internet to commit suicide, including an 18-year-old Carleton University student, it will be precedent-setting.

It is illegal in Minnesota to advise, encourage or assist someone in taking their own life. But the statute has never been applied to an offence which occurred online.

"That's what we're working on now. Do they physically have to assist?" said Peter Panos, a spokesperson for the St. Paul's police department. Investigators with Minnesota's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force think not.

Within two weeks, police expect to make an arrest in the case of an Internet predator known as cami, falcongirl and Li Dao, who encouraged Brampton teen Nadia Kajouji to kill herself about a year ago.

Investigators announced Thursday they are investigating Minnesota nurse William Melchert-Dinkel, 46, in connection with the case.

They seized his computer about eight months ago and in mid-January contacted Ottawa police after uncovering "suicide Internet conversations" between the man and Kajouji, just prior to her death.

But what constitutes assistance online? And would Kajouji have taken her life anyway?

Dan Reidenberg, executive director of Minnesota's Suicide Awareness Voices of Education, said there are freedom-of-speech issues involved. "There are First Amendment rights that come into play here, about what people can and can't do over the Internet or what they can or can't say," he said. "The reality is, there's been anti-suicide laws on the books for many years. They rarely ever get prosecuted."

If officials are able to show that Minnesota's assisted suicide laws not only apply to the physical world, but also the virtual one, it would set a precedent. It will have a ripple effect across the U.S.

Dr. Eric Caine, of the University of Rochester Medical Center, said assisted suicide is typically associated with the end-of-life debate involving patients with terminal illness. "This is an entirely different set of issues."

Link to the article in the Toronto Star:
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/595057

Final Exit Network raided - 4 leaders arrested

On Wednesday, February 25, 2009; four leaders of the Final Exit Network, a group of Death Lobby activists, were arrested in a sting operation that was carried-out by investigators in eight states and allegedly 14 sites.

The Final Exit Network is founded by Derek Humphrey, the former leader of the Hemlock Society, a group that joined with Compassion and Choices a few years ago.

The case that led to the charges was that of John Celmer, a 58 year old man who had cancer but was not terminally ill. More cases are being investigated.

According to its website, the Final Exit Network claims to be: “dedicated to serving people who are suffering from an intolerable condition.”

At the World Federation of Right to Die Societies Bi-Annual Conference in Toronto (September 2006) I learned that the Final Exit Network trained its volunteers to visit people who are considering suicide. They counsel them on effective methods and stay with them as they commit suicide to ensure that the suicide is carried out effectively and that all of the suicide device materials are removed.

An Associated Press article explained that: The Final Exit Network charges a $50 per year fee and they have more than 3000 members. Those seeking to end their lives are assigned an “exit guide” who instructs them to purchase two new helium tanks and an “exit bag.” When ready to commit suicide, the member is visited by the “exit guide” and a “senior exit guide” to lead them through the process.

According to an Associated Press article: “Investigators raided the homes of the group’s volunteers in seven of the states, a group office in Georgia and a company in Montana that authorities said supplied items used in suicides.

Those who were arrested included: Ted Goodwin, Final Exit’s recently resigned (resigned February 23, 2009) president, Claire Blehr, a member, who were both arrested at a home in northern Georgia. Maryland authorities arrested Dr. Lawrence Egbert and Nicholas Alec Sheridan who were both from Baltimore.

It is alleged that Goodwin walked an undercover agent through the steps and showed him how he holds the persons hand to prevent him/her from removing the “exit bag.”

It was reported that the authorities investigated the Final Exit Network for 8 months. The Final Exit Network were allegedly very difficult to find evidence against because of their methods that allegedly included wearing gloves at all suicides and meticulously cleaning up all evidence of involvement by Final Exit Network "Exit Guides."

The Final Exit Network is claiming to be innocent of all charges and has set up a legal defense fund.

Fortunately Goodwin allegedly let down his guard when he explained to the investigator how he holds the hands of the person who he is assisting the suicide for. You can claim that you are only holding the hands of the victims but when you have allegedly explicitely explained the how and the why of your actions.

Goodwin is the Vice-President of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies and is anticipated to become its President in 2010.

Christopher Nolan: poet and novelist

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

I was saddened to read about the death of Christopher Nolan, a great poet. Nolan's life truly challenges the perception society has of people who live with significant disabilities, such as cerebral palsy. People with cerebral palsy are often live with social devaluation in our culture and are often treated like they have no quality of life. Christopher Nolan truly lived his life to the fullest.

The following is the text from the obituary that was in the Times online on February 23, 2009. It is worth reading.
Despite being born with cerebral palsy, which robbed him of speech and prevented him from moving his arms or legs, Christy Nolan became one of Ireland’s most original literary talents, winning the Whitbread Book of the Year Award for his autobiographical work Under the Eye of the Clock.

During his birth his spine was wedged into a V-shape, cutting off the oxygen supply to his brain for two hours. Both he and his mother, Bernadette, nearly died. Because of his disability, he could barely communicate with the outside world, though his mother would look into his face and try to read his thoughts.

When he was 6 she was told that he still had the brain of a baby, but he was subsequently examined by a psychologist who established that he had an IQ five years above his age. When he was 11 he was given a new drug, Lioresal, and this helped to relax the spasms in his muscles. He gained some control over his head and neck and, with the aid of a head stick, was able to type.

With infinite patience his mother held his head while he used the “unicorn” pointer attached to his forehead to pick out letters on the keyboard. It could take him 12 hours to compose enough words to cover a page. In his first letter to his aunt and uncle he wrote: “I bet you never thought you would be hearing from me! To think that I would be able to write at all was beyond my wildest dreams.”

In 1979, after an article about Nolan in The Sunday Times, a fund was set up to buy him a computer costing £2,200. Readers contributed ten times that amount, enough to establish a unit for other disabled people.

Christopher Nolan was born and grew up in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, but the family later moved to Dublin, where he attended the Central Remedial School and Mount Temple Comprehensive before moving on to Trinity College. At Mount Temple his fellow pupils included the members of the future rock band U2. Some five years older, they were leaving as he arrived but they did not forget him and their song Miracle Drug was inspired by him.

In 1981, when he was 15, Nolan’s collection of poetry, Dam-Burst of Dreams, was published by Weidenfeld. In a precocious letter to Lord Weidenfeld he wrote: “These writings are my nomadic-memory’s minted musings. If you find any of my poetry obscure I will asterisk it and give an explanation of my theme.”

Dam-Burst of Dreams was critically acclaimed for its extraordinary use of language and brought comparisons with Nolan’s compatriots, William Butler Yeats and James Joyce. A later poem celebrated one of his heroes, the disabled artist Christy Brown, who was portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis in the film My Left Foot and who died on Nolan’s 16th birthday.

Nolan was still only 21 when Under the Eye of the Clock was published in 1987. In it he recounted his struggle with disability, but using a third person narrative in which he called himself Joseph.

“Life was a constant series of challenges to the disabled boy,” he wrote, “but he faced each day as though greatly blessed by fate.”

In January 1988 he received the £20,000 Whitbread Award, having come out top in the biography category. He had attended that ceremony in a wheelchair with his mother reading out his words of thanks: “Ladies and gentlemen. Think of how you would feel just now and understand that I feel like you, my friends.” The book became a bestseller in Europe and America.

The award was not without controversy. Some felt that Nolan had won because of his disability, and Robert McCrum, editorial director of Faber and Faber, said the book was not worthy of the prize. Ben Pimlott, the historian who chaired the biography judges, was not uncritical of the work, saying while it was not mawkish there were lapses into sentimentality, but denied that it was a sympathy vote.

With the theatre director Michael Scott, Nolan adapted Under the Eye of the Clock for the stage as Torchlight and Lazer Beams, also including some of his unpublished poetry. It was produced during the Dublin Theatre Festival in 1988.

It was 12 years before Nolan’s next book, and his first novel, The Banyan Tree (1999). He started it before winning the Whitbread, but it proceeded slowly and arduously, going through two abortive drafts before he was satisfied. “The plot kept developing, going down roads I hadn’t intended,” he said. “Sometimes that meant scrapping heaps of pages.”

The Banyan Tree was set in Co Westmeath, where Nolan grew up, and inspired by two childhood images, a fox hiding in long grass and an old woman hoisting up her skirts to jump a rut in a field. The woman became his central character, Minnie O’Brien, and the novel traced her long life and the fortunes of her three children, the youngest of whom she had not seen in 30 years.

Despite his literary success, and the celebrity that came with it, Nolan continued to vent his anger at “the folk that mistake brain-damaged for brain-dead . . . I find their suspicion and their ignorance almost more horrendous than my handicap”.

Christopher Nolan, poet and novelist, was born on July 30, 1965. He died on February 20, 2009, aged 43

Link to the obituary in the London Times:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article5785528.ece

Compassion & Choices and Final Exit Network - Two peas in a pod

Compassion & Choices has sent out a press release suggesting that they are not like the Final Exit Network. The fact is that these two organizations are more alike than different.

First: Ted Goodwin, the former president (resigned Feb 23, 2009) of the Final Exit Network became the Vice-President of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies at their bi-annual conference in Paris in 2008. Goodwin is scheduled to become the President of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies at their conference in 2010. Compassion & Choices is a member of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies.

Second: Derek Humphrey founded the Final Exit Network and the Hemlock Society. Hemlock Society was one of the large groups that amalgamated to form Compassion & Choices.

Third: Compassion & Choices has its own suicide support service called the: Client Support Program. The Client Support Program has the same aims as the Final Exit Network.

I attended the World Federation of Right to Die Societies bi-annual Conference in Toronto (Sept 2006).

During a presentation about the Client Support Program - A Client Support Program volunteer stated that he had been involved in his first hastened death a few weeks earlier (before the conference) and he felt that it was the "right thing to do." Another Client Support Program volunteer stated that she became a volunteer because she wants to hasten her own death and thought that her involvement was a safety net for her own death. A Client Support Program - regional co-ordinator stated that volunteers are trained to know the law in order to avoid prosecution. The training program is designed to protect the volunteer from prosecution, but in the case of a charge, the training should enable them to be acquitted. She said: 'If you understand the law you can avoid conviction.'

The Final Exit Network also claims to be providing "Aid in Dying" which is a euphemism for assisted suicide, and like the Client Support Program, they claim to only act in support of a suicide and not actually assist the suicide.

It is interesting that Goodwin allegedly showed an investigator how he holds the hands of the client, making it impossible for the client to remove the "Exit Bag". This is the same Goodwin who is a mainstream leader of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies.

The Final Exit Network and the Compassion & Choices Client Support Program have the same purpose and are designed to do the same thing.

What do we need to do post Washington State?

On Wednesday, March 4, 2009; Washington state will become the second state in the United States to legalize assisted suicide.

The I-1000 assisted suicide Initiative was organized by compassion & Choices and won by a 58 - 42 percent margin, legalizing assisted suicide in Washington state.

It is clear that the Compassionate & Choices - Death Lobby believes that they can make serious political gains in the next year.

Since the Washington State defeat we soon experienced the activist judicial decision in Montana by Justice Dorothy McCarter. McCarter legalized assisted suicide in Montana by judicial fiat without any concern for the democratic rights of the citizens or the legislative jurisdiction of the elected representatives. To rub salt into the wound, McCarter is determining the legal costs that will be rewarded to the plaintiffs in the case. Montana’s attorney general, Steve Bullock is appealing the decision.

Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New Mexico are debating the legalization of “Oregon style” assisted suicide and it appears likely that a bill will be introduced in Vermont during the current session.

All is not lost.
A bill that was introduced in Hawaii to legalize assisted suicide was postponed for one year. A coalition of groups were able to re-organize and present a united opposition to assisted suicide. A Previous attempt in Hawaii was defeated by a similar effort a few years ago.

Canada is facing a new legislative attempt to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide, but the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition which is organized by a culturally diverse group is effectively working to convince members of parliament to oppose the bill.

In the UK, recent attempts to legalize assisted suicide have failed because the Care Not Killing Alliance is comprised of groups and people who are culturally diverse but working in a unified manner to oppose assisted suicide.

It is clear what needs to be done. We need to organize and build an effective opposition to the Death Lobby on a state by state and nation by nation basis.

The organizations need to be composed of: people with disabilities, physicians groups, religious groups, liberals, conservatives and moderates.

If you are truly wanting to become part of this organized and effective opposition to the Death Lobby, then you need to attend the Second International Symposium on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide near the Dulles Airport - May 29 - 30, 2009. For more information go to www.epcc.ca

The time is now.

Minnesota nurse may have encouraged Canadian student's suicide

By Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

An article published in the StarTribune.com in Minneapolis - St. Paul Minnesota and written by Pam Louwagie tells the horrific story of a Minnesota nurse may allegedly counselled Nadia Kajouji (18) from Ottawa Ontario Canada to commit suicide by drowning.

The article states:

Nadia Kajouji, 18, disappeared in Ottawa last March after telling her roommate that she was going skating. For weeks, police and community members searched for her, finding her body more than a month later in a river.

The girl's mother, Deborah Chevalier, told the Ottawa Citizen newspaper in an article published today that the Minnesota police investigation is focusing on online chats between her daughter and a male nurse, whose name has not been released, and that charges may come soon.

St. Paul Police spokesman Peter Panos confirmed this afternoon that the Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force is working on the case along with the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

"They are in the middle of the investigation," Panos said. He said he believes authorities have some specific charges in mind, but may be looking at other state and federal statutes in addition.

"It's an unusual case, so there's some different laws they're looking at to see exactly how they would charge him," Panos said.

Ottawa Police confirmed to the Canadian newspaper that they have been cooperating with Minnesota law enforcement on the case for about three weeks

This is an incredibly sad case for all involved. The article explains the story from the point of view of the family:

The girl's father, Mohamad Kajouji, said in a tearful telephone interview this morning that transcripts provided to the family of internet chats didn't include the name of the nurse, but showed he posed online as a female who had been depressed for nine years, lived with her mother and a younger brother, and was planning her own suicide.

"She told my daughter ... she was going to hang herself. She was going to make sure her mother got insurance money... she told Nadia that she was going to meet her in heaven," Mohamad Kajouji said. "She told my daughter that she had tried every medication there is" and that nothing worked, he said.

He said the internet chatter, whom authorities later learned was a man and a nurse, talked about having a lot of experience with seeing gunshot wounds and other injuries.

The online chatter asked Nadia for a picture, Mohamad Kajouji said, and his daughter sent one.

He said Nadia Kajouji talked online about dying of hypothermia. Her body was found in the Rideau River near St. Paul University in Ottawa.

Chevalier told the Citizen newspaper she had also read the transcript and "he was trying to convince her to hang herself and he told her what type of rope to buy and how to tie it, and the size of the rope you need to be successful."

Nadia Kajouji had been battling depression and struggling in school at Carleton University in Ottawa in the months leading up to suicide, the Citizen reported, adding that she was undergoing counseling and had been prescribed anti-depressants. Her case ignited a debate on student privacy versus what duty school officials should have to relay information about students' struggles to their parents.

The article explains that this was probably not the first time this nurse has counselled someone to commit suicide. It stated:

Mohamad Kajouji said after talking with Canadian authorities, "I'm pretty sure he did these things before ... he prey on vulnerable kids like my daughter."

Chevalier said that her daughter's laptop computer may be seized as evidence by U.S. investigators. She said she was relieved to hear about the possibility of charges in her daughter's death.

"If you read the messages, he was a monster," she told the Citizen. "I just can't believe people would do that ... I can't believe a human being can be like that."

The time has come for all Western nations, especially Canada to outlaw aiding, abeting and counseling suicide via the internet. We cannot sit back and allow suicide predators to take advantage of people who are experiencing depression. We must protect the vulnerable from sick people such as the alleged nurse in Minnesota.

Link to the Nadia Kajouji Tribute:
http://www.respectance.com/NadiaKajouji/memorial?gclid=CLyZg-Xt-JgCFSPxDAodhnmsmg?gclid=CLyZg-Xt-JgCFSPxDAodhnmsmg

Link to the original article in the Star Tribune:
http://www.startribune.com/40294552.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU7DYaGEP7vDEh7P:DiUs

Link to the article in the Ottawa Citizen:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Kajouji+case+breakthrough/1325579/story.html

Link to the article in the Globe and Mail:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090225.KAJOUJI25/TPStory/National

When Financial Despair Turns Deadly

When clearing out my emails I came across an interesting article that was published on January 30, 2009 in Canada's Globe and Mail entitled: When a family's financial despair turns deadly.

The article pertains to the number of recent cases of murder-suicide in cases where the family was facing financial despair. These are very sad cases and do not directly connect to the issues of euthanasia and assisted suicide, other than the fact that when this recently happened in Thunder Bay (Fonteese case) the media inappropriately treated it as a possible precedent case in favour of assisted suicide.

I am also concerned that in jurisdictions where euthanasia and assisted suicide become common that reasons for the act, might in some circumstances, might be related to the emotional and psychological stress that is caused by the economic downturn. Especially in jurisdictions where concern for the mental health of the person has become secondary.

The article states:

As the economic downturn deepens, some individuals are resorting to murder-suicide to escape job loss, foreclosure and bankruptcy

It is a grim indicator of the depth of despair the economic downturn has wrought: a rare spate of murder-suicides in which entire families have been killed by desperate parents suffocating beneath hopelessness and debt.

This week alone, the United States witnessed the gruesome demise of two more households in which an executive decision was made to give up on fighting against the depressing cycle of foreclosures, bankruptcies, evictions and layoffs.

The article then referred to several Canadian cases:

On New Year's Day, a couple in Chicoutimi, Que., struggling with bankruptcy, joblessness and bleak financial prospects, allegedly plotted a family suicide that left the 46-year-old father, and three children, ages 12, 7 and 4, dead. The mother, 34-year-old Cathy Gauthier-Lachance survived; she is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and assisting the suicide of her husband.

In Toronto, a father under pressure to meet increasing health-care bills for two ailing kin snapped in November, a day after a steep stock market drop. He killed himself, his wife and two grown children.

The article then looks into the growing problem of murder-suicide related to financial distress:

While researchers have long pointed to a connection between financial hardship and the onset of mental disorders, mental health experts are concerned that a new trend in extreme familicide - in which entire families sometimes lose their lives - may be emerging, with strong ties to the economic meltdown.

"When we look back at the end of 2009, I would be surprised if we did not see an increase. All the fundamentals are there," said John Bradford, associate chief of forensic psychiatry with the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group and a professor of psychiatry and criminology at the University of Ottawa and Queen's University.

By fundamentals, Dr. Bradford means "the bleak economic news, people losing their jobs, losing their homes, having nothing to look forward to."

The feelings of failure, insecurity, guilt and shame that accompany the items on that list often lead to stress, which in turn leads to depression, even in people with no history of mental disorder. For some people, Dr. Bradford said, financial pressures can transform depression into a form of desperation that can lead to suicide.

However, only among a rare few do suicidal thoughts morph into the nihilistic delusion, that an entire family should be killed.

"You basically have this delusional idea that somehow the world is coming to an end, there is great suffering, there is nothing we can do about it," said David Bloom, director of psychotic disorders at Montreal's Douglas Mental Health University Institute. "The best thing to do is leave the world and take those you love the most with you to avoid further suffering on their part."

Dr. Bloom said that males more often exhibit the nihilistic delusions that push them over the psychotic edge, although rarely are the murders committed out of anger. "It's a hopelessness," he said. "I have no more means with which to fight this problem. The only solution is suicide. They wouldn't even see it as murder. They would take it as 'I'm saving them from a terrible thing.' "

As for what triggers "the switch" that enables psychotic behaviour, that is more difficult to pinpoint. The key problem is that in most cases, the only people who know the answer are dead.

Link to the original article:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090130.weconocide30/BNStory/International/

Coroner calls for ban on suicide manual

As much as I am happy that a representative of the Dignity in Dying group in the UK has stated that the banning of these suicide manuals is acceptable to them, the reality is that this is simply a ploy by Dignity in Dying to appear moderate.

It is interesting that Derek Humphrey, the founder of the Hemlock Society, has stated that Dignity in Dying sold thousands of his book: Final Exit in the 1990's. Final Exit is a suicide manual.

The text of the article that was published in the Manchester Evening News reported on Feb 16, 2009 and written by John Scheerhout and Stan Miller

A Coroner has called for a ban a suicide manual used by a Manchester club boss to kill himself.

Nigel Meadows has written to the Home Secretary expressing concern about the book.

He called for ministers to ban the book along with websites that show people how to take their own lives.

The book, which the M.E.N. has chosen not to name, has been published in America since 1991 and its latest edition can be ordered through the post for around 11 pounds. Paul Benson, who owned Aqua bar in the city, used the book to set up a 'sophisticated' method of killing himself, an inquest into his death heard.

He had a history of depression and was receiving psychiatric treatment. However, he was not terminally ill.

The author of the book has defended it saying it was written to help the terminally ill end their lives, not people suffering from mental illness.

The inquest heard Mr Benson, 43, was found dead by his brother in the loft of his home on Mardale Avenue, Didsbury, in May. He used a method detailed in the book.

Before he killed himself, Mr Benson wrote a note inside the cover of the book to defend the publication. He wrote: "This book didn't encourage me to kill myself. But it stopped me doing it in a way which was dangerous to others: e.g. in front of a train.

"This book is good unless the technique fails in which case I shall be suing."

Elaborate

Mr Benson died from suffocation and gas inhalation. Recording a verdict that he killed himself, Manchester Coroner Nigel Meadows said he took 'elaborate' steps to end his life.

"He had done some research probably on the internet and this book," said Mr Meadows. "I will write to the Home Secretary about the book. I have to think about people who might be more vulnerable and much younger.

"Other coroners have called for the banning of this book and others of a similar ilk, but the government can take steps to stop distribution.

"I will be asking if any steps can be taken to stop ready access to this material and I would like a ban on websites that provide information about methods of self-harm."

Mr Benson, a bachelor, had been an outpatient at Wythenshawe Hospital receiving psychiatric treatment. The court heard he had tried on two previous occasions to kill himself - jumping from the Menai Bridge in Anglesey in 2006.

He landed in the river and spent six weeks in hospital with back injuries.

Mr Benson's family declined to comment. Friend Andrew O'Dwyer, chairman of Manchester Pub and Club Network, said: "He was a very caring person. He would go out of his way to help anyone."

Jo Cartwright, for the campaign group Dignity in Dying, said: "We would not object to banning the book because we don't encourage suicide without safeguards. It can be dangerous for vulnerable people."

Misplaced compassion can lead to merciless killing

Jakki Jeffs has written an excellent article that essentially connects the historical and philosophical consequences of euthanasia and connects them to the current cultural pressures that have created a push for legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada. This is an article that is worth reading.

Text of the article that was published in the Guelph (Ontario) Mercury on February 23, 2009 by Jakki Jeffs:

I believe it appropriate to begin this column with the words of Dr. Leo Alexander, who served with the office of the Chief Counsel for War Crimes, in Nuremberg.

"Whatever proportions these crimes finally assumed, it became evident to all who investigated them that they started from small beginnings. The beginnings at first, were merely a subtle shift in emphasis in the basic attitude of the physicians. It started with the acceptance of the attitude, basic in the euthanasia movement, that there is such a thing as a life not worthy to be lived. This attitude in its early stages concerned itself merely with the severely and chronically sick.

"Gradually the sphere of those to be included in this category was enlarged to encompass the socially unproductive, the ideologically unwanted, the racially unwanted and finally all non-Germans. But it is important to realize that the infinitely small wedge-in lever from which this entire trend of mind received its impetus was the attitude toward the non-rehabilitable sick."

In 1985, Alexander remarked that America was becoming a mirror of Germany in that the "barriers to killing are coming down."

Here in Canada, the barriers against killing are also coming down. Since 1991, no less than five private member's bills have been introduced at the federal level, each wishing to legalize euthanasia and/or assisted suicide in Canada.

Francine Lalonde, MP for La Pointe-de- l'Ile, is the author of the two most recent attempts and has given notice to Parliament of her plans to introduce another bill regarding "the right to die with dignity."

Lalonde's last effort would have legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide for people suffering from chronic physical or mental pain; for people suffering from, but not limited to, terminal illness.

The proposed law was not limited to Canadian citizens, which could have made Canada the second most popular country for "suicide tourists."

Her bill did not even require that a person attempt to access effective treatment first, neither did it limit the option to "competent" patients -- leaving room for third-party assisted suicide consent. It actually appeared to allow euthanasia by someone other than a doctor.

These bills, including ones introduced at the Ontario provincial level addressing "natural death," show the subtle shift in attitude by medical professionals and the public regarding the non-rehabilitable sick.

In the Library of Parliament, Current Issue review 91-91E Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in Canada, it notes that in the past, the tolerance for suicide developed from a disdain for weakness, illness and the inability to contribute to society.

Is this happening again today?

The growing numbers of chronic diseases -- experienced as people live longer; the increasing costs of health care expense; the refusal to prosecute or convict; and the war cry of "choice" have all tempered our Canadian society into the belief that the cold-blooded murder of disabled or dying persons can actually be compassionate or merciful.

I know from personal experience with my mother that dignity is not upheld by abandonment of the vulnerable to those who would kill them, nor by hiding behind our own fear of disability, illness or death.

Neither is it upheld by denying our own prejudice toward those who communicate differently, whose methods of mobility is alien to us or whose body might be missing some fundamental elements we consider essential.

Dignity is never upheld when we forgo the sacrosanct nature of human life by accepting that there is life unworthy to be lived. We must know where this path will lead. The Nazi experiment showed us that misplaced compassion leads to merciless killing.

Human dignity requires our presence, our service and our commitment to walk with and lament the loss.

We hear the plea that begs us to help, to make sense of, relieve and share the suffering.

I pray that Canadians will reject Lalonde's latest "Parliamentary Act of Abandonment" and continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the dying, disabled and sick. In solidarity with them until the lament of life has come to completion.

Jakki Jeffs is a member of the Mercury's Community Editorial Board.

Link to the article in the Guelph Mercury:
http://news.guelphmercury.com/article/443885

Lodi woman facing assisted suicide charge

This case in California may be important but it is important to refrain from commenting further until information is available. If she assisted in the suicide of her brother, then she has broken the law. But until it can be proven, these issues should be left up to the prosecutor to decide whether enough evidence exists to proceed. Ir is interesting that she was also charged with causing a gross bodily injury.

It is important to note that she is receiving sympathy for possibly being involved with the death of a person with a disability

This is an edited version of the text from Keith Reid that was published in the Stockton Record on February 21, 2009.

A Lodi woman could serve up to six years in prison for allegedly assisting the suicide of her ill brother, a charge law experts say is extremely rare.

June Hartley, 42, appeared in San Joaquin County Superior Court on Friday, charged with helping her brother, James, 45, inhale enough helium to suffocate on Dec. 7.

Assisted suicide cases are a rarity in California and elsewhere, said University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law Professor Michael Vitello.

"The only headline case is that of Dr. Jack Kevorkian in Michigan who advertised it, taped it, and served time in jail as a martyr for those wanting to end their suffering," said Vitello, who has been teaching law for 32 years. "You might come across a handful of cases of assisted suicide charges, but it's literally very few across the country each year."

If convicted, June Hartley could serve up to three years on a count of assisted suicide and another three years on an enhanced charge that she caused gross bodily injury to her brother, Deputy District Attorney Sherri Adams said.

"The additional charge was made because of the nature of the crime, and because there was a death involved," said Adams, who also called the case the first she'd ever seen.

June Hartley's arraignment was continued to Feb. 27 because her attorney, Randy Thomas of Woodbridge, is on vacation and could not represent her. Attorney David Wellenbrock filled in for Thomas but declined to comment on behalf of Hartley and her family.

Prosecutors say James Hartley, a blues musician, was suicidal after he suffered a series of strokes in 2006 that caused him to lose much of his mobility, speech, eyesight and hearing. June Hartley became a suspect after she reported her brother's death to police on Dec. 8. Her brother's disabilities and lack of mobility prompted police to question how he came to obtain a helium tank and inhale the gas by himself.

"This is a tragic incident for all involved," said Adams. "There are two elderly parents that lost their son, and their daughter may now go to jail."

Judge Franklin M. Stephenson released Hartley on her own recognizance. Adams said she did not object because the Lodi resident and her attorneys have been very cooperative in their investigation.

"I don't think she's a flight risk," Adams said.

Link to the original article:
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090221/A_NEWS/902210325

Pope warns on New Eugenics

I have spent the last few days in Rome at the Pontifical Academy for Life Congress on Eugenics. These are some basic comments I have made about the Congress. A further report will be available later.

The Pontifical Academy for Life Congress focused on the problem of Eugenics. The Congress explored the historical reality of Eugenics and they delved into the New Eugenics that has become a common problem with relation to genetic screening, eugenic abortion - of all types, and eugenic attitudes towards people with disabilities that are leading to euthanasia and medical descrimination related to end-of-life care.

It is important to note that the Pontifical Academy for Life is attempting to examine how the New Eugenics are related to a specific negation of the nature of the human person as a being with true dignity. Equality and human dignity will only effectively be maintained when the human person is respected as a unique individual who is not judged by his/her utility, but rather for their innate nature as a human person.

When we judge the individual based on utilitarian ethics, we ignore the reality that each person is unique and deserving of respect.

My concerns are related to euthanasia, assisted suicide and end-of-life care and how the new eugenics is changing attitudes.

The Congress examined the growth of discrimination in relation to the care or lack of care that is often provided for newborns with disabilities. There appears to be a growing reality that newborns with disabilities are not treated with equality, even when their conditions can be effectively treated. This has led to the acceptance of the Groningen Protocol in the Netherlands that allows for the euthanasia of newborns with disabilities.

If we consider the growing attitude that is leading to the non-treatment of children with disabilities and the social shift towards euthanasia, it is clear that organizations that represent people with disabilities will need to refocus their efforts from primarily being concerned with life opportunities to becoming more concerned about the opportunity live.

Text of the article in Reuters concerning the Pope's speech to the Congress:

VATICAN CITY (Reuters)- Feb 21, 2009

(Writing by Deepa Babington; editing by Robert Woodward)

Pope Benedict said on Saturday there were worrying signs of a new type of eugenics based on perfection and physical beauty.

"Certainly, the eugenistic and racial ideologies that in the past humiliated man and provoked immense suffering are not being proposed again, but a new mentality is creeping in that tends to justify a different consideration of life and personal dignity," the pope said in a speech to the Pontifical Academy for Life.

"So it tends to privilege the capacity to operate, efficiency, perfection and physical beauty at the expense of other types of existence considered unworthy."

Eugenics is a belief in the possibility of improving the human race by weeding out those with what are considered undesirable traits and encouraging procreation by those with desirable traits.

The pope also spoke out against reducing humans to an object of "experimental manipulation" and allowing biotechnology to "surrender to the will of the strongest."

Pope Benedict has condemned genetic engineering and other scientific practices that allow people to select so-called "designer babies" by screening them for defects.

The Vatican considers pre-implantation diagnosis of embryos to avoid genetic defects or select for qualities like gender morally unacceptable. It is also against genetic enhancement for purposes other than medical treatment.

Link to the article on Reuters:
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE51K1KE20090221

Nursing home workers arrested in fatal druggings

By Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Another sad story about how people are abused when they are vulnerable. Elder abuse is a growing problem within society. Some people suggest that it has always been part of our society but it is now being uncovered or exposed. I personally think that there is proof that Elder Abuse is on the rise, not only in its instances but also in kind.

Elder abuse directly relates to the level of respect and dignity that society and the culture have for elderly people. Many elderly people become dependent. These people go from a respected place in society to becoming vulnerable and they need to be protected.

Within the context of euthanasia and assisted suicide, I am concerned about the most vulnerable in society which has led to my absolute opposition to legalizing these acts. The facts are clear, will we ever be able to protect the vulnerable elderly from having their lives taken against their consent?

NO - The safeguards in every jurisdiction are illusions at best.

When we consider the vulnerable nature of many of these people and we consider the cultural trend that has led to more elder abuse, I suggest that we reject assisted suicide and promote compassionate care. Care is what our culture should uphold, killing is what we should disdain.

This is the text of the article about an Elder Abuse case:

Story Created: Feb 18, 2009 - Story Updated: Feb 19, 2009

By BakersfieldNow.com Staff

Three high-level employees at Kern Valley Hospital District were arrested Wednesday for elder abuse and other charges.

The suspects worked for KVHD's skilled nursing facility in Lake Isabella and are accused of forcibly administering psychotropic drugs for staff convenience rather than the patients' medical needs.

Former director of nursing Gwen Hughes, former pharmacist Debbi Hayes and current staff physician Dr. Hoshang Pormir were arrested following a two-year investigation, according to a news release from California Attorney General Jerry Brown's office.

Eyewitness News broke the story about the investigation last June.

Medical complications, including lethargy and the inability to eat or drink properly, resulted from the forced medications, and three of the facility's residents may have died as a result, according to Brown's office.

Twenty-two patients were given high doses, and one surviving patient was greatly harmed, the investigation determined.

The patients who died were Mae Brinkley, 91; Joseph Shepter, 76; and Alexander Zaiko, 85.

Hughes, starting in 2006, allegedly ordered staff to give high doses of psychotropic medications to Alzheimer's and other dementia patients to make them more tranquil and easier to control. Hughes allegedly ordered the medications be given to patients who argued with her, made noise or were otherwise disruptive.

Brown's office alleges two patients were held down and forcibly given injections.

"We believe these people maliciously violated the trust of their patients by holding them down and forcibly administering psychotropic medications," said AG spokesman Scott Gerber.

KVHD CEO Rick Carter issued a statement in response to the arrests, saying his organization cooperated fully with the investigation and that the skilled nursing facility in Lake Isabella is operating in compliance with state health and safety standards.

All three suspects have been booked into Kern County Jail, and criminal charges have been filed in Kern County Superior Court. Hughes and Hayes were each charged with elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. Pormir was charged with elder abuse.

Link to the article:
http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/39805647.html

'Right to die' can become a 'duty to die'

The insightful Wesley Smith has directly connected euthanasia and assisted suicide to the Duty to Die. Wesley is always clear. People need to heed his warning.

Vulnerable people can be bullied into assisted suicide, believes Wesley Smith.

By Wesley Smith
Daily Telegraph - Feb 21, 2009

Imagine that you have lung cancer. It has been in remission, but tests show the cancer has returned and is likely to be terminal. Still, there is some hope. Chemotherapy could extend your life, if not save it. You ask to begin treatment. But you soon receive more devastating news. A letter from the government informs you that the cost of chemotherapy is deemed an unjustified expense for the limited extra time it would provide. However, the government is not without compassion. You are informed that whenever you are ready, it will gladly pay for your assisted suicide.

Think that's an alarmist scenario to scare you away from supporting "death with dignity"? Wrong. That is exactly what happened last year to two cancer patients in Oregon, where assisted suicide is legal.

Barbara Wagner had recurrent lung cancer and Randy Stroup had prostate cancer. Both were on Medicaid, the state's health insurance plan for the poor that, like some NHS services, is rationed. The state denied both treatment, but told them it would pay for their assisted suicide. "It dropped my chin to the floor," Stroup told the media. "[How could they] not pay for medication that would help my life, and yet offer to pay to end my life?" (Wagner eventually received free medication from the drug manufacturer. She has since died. The denial of chemotherapy to Stroup was reversed on appeal after his story hit the media.)

Despite Wagner and Stroup's cases, advocates continue to insist that Oregon proves assisted suicide can be legalised with no abuses. But the more one learns about the actual experience, the shakier such assurances become.

At a meeting in the House of Commons on Monday night hosted by the anti-euthanasia charity Alert and Labour MP Brian Iddon, I hope to bring home to MPs and the British public just how dangerous it would be to legalise euthanasia. The Oregon experiment shows how easily the "right to die" can become a "duty to die" for vulnerable and depressed people fearful of becoming a burden on the state or their relatives. I know that a powerful and emotive campaign is being waged in the UK media – using heart-rending cases such as multiple sclerosis sufferer Debbie Purdy – to inveigle Parliament into changing the law.

Miss Purdy, who lost in the Appeal Court on Thursday, wants to secure a legal guarantee that her husband would not be prosecuted if he accompanied her to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland – one of the few places where euthanasia is legal. Much as I sympathise with her plight, such a guarantee would lure us on to the slippery slope where the old and the sick come under pressure to end their lives.

A study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine last year, for example, found that doctors in Oregon write lethal prescriptions for patients who are not experiencing significant symptoms and that assisted suicide practice has had little do with any inability to alleviate pain – the fear of which is a chief selling point for legalisation.

The report said that family members described loved ones who pursue "physician-assisted death" as individuals for whom being in control is important, who anticipate the negative aspects of dying and who believe the impending loss of self and quality of life will be intolerable. They fear becoming a burden to others, yet want to die at home. Concerns about what may be experienced in the future were substantially more powerful reasons than what they experienced at that point in time.

When a scared and depressed patient asks for poison pills and their doctor's response is to pull out the lethal prescription pad, it confirms the patient's worst fears – that they are a burden, that they are less worth loving. Hospices are geared to address such concerns. But effective hospice care is undermined when a badly needed mental health intervention is easily avoided via a state-sanctioned, physician-prescribed overdose of lethal pills.

Do the guidelines protect depressed people in Oregon? Hardly. The law does not require treatment when depression is suspected, and very few terminal patients who ask for assisted suicide are referred for psychiatric consultations. In 2008 not one patient who received a lethal prescription was referred by the prescribing doctor for a mental health evaluation.

As palliative care physician Dr Kathleen Foley and psychiatrist Herbert Hendin, an expert on suicide prevention, wrote in a scathing exposé of Oregon assisted suicide, physicians are able to "assist in suicide without inquiring into the source of the medical, psychological, social and existential concerns that usually underlie requests … even though this type of inquiring produces the kind of discussion that often leads to relief for patients and makes assisted suicide seem unnecessary."

Oregon has become the model for how assisted suicide is supposed to work. But for those who dig beneath the sloganeering and feel-good propaganda, it becomes clear that legalising assisted suicide leads to abandonment, bad medical practice and a disregard for the importance of patients' lives.

Wesley Smith is a lawyer, associate director of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide and senior fellow at the Discovery Institute

Link to the article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/4736927/Right-to-die-can-become-a-duty-to-die.html

Death With Dignity Bills Should Not Be Fast-Tracked Through Hawaii Legislature

Dr. & Mrs. Joseph DiCostanzo, Jr. (M.D.) who live in Kailua, Hawaii - had an excellent letter published in the Hawaii Reporter concerned about the proposed bill to legalize assisted suicide in the state of Hawaii.

Link to the letter in the Hawaii Reporter:
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?3b9a87b9-40fb-448b-81f8-2d366487af76

This is what they stated:

The Democratic leadership of the Hawai‘i House of Representatives has just fast-tracked the so-called “Death with Dignity” bills, HB 587 and HB 806, re-assigning them from both the Health and Judiciary committees to just one, Judiciary. It seems Rep. Calvin Say and others are afraid of giving these bills the scrutiny they deserve by the medical community in Hawai‘i, which is largely opposed to physician-assisted suicide.

Physician-assisted suicide is an issue that intimately involves the medical community in addition to affecting the general public. Bypassing the health committee and not allowing this legislation to be considered for its merits, or lack thereof, by health experts shows ignorance, if not disrespect, for the healthcare community and people of the state of Hawai‘i.

Legalization of physician-assisted suicide irrevocably transforms the role of the physician-healer from one who preserves life to one who takes life. This will inevitably lead to a rapid deterioration of the physician-patient relationship and adversely affect the entire healthcare delivery system.

We know from observation of locations such as Oregon and the Netherlands that physician-assisted suicide leaves society’s most vulnerable—the poor, sick, elderly, and disabled populations—subject to abuse and coercion, regardless of the proposed safeguards.

Once the door to doctor-facilitated death is opened, there will be an expectation by some that certain segments of the population have a “duty to die” because they may be seen as “less useful” or “over-users of resources”.

This is the kind of thinking that leads to genocide, eugenics, and abuses of the worst kind. Please do not be party to ushering it into our state.

We need to take comments from physicians very seriously. To allow one person the legal right to directly and intentionally take another person's life will create a duty to die for many and will change the medical profession for ever.

Francine Lalonde to introduce bill to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada

Francine Lalonde

The other day I sent out an alert stating:

BQ MP Francine Lalonde gave notice on Thursday Feb. 11 that she will be introducing a Private Members Bill to legalize assisted suicide. Bills require at least 2 days notice before they are officially introduced.)

http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=2&DocId=3666245&File=11

February 11, 2009 — Ms. Lalonde (La Pointe-de-l'Île) — Bill entitled "An Act to amend the Criminal Code (right to die with dignity)".

I was quoted by Lifesite News in this way:

Alex Schadenberg

Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, commented to LifeSiteNews.com about Lalonde's most recent attempt, saying, "We are very concerned about the bill.

"Our primary concern," he said, "is that euthanasia and assisted suicide directly threatens the lives of the most vulnerable in society. We should not be focused on how to take the lives of the vulnerable but rather how we should be caring for them.

"To legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide represents the right of one person to take the life of another person. Our society should not be going there."

As soon as the bill is available we will publish a commentary on it.

Congress to examine modern eugenics.

Asianews.It is reporting about an upcoming Congress to be held in Rome - February 20 - 21, 2009 about modern eugenics, or as I usually call it - The New Eugenics. The Congress is entitled: The New Frontier of Genetics and the Risk of Eugenics.

I usually refer to Peter Singer, the Princeton University chair of bioethics, as the father of the New Eugenics, but it is possible that this new type of discrimination pre-dates Singer's philosophy.

Monsignor Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life was reported to state to the media today:

"No one can decide what is a “normal” life. Yet breakthroughs in genetics, as positive as they might be, are giving rise to the idea that “some people are less valuable than others”, because of the conditions in which they live, such as poverty or lack of education, or because of their physical state, for example people who are disabled, mentally ill, people in a 'vegetative state', or the elderly who suffer serious disease."

Eugenics, a word no one uses because of its association with experiments carried out by the Nazis, will be the subject for the Pontifical Academy for Life Congress.

Fisichella stated:

Genetic breakthroughs, resulting from technological progress, have effects on the diagnostic and therapeutic fields. But “the danger that genetics might drift [in the wrong direction] is not mere theoretical. Sadly it belongs to an outlook that is slowly but inexorably spreading.”

“Eugenics was once thought to be a thing of the past. Just mentioning the word still evokes horror. But as it is often the case, underlying dangers have been lost from sight as a result of a subtle linguistic formalism coupled with advertising backed by big economic interests. An outlook that can no longer recognise objective evil and formulate corresponding ethical views is the result. Thus, whilst the word eugenics has no place in democratic societies that in principle are respectful of human rights, the idea has for all intents and purpose found its way back into our consciousness without much angst.”

"eugenics today shows the “reassuring face of those who want to physically improve the human species.” Such practices “find expression in various scientific, biological, medical, social and political projects, all of them more or less interrelated. These projects require an ethical judgement, especially when it is sought to suggest that eugenic practices are being undertaken in the name of a 'normality' of life to offer to individuals, which still needs to be defined and requires undisputable ways to determine who can claim the power to establish the rules and purpose of a person’s ‘normal’ life. Whatever the case, such an outlook exists, however short-sighted it may be, and tends to view that some people as less valuable than others, either because of the conditions in which they live, such as poverty or lack of education, or because of their physical state, for example people who are disabled, mentally ill, people in a 'vegetative state', or the elderly who suffer serious disease.”

With reference to the Eluana Englaro case, Monsignor Fisichella stated:

"when it comes to people in “vegetative state” we must “distinguish between the medical act of inserting the tube” and the processes of “hydration and feeding which we view as therapies.” Since water and food “are basic elements in a person’s life, we believe they must be guaranteed” and cannot be considered “futile medical care”.

Mgr Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, the chancellor of the Pontifical Academy for Life, stated:

Eugenics “represents the main discriminatory use to which discoveries in genetic science can be put. This is what the congress wants to examine. Obviously, the main objective is to call people's attention to the considerable benefits we may obtain from genetic research if, as seems correct and appropriate, it attracts the efforts of researchers and public and private investments, while overcoming any temptation to follow the deceptive shortcuts presented by eugenics.”

Link to the article in asia news:
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=14504

P.S. My good friend, Dr. Mark Mostert, publishes a very insightful blog on eugenics, euthanasia and disability rights. He also has a website entitled: "Useless Eaters". He is worth checking out.

Cases like Eluana Englaro can have happy endings. Missionary Rejects Award in Protest of Italy's Euthanasia death - Eluana Englaro

Aldo Trento, an Italian missionary priest in Paraguay, is returning the honour he received from the Italian president, Giorgio Napolitano because he refused to protect the life of Eluana Englaro, the woman who was recently dehydrated to death in Italy.

Zenit is reporting that Trento told the Italian newspaper I1 Foglio:

"I have more than one case like Eluana Englaro."

He continued: "I think of little Victor, a child in a coma, who clenches his fists. All we do is feed him through a tube. Faced with these situations, how can I react to the case of Eluana?"

"Yesterday they brought me a girl who was naked, a prostitute, in a coma, who had been dumped in front of a hospital. Her name is Patricia and she is 19. We washed her. Yesterday she started to move her eyes."

"Celeste is 11; she suffers from a very grave form of leukemia; she was never taken care of and they brought her to me just to bury. Today she is walking. And she laughs."

"Cristina is a little girl who was left in a garbage dump, she is blind, deaf, she trembles when I kiss her, she lives with a feeding tube like Eluana. She does not respond except for the trembling but little by little she will regain her faculties."

"I am the godfather for many of these sick people. I'm not bothered by their decaying bodies. If you could see with what humility my doctors care for them."

Trento says that he feels "immense sorrow" for Englaro: "It is as if you were to say to me: 'We're going to take away your sick children now.'"

For the missionary, "man cannot be reduced to chemicals."

Link to the text of the Zenit article:
http://www.zenit.org:80/article-25110?l=english
In 2004 I attended the International Congress in Rome on Persistent Vegetative State. One of the interventions was by a physician in Italy who worked at an "Awakening Center".

There were two aspects to the awakening centers.
1. The people were treated in a dignified manner, like human beings,
2. The people in Vegetative State were given physio-therapy in a machine that stood them upright - on their feet - and exercised all parts of their body. They were having significant success in bringing people out of vegetative state.

I do not know whether these Awakening Centers have continued to improve the methods or not but I do know that the attitude was that certain types of brain injuries can be healed, or at least partially healed.

Finally, those who read the report that indicated the level of care Eluana was receiving, you could only conclude, why did her father want her dead? She was lovingly and incredibly cared for in a dignified and compassionate manner.

When reading the report my reaction was: Who could think that her life had no value?

Peter Fonteece ordered to undergo 30-day psychiatric assessment

The CKCO television news is reporting that Peter Fonteece was charged with counseling suicide. The Canadian law forbids aiding, abetting and counselling suicide. He was also charged with criminal negligence causing death.

Link to the CKCO television report:
http://southwesternontario.ctv.ca/news.php?id=3929

The following text is from the Canwest News Service

THUNDER BAY, Ont. — A Waterloo, Ont., man charged with assisted suicide was ordered Friday to undergo a 30-day psychiatric assessment.

Peter Bernard Fonteece, 46, appeared Friday morning in court in Thunder Bay, Ont. for a bail hearing, police said.

Fonteece has also been charged with criminal negligence causing death charged in connection with the death of his wife, whose body police found on Friday.

Yanisa Fonteece, 38, was found dead in a room at a Super 8 Motel in Thunder Bay, about 600 kilometres east of Winnipeg.

Peter Fonteece's next court date is scheduled for March 13.

Link to article from the canwest news service:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/charged+with+assisted+suicide+have+psychiatric+assessment/1287279/story.html

Second-International Symposium on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

Second-International Symposium on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide - Never Again.

Be part of the Strategy and learn how to stop the euthanasia lobby in America and world-wide.

The Second-International Symposium is designed to build an effective, unified and focused group of organizations and individuals to stop the euthanasia death lobby.

The Second-International Symposium is May 29 - 30, 2009 at the National Conference Center - 18980 Upper Belmont Pl. Landsdowne Virginia 20176, near the Washington DC - Dulles Airport.

The Co-Sponsors of the Symposium are:

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, Compassionate Health Care Network, (American groups - Not Dead Yet, Physicians for Compassionate Care, Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, Institute for the Study of Disability and Bioethics, Vermont Alliance for Ethical Health Care), (UK groups - ALERT, Care Not Killing Alliance, No Less Human).

The Speakers for the Symposium include:

Rita Marker, Wesley Smith, Diane Coleman, Stephen Drake, Dr. William Toffler, Dr Bob Orr, Dr Mark Mostert, Dr Ian Dowbiggin, Randy Richardson, Bobby Schindler, Eileen Geller, Margaret Dore, Elizabeth Wickham, Alison Davis, Dr Peter Saunders, Colin Harte, Lionel Roosemont, Nancy Valko, Alex Schadenberg.

The registration cost for the Symposium is $199 regular or $139 for a student or a person with a disability. Due to credit card costs, we prefer that you pay for your registration by check. You are able to register online by going to the International Symposium page at: www.epcc.ca

The room rate at the National Conference Center is: $139 regular room, $179 for a suite (plus all taxes). Online registration can be accessed online by finding the link at the registration section of our website at: www.epcc.ca

The registration and room rate includes the cost for all meals and refreshment breaks on May 29 - 30. The room rate will change at the Conference Center on days before or after the International Symposium.

At the First-International Symposium we were able to register many students, people with disabilities and others, who were unable to pay the registration fee. Once again, for those who are unable to attend the Symposium, but are willing to donate the cost of registration please send either $199 or $139 to the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. We have already had several requests for subsidy.

In order to operate the Symposium at a breakeven financial basis we are seeking groups and individuals who are willing to advertise in the Symposium booklet. Supporters will be acknowledged in the Symposium booklet based on the level of support. Supporter levels are Gold supporter - $500, Silver supporter - $250, Bronze supporter - $100.

A webpage dedicated to the Second-International Symposium can be accessed at: www.epcc.ca

The unified direction that will be unveiled at the Second-International Symposium requires the involvement of people everywhere, including you.

For more information contact the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition at:
Website: www.epcc.ca
Email: info@epcc.ca
Phone toll free: 1-877-439-3348