Modern medicine has advanced to the point where many people can be kept “alive” indefinitely by the use of machines that take over life-sustaining functions. Quantity over quality seems to be the rule.
The Hemlock Society of San Diego believes that people should have the right to end their lives when they have reached a point of unbearable suffering without any hope of recovery. To this end, we provide education about all end-of-life choices and support other organizations that share this goal.
Read more about the issues:
Citizens’ jury in England backs assisted dying for terminally ill September 13, 2024A citizens’ jury has overwhelmingly backed the legalisation of assisted dying for terminally ill people after hearing from experts over a period of eight weeks. Twenty out of 28 jurors based in England agreed the law should be changed, with seven disagreeing and one person saying they were undecided. The conclusions of the citizens’ jury were published with the ...
Euthanasia in India: An Overview July 31, 2024Euthanasia in the simplest sense involves intentionally ending a person’s life to relieve ongoing suffering such as suffering from an irrecoverable or an incurable state of being and is a complex and evolving issue in the Indian landscape. While death with dignity is not only a legal issue but simultaneously a cultural and spiritual issue ...
Report recommends Australia’s Northern Territories government legalize voluntary assisted dying, after months of consultation July 31, 2024A report into the development of voluntary assisted dying laws in the Northern Territory has recommended the government legalise the practice in line with other Australian jurisdictions. Released on Wednesday, the NT government-commissioned report summarised the findings of an independent panel of appointed experts following months of consultation across the territory. It made 22 recommendations, including that ...
Assisted suicide: Why South African euthanasia activist Dr. Sean Davison was arrested in the UK July 31, 2024Pippa Hudson of CapeTalk interviews Willem Landman, co-founder of Dignity South Africa. Dr. Sean Davison was detained in the United Kingdom in July of 2024 on charges of assisting suicide.
France to open debate on legalizing assisted suicide July 25, 2024French President Emmanuel Macron on July 23, 2024 announced a national debate on end-of-life options that will include exploring the possibility of legalizing assisted suicide. A 2016 French law provides that doctors can keep terminally ill patients sedated before death but stops short of allowing assisted suicide.Macron said in a written statement that a panel ...
He Helped a Woman End Her Own Life. Was It Manslaughter, or Mercy? July 9, 2024They checked into a motel room in upstate New York, with a gas canister and a plan to end her decades of physical pain. Read the full article on the New York Times’ website.
Vatican publishes ‘lexicon’ on end-of-life issues July 3, 2024The Pontifical Academy for Life released a new booklet to aid in the public debate on end-of-life issues. The booklet, published only in Italian July 2, offers clear definitions and the Catholic Church’s teaching on bioethics. The goal of the lexicon, Archbishop Paglia wrote, is to clear through “the jungle of intricate issues” and present ...
Dutch man facing sentencing in suicide powder case takes his own life July 3, 2024A 77-year-old Dutch man accused of illegally aiding suicide has ended his life days before he was to be sentenced, the public prosecution office has said. Prosecutors had called for a 2.5 year custodial sentence against Tom de M., with six months suspended, for selling a chemical compound known as “substance X” online. The unnamed ...
UK mother admits ending life of terminally ill son 41 years ago July 3, 2024A mother has admitted giving her terminally ill seven-year-old son a large dose of morphine to stop his suffering and “quietly end his life”. Antonya Cooper, from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, said her son Hamish had stage 4 cancer and was in “a lot of pain” before his death in 1981. Now facing a terminal diagnosis herself, ...
Staten Islander with ALS among those condemning N.Y. lawmakers for not passing Medical Aid in Dying Act: ‘I really needed it’ June 30, 2024It’s been just over three weeks since the New York state Legislature again failed to pass the Medical Aid in Dying Act, but the sting is still fresh for advocates of the proposed legislation. The act — which was first introduced in the state Senate in 2015 yet has failed to advance past the committee stage ...