There’s a report in the Montreal Gazette from last Thursday concerning proposals to legalise euthanasia. And, assuming that the report is accurate, some of the things being said about those proposals are painfully, painfully, painfully daft. Margaret Somerville’s objection to euthanasia seems to be that it is killing, and that killing remains morally wrong “even […]
Category: Life and Death
The Nobel Prize and the Holy See
Robert Edwrds was this week awarded a Nobel Prize for his pioneering work on IVF. It’s true, of course, that IVF made possible a range of procedures that generate important ethical questions – Arthur Caplan mentions some of them here (although the article in which he’s quoted is a little lightweight, and gives altogether too much […]
Brain Death, Decapitation and Good Arguments
One of the complaints that I’ve heard made about the JME is that its papers are too short: a word limit of only 3500 words means that arguments have to undergo a process of severe shrinkage to fit, and at least sometimes don’t survive. Sympathetic as I am to the complaint, I’m also aware that […]
Bless my cotton socks, I’m in the news…
Footage of the oral evidence given to the Scottish Parliamentary Committee investigating the End of Life Assistance Bill. Starring… um… me. […]
Killing Time – or Wasting It?
It was reported a couple of days ago that Ray Gosling was to face charges of wasting police time after having made certain statements on a TV programme about the death of a partner – statements that the police subsequently investigated and that led to his arrest for murder in February. The charge of wasting […]
The Pro-Life Car-Wreck
You need to have registered to read the BMA News, and that would seem to require BMA registration – which is a shame, because I heard a rumour of a rantable letter that appeared there in June. A reformed medic friend has been good enough to copy and paste it for me. The rumour’s true. […]
German Court Rules on Withdrawal of Treatment
German courts have today ruled that it is legal to withdraw lifesaving treatment with consent. According to Deutsche Welle, Germany’s highest criminal court has ruled that passive assisted suicide is legal if the patient has explicitly decreed his or her wish that treatment used to keep the patient alive should be terminated. “Turning off a […]
The Complexity of Non-Voluntary Euthanasia
Dr Howard Martin has been in the news recently for having told the Telegraph that he intentionally shortened the life of a number of his patients. On the face of it, his actions seem to be fairly straightforward, and to lend some kind of support to the fears of those who think that any easing […]
Assistance and Force: Different Things
Imagine a world in which egg sandwiches are illegal. Given that I really don’t like eggs and that I particularly hate the smell of them, I have no desire ever to eat one; this world is fine by me. However, I’m aware that some people might, on occasion, express a desire for egg sandwiches. Some might […]
Brazil Nuts?
Human Rights Watch is reporting that Brazil is in the process of formulating a law that will give “‘absolute priority’ to the rights of the fertilized ovum”. The proposed bill would require any act or omission that could in any way have a negative impact on a fertilized ovum to be considered illegal. The bill […]