Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.
The focus this time: Making it harder to get to the bottom of the legalized death business.
First, a little mood music:
Carrying on…
Bipartisanship is surprising in this day and age, but homicidal doctors can frighten both Republicans and Democrats.
“Assisted suicide legalization is bad medicine and even worse public policy. It abandons the sick, destroys human equality by creating a killable caste of people, and cheapens the intrinsic dignity of human life. Moreover, the supposed ‘strict safeguards’ are neither strict — for example, relying on doctor self-reporting — nor particularly protective. Besides, as soon as the law goes into place, the safeguards are quickly redefined as ‘obstacles’ to a good death and the process of loosening the law commences.
“These and other myriad problems have gotten the attention of Senators James Lankford (R., Okla.) and Tim Kaine (D., Va.), who along with two representative sent a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asking for oversight over the practice in the hospice context.”
Canada making euthanasia harder to get? In the province of Alberta, at least, it’s becoming harder.
“Canada has gone hog wild for euthanasia. But the pro-death tide may — may — be beginning to turn. The province of Alberta just passed a bill that significantly restricts eligibility for euthanasia (medical aid in dying, or MAID), soon to be signed into binding law.
“The biggest change in Bill 18 ends the eligibility of non-terminally-ill patients to be MAIDed (known as Track 2). Among the provisions of Bill 18 (“Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act”), as summarized by the government:
“‘Eligibility in Alberta to individuals 18 and over with capacity to make their own health care decisions whose natural death has been determined by a physician or nurse practitioner as being reasonably foreseeable, also known as Track 1 MAID, meaning that it is likely to happen within 12 months.’
“That’s still as loose as loose can be. Doctors can’t predict the time of death that precisely so far out but rely on probability statistics that do not reflect the patient’s unique circumstances.
“But a take-back is a take-back. Going forward, the non–terminally ill, people with disabilities, and others who do not have a terminal prognosis will no longer be eligible to be euthanized. That could save some lives.”
Scotland suprisingly isn’t too eager to start killing people.
“Members of the Scottish Parliament vote 69 to 57 against legalising assisted dying. One member abstained
“The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill had proposed that terminally-ill, mentally competent adults could seek medical help to end their lives
“During” an emotionally charged four hour debate, the bill’s proposer, Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, had urged MSPs to have the ‘voices of dying Scots at the front of their minds when they vote’
“Former Conservative MSP Jeremy Balfour said passing the bill would be “opening a Pandora’s Box” and that there can be “no meaningful protection” against coercion
“Last week MSPs voted to put a six-month or less prognosis requirement on people wanting an assisted death”
TTFN.
