Euthanasia: There is Always A “Next Step”

Euthanasia: There is Always A “Next Step” » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: Euthanasia is not just a lethal act, but a deadly ideological appetite–one that is never satiated. Once killing is unleashed as a solution to suffering, activists will always want more.

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Ventilator Alarms Linked to Patient Deaths

Ventilator Alarms Linked to Patient Deaths - ABC News: More than 100 people have died in the past six years as a result of problematic alarms on ventilators, which are designed to beep warnings to caregivers when something goes wrong with the machine or the patient’s breathing.

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When care is worth it, even when the end is death

You’ve probably heard that we spend a lot of money on patients who die. It’s true: about one-tenth of the money spent on direct care goes to people who die each year. Among Medicare patients, the figure is much higher, about one-quarter.

You may be shocked by those statistics. What health care system would squander so many dollars on patients who don’t benefit? Or maybe you’re saddened. No humane system would subject patients to painful interventions and procedures that serve no purpose.

The idea that we waste money on terminal patients has caught on; the simplicity of the conceit makes it appealing to policy makers. And the data to support it keep coming, because it is easy for researchers to measure how much is spent on patients before they die.

. . . [C]aring for the sick means caring for people who may die. Providing care means reducing the chance they may die — not eliminating it. . . . [T]he policy conceit that spending money on patients who die is a waste overlooks the core purpose of health care — to prevent or forestall illness, disability and death among patients at risk of those outcomes.

It also overlooks a key correlation in health care. When people get sicker, they need more intensive — and expensive — health care services. But when they get sicker, they are also more likely to die. When I met my patient, I took him to the intensive care unit, the second-most-expensive place per minute in any hospital. The other place he went, twice, was the operating room — the most expensive place.

Healthy people, who are unlikely to die, are also very unlikely to find themselves in those settings. Thank goodness. Thus, spending will always be concentrated on people who are the sickest. When one examines spending on patients who die, dollars will be concentrated there, too.

. . . The more nuanced reality is that some aggressive treatment delivers value and is appropriate, even though some patients who receive such care die; other treatment is too aggressive and should be curtailed no matter what the short-term outcome. . . . The important thing is that it’s not all of one and it’s not all of the other.

Today the medical profession lacks a shared understanding of which patients are which. That gap must be addressed. It will be an excruciating task, and it will be politically noxious. Someone will again accuse officials of forming death panels. But leaving the distinctions to individual doctors leads to inequities, harm to patients, distrust in medical care and lawsuits; ignoring the problem should not be an option, either. NY Times

Research reveals shifting attitudes towards euthanasia

Research reveals shifting attitudes towards euthanasia - The Irish Times - Thu, Dec 01, 2011: Anthony Ozimic of the UK’s Society for Protection of the Unborn Child said euthanasia was underpinned by a pessimism about the value of life and the ability of society to respond adequately to the sick and the vulnerable. More on the conference

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Liverpool pathway to death

It’s Clegg who is isolated in the face of Cameron’s refusal to be subservient to Merkel and Sarkozy - Telegraph: A letter to the editor relates how a family was told "that Mother had been placed on the 'care pathway of the dying' and that she would not be given any food or water but would have regular sedation. We asked if she could be transferred to a private ward to be more comfortable in her final hours. . . . Her physician confirmed she was indeed terminally ill and no medication would be appropriate, only care. To everyone’s surprise, she began to improve." Mom lived to see her 100th birthday!

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Euthanasia Prevention Coalition makes oral arguments in assisted suicide case.

ALEX SCHADENBERG: Euthanasia Prevention Coalition makes oral arguments in assisted suicide case.: The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is an Intervener in the Carter vs. Attorney General of Canada case that seeks to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada. On December 14, the EPC legal counsel, Hugh Scher, will present legal arguments before the BC court.

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Why People Are Atheists and Why We Suffer

Why People Are Atheists and Why the Answers in Genesis Ministry Is So Important—Part 1 | Dr. Georgia Purdom's Blog: Famed atheist PZ Myers has had a series of recent posts on his blogs written by people explaining why they became atheists. Today’s excerpts focus on the issue of death and suffering.

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Sign of things to come? Britain’s austerity budget threatens cherished National Health Service

Health Squeeze: Britain’s austerity budget threatens cherished National Health Service - The Washington Post: When David Evans needed a hernia operation, the 69-year-old farmer became so alarmed by the long wait that he used an ultrasound machine for pregnant sheep on himself, to make sure he wasn’t getting worse.

It was only after repeated calls from himself, his doctor and his local member of parliament that the hospital performed the surgery, nearly a year after it was first requested. Under government guidelines, he should have started getting treatment within 18 weeks.

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UK hospitals warned over 'do not resuscitate' orders

NHS hospitals warned over 'do not resuscitate' orders | Society | The Guardian: Hospitals have been ordered to improve the way they record their decisions on whether or not to resuscitate patients amid fresh evidence of a failure to create a proper dialogue about those decisions with patients and relatives.

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The Xinjiang Procedure: Organ "donations" from political prisoners in China

The Xinjiang Procedure | The Weekly Standard: With the acceleration of Chinese medical expertise over the last decade, organs once considered scraps no longer went to waste. It wasn’t public knowledge exactly, but Chinese medical schools taught that many otherwise wicked criminals volunteered their organs as a final penance.

Right after the first shots the van door was thrust open and two men with white surgical coats thrown over their uniforms carried a body in, the head and feet still twitching slightly. The young doctor noted that the wound was on the right side of the chest as he had expected. When body #3 was laid down, he went to work.

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Massachusetts Medical Society Reaffirms Opposition to Physician-Assisted Suicide

Massachusetts Medical Society | MMS Physicians Reaffirm Opposition to Physician-Assisted Suicide: The Massachusetts Medical Society, the statewide association of physicians with more than 23,000 members, today voted to reaffirm its opposition to physician-assisted suicide, with its House of Delegates voting by a wide margin to maintain a policy the Society has had in effect since 1996.

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Don’t weaken euthanasia law based on rare cases, says doctor

Don’t weaken euthanasia law based on rare cases, says doctor | News | The Christian Institute: Tony Nicklinson, 57, suffers from ‘locked-in syndrome’ and wants a doctor to end his life. He is paralysed from the neck down after having a stroke in 2005.

But Dr Peter Saunders of the Care Not Killing alliance warns against weakening the law because it would endanger the lives of some of the nation’s most vulnerable members. He said we “need to realise that cases like Nicklinson’s are extremely rare and that hard cases make bad law. The overwhelming majority of people with severe disability – even with ‘locked-in syndrome’ – do not wish to die but rather want support to live."

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Mother, nurses charged in teen's death

Mother, nurses charged in teen's death: Makayla Norman was just 14-years-old when she died in March. At the time she was just 28 pounds. The coroner said malnutrition played a big factor in Makayla's death. She suffered from cerebal palsy and required constant care, which investigators said she did not get.

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Guardianship Attorney Indicted for Bilking $800,000 from Incapacitated Wards

Guardianship Attorney Indicted for Bilking $800,000 from Incapacitated Wards: A forensic examination revealed that more than $800,000 of proceeds belonging to Kenneally’s wards was diverted into orthrough the personal bank accounts of Tara Howie, a former paralegal of Kenneally’s guardianship practice.

Kenneally repeatedly overpaid bills on behalf of her wards, causing the issuance of refund checks that were ultimately diverted. To further conceal the theft scheme, mandatory accountings filed by Kenneally failed to disclose the existence of checks that were ultimately deposited into Howie’s personal accounts.

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Why do they look the other way?

Why do they look the other way? : Reader's Forum - Tampa Bay Newspapers: "This past Friday we did a wellness check on a member (as she had missed our meeting and dine out), only to find that she had mail in the box for a few days. I got no response from pounding on the door so we called 911. The police then found her inside and she had passed away a few days earlier.

"What does this say about our society? That we cannot look after our neighbors? Are we in such a rush that we do not notice anything anymore? How sad this is that a wonderful woman died this week at home alone."

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Desperate mom wins fight for son's care

Desperate mom wins fight for son's care | The Clarion-Ledger | clarionledger.com: After lying in a hospital bed for nearly two years with a severe brain injury, Mike Barnes of Mount Olive is finally receiving the rehabilitative care his mother fought for.

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Euthanasia Is Heroin

Euthanasia Is Heroin » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: Wesley Smith once called euthanasia, “heroin.” "My point was – and is – that once a culture starts mainlining mercy killing, it will always wants more. And now a Dutch euthanasia advocacy groups wants to create mobile euthanasia clinics."

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Joni: Lessons from cancer

"Never should we think we suffer for nothing, suffer alone."

New prenatal blood test developed in Grand Rapids

Risk of Down syndrome prompts couple to seek out new prenatal blood test developed in Grand Rapids | MLive.com: The new prenatal blood test for Down syndrome was developed by the Center for Molecular Medicine, a Grand Rapids-based subsidiary of biotechnology company Sequenom Inc. It was released in October in about 20 U.S. cities and will be made available nationwide after Jan. 1.

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Does the slippery slope to euthanasia make sense?

Does the slippery slope to euthanasia make sense? | NRL News Today: An argument is not like a bus where you can get off at any stop you, once you have accepted the premises you have to follow it to the end of the line. If voluntary euthanasia were accepted as a legitimate form of medical assistance in dying, then it would also be acceptable for noncompetent patients. An advocate of legalizing voluntary active euthanasia either must bite the bullet and also accept non-voluntary active euthanasia or must concede that if non-voluntary active euthanasia is regarded as too dangerous or unpalatable, then this is a valid and cogent reason for rejecting voluntary active euthanasia as well.

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Massachusetts Docs Reaffirms Opposition to Doctor-Prescribed Death

Massachusetts Medical Society’s House of Delegates Overwhelmingly Reaffirms Opposition to Doctor-Prescribed Death | NRL News Today: Over the weekend, the Massachusetts Medical Society’s House of Delegates voted overwhelmingly to retain the Society’s long-standing opposition to physician assisted suicide. The final tally was 178 to 56.

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Alzheimer's damage reversed by deep brain stimulation

Alzheimer's damage reversed by deep brain stimulation - health - 23 November 2011 - New Scientist: Brain shrinkage in people with Alzheimer's disease can be reversed in some cases - by jolting the degenerating tissue with electrical impulses. Moreover, doing so reduces the cognitive decline associated with the disease.

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How practices can make room for mobility

amednews: How practices can make room for mobility :: Nov. 28, 2011 ... American Medical News: More than 40 million Americans have a disability, and about 24% of them use mobility aids. Experts offer tips to improve care for these patients.

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Canada Revisits Old Debate On Assisted Suicide

Canada Revisits Old Debate On Assisted Suicide | Fox News: Confined to a wheelchair, in constant pain and unable to bathe without help, a 63-year-old grandmother has forced the issue of assisted suicide into Canadian courts for the third time in two decades.

Gloria Taylor has Lou Gehrig's disease, a rapidly progressive, invariably fatal neurological affliction. "It is my life and my body and it should be my choice as to when and how I die," she said before going to the British Columbia Supreme Court last Thursday to challenge Canada's ban on assisted suicide, a crime carrying a sentence of up to 14 years in prison.

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Championing good health for people with disabilities

Championing good health for people with disabilities : The Lancet: Dec 3, 2011, marks the International Day of Persons with Disabilities—a time to celebrate the diversity and contribution that people with disabilities make to society and to draw attention to their unmet needs.

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Pro-death group: "careful dying assistance in cases of completed life"

The self-chosen death of the elderly: "The purpose of this document is to describe the public debate in the Netherlands and to summarize the proposals for careful dying assistance in cases of completed life."

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Basic human rights of older people are abused in home care

Basic human rights of older people are abused in home care | BMJ: A highly critical report from a year long inquiry into the home care system in England has found evidence of “serious, systemic threats to the basic human rights of older people” who receive home care services.

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Hungarian police investigate 70 suspicious hospital deaths

Hungarian police investigate 70 suspicious hospital deaths - Telegraph: Hungarian police are investigating 70 suspicious deaths at a Budapest hospital following claims that patients were given lethal drug overdoses.

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NHS must come clean over use of 'death pathway'

NHS must come clean over use of 'death pathway' - Telegraph: A leading doctor has called for the [UK] NHS to reveal the true extent of the use of the controversial 'death pathway' after a report found up to half of families are not informed of its use.

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Tony Nicklinson deserves sympathy but hard cases make bad law

Tony Nicklinson deserves sympathy but hard cases make bad law | NRL News Today: Tony Nicklinson, 57, is paralysed from the neck down after suffering a stroke in 2005. He cannot speak or move anything except his head and eyes and communicates through nodding his head at letters on a perspex board or by using a computer which responds to eye movements.

The Melksham man sums up his life as ‘dull, miserable, demeaning, undignified and intolerable.’ His lawyers want a doctor actively ending his life to have a ‘common law defence of necessity’ against any possible murder charge.

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Majority of Irish medical students back euthanasia

Survey finds majority of Irish medical students back euthanasia | Irish News | IrishCentral: Irish society is moving towards an acceptance of euthanasia if a new survey of medical students is a barometer of national opinion. Almost 60 percent of those who took part in the research project were in favour of euthanasia, currently banned in Ireland.

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Grim reaper on wheels

Grim reaper on wheels: Dutch right-to-die group wants ‘mobile euthanasia teams’ | LifeSiteNews.com: The Dutch euthanasia advocacy group, “The Right To Die” (NVVE), is proposing a plan where “mobile teams of doctors and nurses … can help people to die in their own homes,” according to DutchNews.nl.

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And we wonder why medical costs are so high!?!

U.S. medical 'trash' saving lives abroad - CNN.com: Doctors will often prepare for surgical procedures by opening instrument and supply kits that contain up to 100 items. Many of these items, such as scalpels, needles or sponges, go unused; they're just not needed for that particular procedure. But because of government or hospital regulations in the United States, they are frequently thrown away, even when they are still wrapped.

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Do We Really Spend More and Get Less?

Do We Really Spend More and Get Less? | John Goodman's Health Policy Blog | NCPA.org: The conventional wisdom in health policy is that the United States spends far more than any other country and enjoys mediocre health outcomes. This judgment is repeated so often and so forcefully that you will almost never see it questioned. And yet it may not be true.

Indeed, the reverse may be true. We may be spending less and getting more.

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What Do You Think ‘Caused’ Your MS?

What Do You Think ‘Caused’ Your MS? - Multiple Sclerosis Blog: “Isn’t there a cure?” “You take drugs to help that?” “Does MS run in your family?” “Didn’t I just hear about a new MS treatment or drug on the news?” “What are your symptoms?” “What causes MS?”

These questions may have something to do with fear because MS is a disease of which so much is known yet so little is understood.

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Down syndrome: Attack the disease, not the babies

I am writing this column -- to try to persuade as many as I can to not easily accept the common treatment of Down syndrome and condemn those diagnosed with it to death. How hopeful am I? I am not brimming with optimism. . . . I now call upon Dr. Jerome Lejeune, discoverer of trisomy 21, the defective chromosome in Down syndrome. In The Lancet, one of the leading medical magazines in the world, he wrote on Jan. 5, 1980:

"The whole history of medicine is at hand to answer any … death-doctor. Those who delivered humanity from plague and rabies were not those who burned the plague-stricken alive in their houses or suffocated rabid patients between mattresses. … Victory against Down syndrome -- curing children of the ill-effect of their genetic overdose -- may not be too far off, if only the disease is attacked, not the babies." Nat Hentoff

Help with depression, not suicide

Help with depression, not suicide: An Oregon doctor writes about a 76 year-old patient with cancer -- "I referred him to an cancer specialist for evaluation and therapy. He was an avid hiker and as he went through his therapy, he became less able to do this activity and became depressed. . ..

"He expressed a wish for assisted-suicide to the cancer specialist, but rather than taking the time and effort to address his depression, or to contact me as his primary physician and as someone who knew him, she asked me to be the second opinion for his suicide. I told her that I did not concur and that addressing his depression would be better than simply giving him a lethal prescription. Unfortunately, two weeks later my patient was dead from an overdose prescribed by this doctor.

"In most jurisdictions, suicidal ideation is interpreted as a cry for help. In Oregon, the only help my patient got was a lethal prescription intended to kill him."

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Even Barney Frank Distrusts Death Panels

Liberal Barney Frank Even Hates Death Panels: The Daily Caller reported today that Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) now favors repealing the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a death panel-like operation of unelected bureaucrats tasked with allocating limited resources to Medicare patients.

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Doctors in the UK who provide medical reports for patients seeking assisted suicide abroad could be prosecuted

Christian Medical Comment: MDU warns that doctors who provide medical reports for patients seeking assisted suicide abroad could be prosecuted: The Medical Defence Union Journal has published a case study to emphasise the point that doctors who supply medical records to patients who are intending to commit suicide could well be prosecuted.

The article lists 16 criteria which make prosecution more likely in any case of assisted suicide. One of these is that ‘the suspect was acting in his or her capacity as a medical doctor, nurse, other healthcare professional, a professional carer [whether for payment or not], or as a person in authority, such as a prison officer, and the victim was in his or her care’

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Read the latest from Caring Right at Home

• Holiday Gifts for People With Alzheimer's Disease and Family Caregivers
• Keeping Seniors Safe During Winter
• Financial Planning Tips for Working Caregivers

As more people donate a kidney, a push to better track how donors fare long-term

HEALTHBEAT: As more people donate a kidney, a push to better track how donors fare long-term - The Washington Post: Specialists insist the surgery rarely brings serious complications for the donor. What’s less certain is the risk of any long-term health consequences, in part because transplant centers can lose track of donors after they go home.

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Heart patients prefer longevity over quality of life

Heart patients prefer longevity over quality of life - TODAY Health - TODAY.com: When an elderly person's chronic disease is impossible to cure, many doctors might assume that patient would chose to improve the quality of his or her remaining life rather than to extend it as is. Those doctors would be mistaken most of the time, according to a new study.

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The Eyeless “I” of Assisted Suicide

The Eyeless “I” of Assisted Suicide, Fighting it in Canada | LifeNews.com: As the 17th Century poet and divine, John Donne wrote “No man is an island entire unto itself. Every man is a part of the continent, a part of the main. … any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” Only independence and autonomy — the eyeless “I” — sees self and self alone. Interdependence and the interconnectedness of community call for consideration for others — especially the weakest. I do not have a right to ask or demand something that may hurt others.

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Help with Hard Questions

Help with Hard Questions - The Hastings Center: The Hastings Center’s Help with Hard Questions series is designed to help you think through bioethical problems raised by advances in medicine and technology in a way that leads you to solutions that are consistent with your values.

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In Emergency Rooms, Less Pain Medication for the Elderly

In Emergency Rooms, Less Pain Medication for the Elderly - NYTimes.com: A seven-year nationwide study of emergency room patient data has found that 49 percent of patients over age 75 were given pain medication, compared with slightly more than 65 percent of those under age 75.

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Washington State lawyer suggests expanding euthanasia/assisted suicide to those not terminally ill

Washington State lawyer suggests expanding euthanasia/assisted suicide to those not terminally ill | LifeSiteNews.com: Currently Washington’s law allows doctors to prescribe lethal medication upon request to a competent, terminally ill patient, but Olympia attorney Brian Faller wants it to include people who are not terminally ill, and those not mentally or physically able to request life-ending medication.

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DIY euthanasia workshop allowed in Edinburgh

DIY euthanasia workshop allowed in Edinburgh - SCO News: Dr Philip Nitschke, from Australia, shared his controversial advice with an audience in Edinburgh as part of his UK tour instructing people on the ways in which they can end their lives in a ‘peaceful and reliable way.’

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A World Without People With Down Syndrome? At What Price?

A World Without People With Down Syndrome? At What Price? | LifeNews.com: Down has non-hereditary factors which ensure that the disease itself would survive, leaving the wholesale aborting to be repeated in every generation in the name of eradicating Down Syndrome. In the end, we wouldn’t be wiping out the disease, just killing the patients early enough that we can fool ourselves into believing they were never here.

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Line between acts and omissions blurred, euthanasia critics argue

CMAJ: Line between acts and omissions blurred, euthanasia critics argue: Decriminalization of assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia is an unethical alternative to redressing current deficiencies in palliative care in Canada, physicians, ethicists and patient advocates argue.

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Canada Indecisive on Euthanasia

Canada Indecisive on Euthanasia | French Tribune: The word `euthanasia' has led to huge controversy all over the world. But, it seems like in Canada the situation is quite adverse as at the one side, the preachers of euthanasia are saying that it should be conducted under the supervision of doctors. However, on the other side, the politicians are of the view that if the practice is given a boost in the country then it will lead to decline of social values.

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Rationing Proponent Donald Berwick Announces Resignation

Rationing Proponent Donald Berwick Announces Resignation | NRL News Today: After running into enormous resistance President Obama made Berwick, a Harvard professor, a recess appointment, fully aware that Republicans were solidly against a man whose infatuation with the British health system and rationing made him anathema. And since Berwick was never confirmed, his temporary appointment would have expired December 31.

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Down's darling of the modeling world

The camera just loves little Taya Kennedy. Wide-eyed, cheeky, engaged; she brims with the confidence of a natural performer. It is little wonder that she has taken the child-modelling world by storm. The fact that 14-month-old Taya also has Down’s Syndrome is quite incidental. She was selected, not to fulfill a quota, tick a box or adhere to the dictums of some politically-correct code of positive discrimination. Taya was picked because, quite simply, she is a star. ‘Taya is an incredibly photogenic, warm and smiley child, and that shines through in her photographs,’ says Alysia Lewis, owner of Urban Angels, the prestigious UK model agency that has signed her up. DailyMail

Related: Sarah Palin thankful for Trig

Schiavo's Legacy: The Value of Life in a Nation That Cheapens It

Schiavo's Legacy: The Value of Life in a Nation That Cheapens It - Page 1 - Alan Sears - Townhall Conservative: Terri Schiavo would have been 48 this December 3 … not a major mile-marker among we, the living, but a cause for reflection for those who loved her, and for all those who fought so valiantly to save her, in those terrible years and months and days before she was starved to death, by court order, in March, 2005.

A cause for reflection because, as so many observed and warned us at the time, her death – court mandated, despite the express wishes of her parents and siblings and the best efforts of the President and Congress of the United States – marked a crucial turning point in our nation’s cultural attitude toward life.

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Murder or mercy? Euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada

Global Montreal | Murder or mercy? Euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada: An expert panel is urging the federal government to decriminalize euthanasia and assisted suicide.

The report says assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia should be legal for competent individuals who make a free and informed decision that their life is no longer worth living.

The Royal Society of Canada's expert panel says if Ottawa won't co-operate, the provinces should go it alone by making clear they won't prosecute health-care professionals involved in assisted dying.

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End-of-life documents not a huge concern for many boomers

End-of-life documents not a huge concern for many boomers, who say they still feel young - The Washington Post: Many baby boomers don’t have end-of-life legal documents such as a living will — and some say it’s because they feel healthy and young in their middle-age years and don’t need to dwell on death.

Editor: Rather than a living will, consider our Protective Medical Decisions Declaration.

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The 8-percenters

It is all the rage right now to declare oneself a member of some percentage of something. Here’s ours: 92% of babies with Down Syndrome whose parents learn of the condition during pregnancy are aborted. More specifically, 6,000 babies with Down Syndrome are born each year, while 69,000 are aborted simply because they’re not “normal.” Our son Josh is part of the other 8%. . . .

Monica and David Martinez are a married couple who both have Down Syndrome. Monica responded to the news about the development of the new blood screening test and its terrible consequences by posting the following on her Facebook page:

Yesterday I posted an article which declared “the end of Down syndrome”. Many of you replied with hurt and anger, but I encourage you to use this as motivation to move things forward. The more we encourage our cousins, sons, daughters and family members/friends with Down syndrome or other disabilities to live, work and love out in the community, the more the world begins to see what we see every day…just how amazingly ordinary a person with a disability can be.

Thank God that Monica Martinez was part of the other 8%. Bearing Drift

Dutch group proposes `mobile' euthanasia teams

Dutch group proposes `mobile' euthanasia teams - Boston.com: The main Dutch euthanasia advocacy group says it supports creating "mobile" euthanasia teams of doctors for terminally ill patients who want to die in their own homes, rather than in a hospital.

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Down Syndrome - Eugenics

Jane Roe #15,938,000: Down Syndrome - Eugenics: "If our Doctors think that killing a patient with a health issue, is a way of resolving the health issue, then we have some big problems in health care in our country."

Here's the USA Today opinion article she referred to, highlighting the disconnect:

Our society has historically allowed its people to become the final arbiters about their identities: African Americans asserted inherent dignities during the civil rights movement in the 1950s and '60s; women showcased their personal value during the women's suffrage movement at the beginning of the 20th century; the Jewish people rebuilt and reclaimed identities after the Holocaust; and gays and lesbians are claiming pride through their own civil rights movement of this century. Now, people with Down syndrome — and their families — have joined the debate about their own condition. Like groups before them, their self-descriptions stand in contrast to the ways in which others might describe them. 

Lives worth living
Athletes such as Patrick Myshrall of St. Peter-Marian High School in Worcester, Mass., are scoring touchdowns. Employees like Louis Sciuto of North Andover, Mass., are among the best workers at Target. Adults like Margaret Muller of Santa Monica, Calif., are living meaningfully, with assistance, in their own homes. No longer are people with Down syndrome "poor things," "sweet souls" or "retarded citizens." Instead, they and their families have claimed fulfilling lives, rich with "typical" life experiences. And, yes, according to our same research, even those parents whose children with Down syndrome have more complex medical needs report the same feelings of reward and joy. 

I care deeply that patients receive accurate, up-to-date, balanced information so they can make informed decisions. Yet, as a physician, I am not in the business of telling expectant couples what pregnancy decisions they should be making when their fetus has Down syndrome. That is their decision.

Yes, if it's a civil rights issue, then no one should be talking about killing them.

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The Fix Was In On Canadian Euthanasia Panel

I Told You The Fix Was In On Canadian Euthanasia Panel » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: Commissions can be created to obtain a specific result, as this one was and did.

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End-of-life surgery may not reflect seniors’ needs, study finds

End-of-life surgery may not reflect seniors’ needs, study finds | The Salt Lake Tribune: The odds of elderly Americans having surgery in their last year of life may have more to do with their age and where they live than whether they want or need the procedures, a study found. Almost one-third of the 1.8 million Medicare recipients who were at least 65 years old and died in 2008 had surgery in the year before their deaths, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health reported in a study published online today in the medical journal The Lancet. Many of the procedures probably failed to improve dying patients’ lives.

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Elderly patients condemned to early death by secret use of do not resuscitate orders

Elderly patients condemned to early death by secret use of do not resuscitate orders - Telegraph: The orders – which record an advance decision that a patient's life should not be saved if their heart stops – are routinely being applied without the knowledge of the patient or their relatives. On one ward, one-third of DNR orders were issued without consultation with the patient or their family, according to the NHS's [UK] own records. At another hospital, junior doctors freely admitted that the forms were filled out by medical teams without the involvement of patients or relatives.

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Shades of Schiavo: euthanasia case of girl nagging at Mitt Romney

Shades of Schiavo: euthanasia case of girl nagging at Mitt Romney | Naked Politics: On the day Mitt Romney announced the support of social conservatives, the Republican blogosphere buzzed with reports about how a state agency under the former Massachusetts governor tried to pull the plug on a brain-damaged girl who ultimately came out of a coma. The report about Haleigh Poutre surfaced on The Shark Tank blog in a sign that some conservatives – and especially social-conservatives – aren’t comfortable with the Republican frontrunner.

Romney said little about the case at the time, according to news reports. “Gov. Mitt Romney,” The Boston Globe wrote in 2006, “wouldn't directly respond to a question about his stance on the right to die in general, saying in a statement: 'At the present time, my concern is with this young girl and her current status. In light of reported improvements in her medical condition, it should be clear to everyone that no action should be taken to end this girl's life.' "

In a written statement, Romney's campaign says he didn't just stand quietly by: "Gov. Romney criticized the state's handling of the case, ordered an investigation and put in place safeguards to prevent it from happening again. His actions speak for themselves."

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New Consciousness Test Won’t Stop Dehydrations Without a Change in Values

New Consciousness Test Won’t Stop Dehydrations Without a Change in Values | NRL News Today: The criteria [for PVS] should change. We should also change the name of the diagnosis to “persistent unconscious state,” rather than “vegetative state.” None of us is a carrot or turnip. Calling someone vegetative or the dreaded V-word–-which should join the N-word [and the R-word] as an unutterable–-demeans, diminishes, dehumanizes, and degrades the moral value of the patient.

We’ve known for years that PVS is often misdiagnosed, but don’t expect learning that a patient is conscious to lead many bioethicists to advocate against their dehydration.

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Dutch Jews and Muslims fight for circumcision right

BBC News - Dutch Jews and Muslims fight for circumcision right: Dutch docs want to discourage circumcision, saying men should have a right to decide. But they'll euthanize dementia patients without their consent: VKNL.

Why we should be afraid of assisted suicide

Why we should be afraid of assisted suicide: Legalizing this practice would be a recipe for elder abuse. Legalization would also empower the Canadian health-care system to the detriment of individual patient rights.

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AIDS hospice report

Farran family with 2 patients (images used with their permission)

Kyle and Heather Farran report about the Calvary Care Home in Richards Bay, South Africa: "As an amazing testimony to God’s grace and provision our first patient was admitted November 1st. Indeed, He 'is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think,' and we echo the words of Paul: 'to him be glory!' (Eph. 3:20-21).

"God has answered your many prayers by blessing us with wonderful caregivers that love the Lord. Heather trained caregivers for two weeks in patient care and I went over the Zulu Bible teaching material that we use (numerous times we have arrived to find the caregivers going through the material with the patients). Patti Buvia, who arrived in September, has been a much needed help in overseeing caregivers during the start-up process.

"It is exciting to see the patients receiving the love and care that they so desperately need. Most importantly, they are being taught the life giving message of the gospel. Each day I am teaching chronologically through the Bible, highlighting man’s need for a Savior and showing the necessity of repentance and faith in Christ. What a joy today to hear both women express that they understand the gospel and have faith in Christ!"

Speaking out against Dr Philip Nitschke, suicide promoter

John Smeaton, SPUC director: SPUC Pro-Life is speaking out against Dr Philip Nitschke, suicide promoter: Starting tomorrow, Dr Philip Nitschke, president of Exit International, is touring the UK. He will lead public meetings and seminars, focused on advising people how they can commit suicide using a wide range of methods. SPUC Pro-Life has contacted the venues where "Dr Death" is due to appear to urge them to cancel his appearances.

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Physician-assisted suicide is not legal in Montana

ALEX SCHADENBERG: Physician-assisted suicide is not legal in Montana: In Montana, the law on assisted suicide is governed by the Montana Supreme Court decision, Baxter v. State, 354 Mont. 234 (2009). Baxter gives doctors who assist a patient’s suicide a potential defense to criminal prosecution. Baxter does not legalize assisted suicide by giving doctors or anyone else immunity from criminal and civil liability. Under Baxter, a doctor cannot be assured that a suicide will qualify for the defense. Some assisted suicide proponents nonetheless claim that Baxter has legalized assisted suicide in Montana.

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Bedside detection of awareness in the vegetative state

Bedside detection of awareness in the vegetative state: a cohort study : The Lancet: Despite rigorous clinical assessment, many patients in the vegetative state are misdiagnosed. The EEG method developed by resesarchers is cheap, portable, widely available, and objective. It could allow the widespread use of this bedside technique for the rediagnosis of patients who behaviourally seem to be entirely vegetative, but who might have residual cognitive function and conscious awareness.

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First euthanasia in Netherlands of severe Alzheimer’s patient performed

First euthanasia in Netherlands of severe Alzheimer’s patient performed | News | National Post: A woman with advanced Alzheimer’s disease has been euthanized in the Netherlands, a first in a country that requires patients to be fully mentally alert to request to die, activists said Wednesday.

The 64-year-old woman died in March after being sick “for a very long time,” said a spokesman for the Right to Die-NL group. She had insisted “for several years” that she wanted to be euthanized, added spokesman Walburg de Jong.

Comment by Wesley J. Smith: "Doctors have been euthanizing patients who never asked to be killed almost from the inception of the country’s euthanasia license, and nothing meaningful is done about it."

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New technique spots patients misdiagnosed as being in ‘vegetative state’

New technique spots patients misdiagnosed as being in ‘vegetative state’ - The Washington Post: As many as 20,000 Americans are in a vegetative state, meaning they are alive and awake but without any apparent sense of awareness, and 100,000 to 300,000 are in a related condition known as a minimally conscious state, in which they exhibit impaired or intermittent awareness. A growing body of evidence in recent years has indicated that a significant proportion might have more awareness than had been thought.

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Rise eMagazine

Rise eMagazine: Latest issue of this magazine for and about the achievements of individuals with Down syndrome.

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Incompatible with life?

Incompatible with life? | LifeSiteNews.com: "Thank God my daughter, Emily, rejected any prenatal testing with her son Max, who is a beautiful 20-year-old autistic young man. If the government and insurers don’t want to pay to help families raise children with severe medical needs, who will? Will churches stand in the gap by helping to provide for these families emotionally and financially?"

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Religious, Spiritual Support Benefits Men and Women Facing Chronic Illness

MU News Bureau | MU News Bureau: Individuals who practice religion and spirituality report better physical and mental health than those who do not. To better understand this relationship and how spirituality/religion can be used for coping with significant health issues, University of Missouri researchers are examining what aspects of religion are most beneficial and for what populations. Now, MU health psychology researchers have found that religious and spiritual support improves health outcomes for both men and women who face chronic health conditions.

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Shameful State Care of Developmentally Disabled

Shameful State Care of Developmentally Disabled » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: In New York, it is unusually common for developmentally disabled people in state care to die for reasons other than natural causes. One in six of all deaths in state and privately run homes, or more than 1,200 in the past decade, have been attributed to either unnatural or unknown causes, according to data obtained by The New York Times that has never been released. The figure is more like one in 25 in Connecticut and Massachusetts, which are among the few states that release such data. What’s more, New York has made little effort to track or thoroughly investigate the deaths to look for troubling trends, resulting in the same kinds of errors and preventable deaths, over and over. . . .

“These deaths are marginalized because these sort of people are not valued by society,” Patricia Taylor said.When she was in the fourth grade, she dreamed of taking her brother and running away with him, protecting him. She finds it hard to accept that no one was able to protect him after he grew up.“I believe that God put these people here for a purpose, because if we didn’t have them to look after, we would lose our humanity,” she said. “How would we know compassion? It says in the Bible, do ye so unto the least of my brothers. I think that’s what it’s all about.”

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A Special Mother is Born

A Special Mother is Born: Parents share how God called them to the extraordinary vocation of parenting a special needs child.

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Keep Infants with Down Syndrome

Keep Infants with Down Syndrome: "KIDS was formed for the purpose of gathering families who have chldren with Down syndrome and walking together in the annual March for Life in D.C. Our purpose is to raise awareness about the tragically high 90% abortion rate of babies prenatally diagnosed with Down sydnrome. We wish also to proclaim the joys our special children bring to us."

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End-of-life care: an Oregon innovation helps people avoid unwanted interventions

End-of-life care: an Oregon innovation helps people avoid unwanted interventions | OregonLive.com: Undesired treatments such as breathing machines, CPR and dialysis were withheld as requested 94 percent of the time, in a study of 870 nursing home residents in Oregon, West Virginia and Wisconsin. People spelled out their wishes with a document called Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment, or POLST.

Oregon caregivers developed POLST in the 1990s to overcome limits of advance directives such as living wills. Very ill or elderly people create those directives to outline treatment they want to have or avoid in a medical crisis. But those forms can be hard to find in an emergency or too vague to be useful.

Printed POLST forms are brightly colored for visibility and have check boxes to record specific preferences. An Oregon statewide electronic registry established in 2009 gives emergency medical technicians and hospital staff around-the-clock access to POLST orders. People are free to modify or revoke them at any time.

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Cancer patients find help, comfort with 'navigator'

Cancer patients find help, comfort with 'navigator' - TODAY Health - TODAY.com: The quality of life navigator position is a new one at Presbyterian, and may be the first of its kind in the growing field of patient navigators, who help people through the complexities of cancer care.

Quality-of-life focuses on how people live, not how they die, she says. The position is designed to help people maximize the last chapter in their lives. One goal is to start tough conversations early on subjects like hospice and pain management so patients have a more meaningful experience when they reach the final stages of cancer.

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Why It is Necessary to Fight Both Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

In 2000, the New England Journal of Medicine featured an article titled Clinical Problems with the Performance of Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide in the Netherlands. This study analyzed data from 649 cases and found that complications occurred in 7% of the assisted suicide cases, and that problems with completion (such as a longer-than-expected time to death, failure to induce coma, or induction of coma followed by awakening of the patient) occured in 16% of assisted suicide cases. According to the results of the study, “The physician decided to administer a lethal medication in 21 of the cases of assisted suicide (18 percent), which thus became cases of euthanasia. The reasons for this decision included problems with completion (in 12 cases) and the inability of the patient to take all the medications (in 5).” This study shows how the legalization of assisted suicide will inevitably lead to euthanasia because a significant number of assisted suicides fail. In Holland those failed assisted suicides have been completed by lethal injection (ie. euthanasia). True Dignity Vermont

Brenden only lived 14 hours after birth, but at least his mom and dad held him in their arms

Brenden only lived 14 hours after birth, but at least his mom and dad held him in their arms | LifeSiteNews.com: Smiles abound throughout the pre-op room, but the eyes betray everyone present. They reveal the hesitation and dread of this fateful day. My patient has come to the day of the probable death of her son, Brenden. It has been a long and emotionally difficult pregnancy for the parents. Chrissi and Scott have known since the 19th week that their beloved son would eventually die because of anencephaly.

Abortion was an option presented by their first round of medical caregivers, but Brenden’s parents decided on life for their son. They set out to commemorate his short life so that he would not be forgotten. They opted for our clinic’s perinatal hospice program.

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‘Dead-donor’ rule dangerously misleading, experts say

Doctors should abandon the “dangerously misleading” policy of having to declare donors dead before their organs can be extracted for transplant, and adopt a more honest policy that acknowledges some patients may still be technically alive, Canadian and Spanish experts suggest in a provocative new commentary.

They advocate replacing the current “dead-donor rule” with a policy that educates the public about the true nature of patients used in transplant, obtains informed consent — and ensures the donor does not suffer during the organ harvesting.

The authors, including Dr. Neil Lazar, director of the medical-surgical intensive care unit at Toronto General Hospital, say the focus should be on the well-being of donors rather than whether they are legally dead. That could mean giving anesthetics during organ harvesting.

. . . The suggestions, made at a major U.S. bioethics conference last week and in a recent paper in the American Journal of Bioethics, are coming under strenuous criticism by the transplant community, however. Some experts call the proposal a theoretical argument that has little foundation in reality, but that could seriously hurt the ongoing struggle to recruit potential organ donors.

“In the overwhelming majority of cases, the concept of death is easy, obvious and not really subject to any complex interpretation. It’s very clear,” said Dr. Andrew Baker, medical director of the Trillium Gift of Life Network, which oversees Ontario’s transplant system. “They’re dead, you can see it, there is no return of anything.”

. . . In questioning death declaration, the bioethics paper focuses largely on a recent trend in transplantation.
Most transplant organs are taken from patients declared brain dead. Those people account for only about 10% of hospital deaths, however, leaving a shortage of donors and hundreds of gravely ill Canadians languishing and dying on transplant waiting lists.

In response, the medical community has recently embraced a new protocol, where organs are removed after the heart has stopped — in Canada, five minutes after it has halted — but when the patient is not necessarily brain dead. 

. . . While the medical community generally supports “donation after cardiac death [DCD],” there has been some controversy. . . . [I]n most DCD cases, doctors have made a decision not to continue life-support measures that keep the patient breathing and their heart beating. That does not necessarily mean the heart could not be started again, artificially at least, they argue.

It is also possible that when cardiac death is declared, there may still be some brain activity, raising at least the possibility the donor could feel pain during the harvesting of organs, the paper argues. The process of inserting catheters that pump blood through the transplant organs before removal could also start blood circulation in the brain, triggering some limited activity there, the article says.

Dr. Baker said there is no evidence, however, that cardiac death is anything but the complete lack of life. When someone is removed from a ventilator, first they stop breathing, then their heart stops. That means that the brain stem, which regulates those activities and is considered the last part of the brain to die, would have lost all function. And perfusion is done here in a way that there is no blood flow through the brain, he said. National Post

Norway’s Queen Maud in euthanasia speculations

Norway’s Queen Maud in euthanasia speculations / News / The Foreigner — Norwegian News in English.: Against a backdrop of Norway-Germany negotiations to unite against the Bolsheviks, come rumours Queen Maud was euthanized by her own physician.

Related: Was King George V of England also euthanized by the same doctor? BMJ

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The Next Death-With-Dignity Battleground

The Next Death-With-Dignity Battleground - NYTimes.com: Since mid-September, a small cadre of similar volunteers has gathered about 70,000 voters’ signatures, aiming to make Massachusetts the fourth state where terminally ill patients may legally seek physicians’ help to end their lives. The organizers, who call their campaign Dignity 2012, need only 70,000 to put the question on the state ballot in November 2012, but to be sure they have enough to pass scrutiny, they’re aiming for 100,000. The signatures must be submitted by the end of November.

The proposed statute, closely modeled on an initiative that Washington State voters passed in 2008, would allow a patient who’s expected to die within six months to self-administer lethal medication.

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How to Build a Mother-in-Law Suite

How to Build a Mother-in-Law Suite: Mother in-law suites are usually generated from three major types of remodeling, the basement remodel, the garage conversion and the suite addition. These are the most widely used plans. No matter which one of these projects you choose, you need to ask these questions.

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Changes in controversial organ donation method stir fears

Changes in controversial organ donation method stir fears - The Washington Post: Surgeons retrieving organs for transplant just after a donor’s heart stops beating would no longer have to wait at least two minutes to be sure the heart doesn’t spontaneously start beating again under new rules being considered by the group that coordinates organ allocation in the United States.

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Canadian Lawsuit Demands Right to Commit Euthanasia by NonDoctors

Canadian Lawsuit Demands Right to Commit Euthanasia by Non Doctors » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: The euthanasia agenda is not–and never has been–limited to the “terminally ill for whom nothing else can be done to alleviate suffering.” Some still pretend that is so as a political expedient, but many are becoming increasingly forthcoming about the radical scope of their actual goals.

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Much of Kevorkian “Memorabilia” Not Sold at Auction

Much of Kevorkian “Memorabilia” Not Sold at Auction | NRL News Today: A suicide machine belonging to Dr. Jack Kevorkian was withdrawn Friday from an auction of the assisted-suicide advocate’s possessions after failing to draw a high enough bid, while 17 of his paintings tied up in a legal dispute with a suburban Boston museum found no takers. Estimates were that Kevorkian’s suicide machine, the Thanatron, might draw of a bid of between $100,000 and $200,000. But the highest bid was $65,000.

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Daniel Sanger Dies Overnight Before Hearing On Clash over Removal of Feeding Tube

Daniel Sanger Dies Overnight Before Hearing On Clash over Removal of Feeding Tube | NRL News Today: Bobby Schindler, the brother of Terri Schindler Schiavo, was in Frederick to attend the hearing. He called the death of Daniel Sanger “unfortunate and inhumane” because he was refused treatment for “life-threatening conditions.”

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The promise and pitfalls of palliative care

The promise and pitfalls of palliative care - latimes.com: If palliative care were a pill, government regulators would very likely approve it for the U.S. market. Federal healthcare insurance programs would quickly agree to pay physicians and hospitals for treating patients with the new therapy. And patients would make it a blockbuster drug in no time flat.

Yet uncertainties cloud the prospects for palliative care. Among the unanswered questions: Who will pay for these services, where will this new field's workforce come from, and what is it — cost savings or compassion — that drives this new branch of medicine?

Related: Right to Life article

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Eugenics rules in Europe, three generations after Nazism

John Smeaton, SPUC director: Eugenics rules in Europe, three generations after Nazism: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recently passed resolution 1829 (2011) “Prenatal Sex selection,” which aims to outlaw the practice of prenatal and preimplanation genetic screening to determine the sex of the child with a view to terminating his or her life. The resolution calls on member-states to introduce legislation and clinical guidelines that prohibit sex-selective abortion and embryo destruction. However, the resolution contains strongly eugenic clauses that discriminate against the disabled.

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Assisted Suicide: A Recipe for Elder Abuse and a Threat to Individual Rights

Elder abuse includes physical, psychological and financial abuse. Financial abuse is the most commonly reported type. Elder abuse is, however, largely unreported and can be very difficult to detect. This is due in part to the reluctance of victims to report. 

If assisted suicide were to be legalized [in Canada], new paths of abuse would be created against the elderly. The most obvious path would be due to [the] lack of required witnesses at the death. Without disinterested witnesses, an opportunity is created for a family member, or someone else who will benefit from the patient's death, to administer the medication to the patient without his consent. Alex Schadenberg

‘Incompatible with life’: that’s what doctors said about my unborn cousin with Trisomy 18

‘Incompatible with life’: that’s what doctors said about my unborn cousin with Trisomy 18 | LifeSiteNews.com: “The baby is incompatible with life. Here is the number if you choose to terminate.” Until this summer, I had never heard of Trisomy 18. Also known as Edwards Syndrome, Trisomy 18 is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of an extra 18th chromosome in a person’s cells. This can cause heart malformations, kidney problems, breathing difficulties and a number of other problems.

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Hospital Limits Merely The Beginning Of Obamacare

Hospital Limits Merely The Beginning Of Obamacare | CNSnews.com: As a country whose laws show little respect for life at its most vulnerable stages, from the unborn to the elderly and disabled, it should come as no surprise that the government, in efforts to control costs, will begin to limit hospital stays for those covered by Medicaid.

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How can I be a better friend?

Joni and Friends: Making friends is fun! But how do you make friends with someone who has a disability? Join Joni and her friends on a Friendship Adventure to learn how you can become a better friend to people with disabilities.

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Having an amnio test ruined my life

Bullied into an abortion she bitterly regrets. Her marriage destroyed. How the Down syndrome dilemma every mother dreads tore a family apart. Daily Mail

Cancer's most isolated patients

Cancer's most isolated patients - latimes.com: For decades, the needs of adolescents and young adults with the disease have been slighted. That's beginning to change.

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Ed's Story: It Ain't Over

Ten years ago doctor's diagnosed Ed Dobson with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and gave him 2-5 years to live, most of which he was told would be in a disabled state. Dobson's journey since then has been one of remembering that life isn't over until it's over and sincerely thanking God for every new morning. Parable

Caregiving and Medical Emergencies

Caregiving and Medical Emergencies - CarePages.com: Caregiving for someone who is seriously or chronically ill is a daunting task, and an emergency can be frightening. Taking steps in advance will help you handle a crisis, should one occur. Here are five to start with.

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Cystic Fibrosis Patients See Significant Results with Adult Stem Cell Therapy

Cystic Fibrosis Patients See Significant Results with Regenocyte Adult Stem Cell Therapy - MarketWatch: Following years of progressive deterioration of this chronic disease, patients see dramatic improvement in their quality of life.

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Euthanasia Spreads in Europe

Euthanasia Spreads in Europe - Wesley J. Smith - National Review Online: Wesley J. Smith spoke at a town-hall event about end-of-life care recently that, "unfortunately, devolved mostly into an intense debate on assisted suicide. When the time came for audience questions, a self-described mentally ill woman took the microphone and strongly declared that she too should have the right to doctor-prescribed death. More than half the audience applauded, validating the woman’s potential suicide."

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What Values Are Important to People With Dementia?

What Values Are Important to People With Dementia?: Loved ones who suffer from mild to moderate dementia and their family caregivers often have different perceptions regarding the amount and quality of care given and received. A study recently examined a major source of those differences: Caregivers may not understand the things that are important to their relatives with dementia.

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Assisted Suicide and Judicial Review

Bradley W. Miller: Assisted Suicide and Judicial Review | UK Constitutional Law Group: Once a court ventures into a morally charged debate such as abortion or assisted suicide, it changes the political dynamic in ways that cannot be anticipated. The possibility of legislative failure has to be borne in mind by any reviewing court.

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Self-perceptions from people with Down syndrome

Self-perceptions from people with Down syndrome - Skotko - 2011 - American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A - Wiley Online Library: Among those surveyed, nearly 99% of people with DS indicated that they were happy with their lives, 97% liked who they are, and 96% liked how they look. Nearly 99% people with DS expressed love for their families, and 97% liked their brothers and sisters. While 86% of people with DS felt they could make friends easily, those with difficulties mostly had isolating living situations. A small percentage expressed sadness about their life. In our qualitative analysis, people with DS encouraged parents to love their babies with DS, mentioning that their own lives were good. They further encouraged healthcare professionals to value them, emphasizing that they share similar hopes and dreams as people without DS. Overall, the overwhelming majority of people with DS surveyed indicate they live happy and fulfilling lives.

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Having a brother or sister with Down syndrome: Perspectives from siblings

Having a brother or sister with Down syndrome: Perspectives from siblings - Skotko - 2011 - American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A - Wiley Online Library: More than 96% of brothers/sisters that responded to the survey indicated that they had affection toward their sibling with DS; and 94% of older siblings expressed feelings of pride. Less than 10% felt embarrassed, and less than 5% expressed a desire to trade their sibling in for another brother or sister without DS. Among older siblings, 88% felt that they were better people because of their siblings with DS, and more than 90% plan to remain involved in their sibling's lives as they become adults. The vast majority of brothers and sisters describe their relationship with their sibling with DS as positive and enhancing.

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Having a son or daughter with Down syndrome: Perspectives from mothers and fathers

Having a son or daughter with Down syndrome: Perspectives from mothers and fathers - Skotko - 2011 - American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A - Wiley Online Library: Of the 2,044 respondents, 99% reported that they love their son or daughter; 97% were proud of them; 79% felt their outlook on life was more positive because of them; 5% felt embarrassed by them; and 4% regretted having them. The parents report that 95% of their sons or daughters without DS have good relationships with their siblings with DS. The overwhelming majority of parents surveyed report that they are happy with their decision to have their child with DS and indicate that their sons and daughters are great sources of love and pride.

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Mock my pants, not my sister

Mock my pants, not my sister: "If my friends who are black were mocked, they would not take it. If my friends who are gay were slurred, they would not take it. My 400,000 fellow Americans with Down syndrome have been cheapened, and I will not take it."

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Long-term care can bankrupt an average family, yet few carry insurance

AGING AMERICA: Long-term care can bankrupt an average family, yet few carry insurance - The Washington Post: Nursing home charges can run more than $200 a day and a home health aide averages $450 a week, usually part-time. Yet Medicare doesn’t cover long-term care, and only about 3 percent of adults have a private policy.

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Is Euthanasia Lobby Already Forcing 'the Hard Choice?'

ZENIT - Is Euthanasia Lobby Already Forcing 'the Hard Choice?': In a number of countries around the world the pro-euthanasia forces continue to press for the legalization of assisted suicide.

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With Class Act’s Failure, Still No Relief in Sight for Long-Term Care

With Class Act’s Failure, Still No Relief in Sight for Long-Term Care - NYTimes.com: The law that many Americans had hoped would transform the nation’s dysfunctional system of long-term care for the swelling ranks of people with disabilities and dementia quietly died this month, a victim of its own weaknesses, a toxic political environment and President Obama’s re-election campaign focus on jobs.

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Preventable life-ending decisions made 'all the time'

Preventable life-ending decisions made 'all the time' (OneNewsNow.com): Last week in Frederick, Maryland, 55-year-old Daniel Sanger's wife and doctors agreed to remove his feeding tubes. He has been in Frederick Memorial Hospital since suffering a heart attack and seizure in July. But six days later, Sanger's mother and brother obtained a court order to restore food and hydration. Now he is responsive.

"What people don't realize is that this happens all the time," laments Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schiavo. "Doctors and healthcare professionals are now empowered to take away food and hydration from individuals because food and water via feeding tubes has been defined as medical treatment -- and therefore it makes it rather easy, so to speak, to take this away from people, as we saw here in this case."

But he stresses that food and water do not classify as a medical treatment; instead they are necessary to sustain life. In Sanger's case, the patient's brother is hoping to be granted temporary custody to ensure the protection of his brother's life. But Schindler understands that most people are often confused about how to handle such situations, so he directs them to the Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network.

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Predicting Death

Arch Intern Med -- Abstract: Predicting Death: An Empirical Evaluation of Predictive Tools for Mortality, October 24, 2011, Siontis et al. 171 (19): 1721: Most tools designed to predict mortality have only modest accuracy, and there is large variability across various diseases and populations.

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Nurses warned they could be jailed for talking about assisted suicide

UK nurses will be warned they face prosecution if they are found to have discussed any aspect of euthanasia with a patient who goes on to commit suicide. The new Royal College of Nursing guidelines remind staff it is illegal to offer information about assisted dying – including contact details for the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland – in case it is seen as ‘encouragement.’ Daily Mail

Obama Administration Seeks to Roll Back Hospital Rules

Obama Administration Seeks to Roll Back Hospital Rules - NYTimes.com: Under the proposals, issued with a view to “impending physician shortages,” it would be easier for hospitals to use “advanced practice nurse practitioners and physician assistants in lieu of higher-paid physicians.” This change alone “could provide immediate savings to hospitals,” the administration said.

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Man Nearly Starved to Death Now Responsive

Man Nearly Starved to Death Like Terri Schiavo Now Responsive | LifeNews.com: Daniel Sanger, is responding to hospital staff after going six days without food and water. Although Sanger told his doctor and his mother “I want to live” before he went unconscious, Frederick Memorial Hospital removed the public-assistance patient from life-giving food, water, and nutrients on Friday with the permission of his wife.

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Death by prenatal screening: how one girl with Down syndrome narrowly escaped

Death by prenatal screening: how one girl with Down syndrome narrowly escaped | LifeSiteNews.com: One month ago a precious girl was born in my hospital with Down Syndrome - a rarity these days, since 90% of these children diagnosed before being born end up in a container of biological waste, something that some people regard as a scientific advance, boasting of their determination and perseverance in filtering people based on their risk of suffering some chromosomal defect.

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The Duty to Die Advances

The Duty to Die Advances | NRL News Today: Is there such a thing as a “duty to die?” Some notable voices in bioethics say, yes. They believe that as a matter of distributive justice, when people reach a certain advanced age, severe disability, or very poor health, they owe it to society, their families—and even themselves—to allow life to (or make it) end.

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Assisted Suicide Advocates Falsely Advertise Suicide as Legal in Hawaii

Pro-Assisted Suicide Advocates Falsely Advertise Suicide as Legal in Hawaii | NRL News Today: Earlier this month, Hawaii Death With Dignity, a group which promotes doctor-prescribed death, held a meeting at their state capital announcing Hawaii was the 4th state to legalize assisted suicide. This is flat-out incorrect on several grounds.

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Study identifies something called the “Down syndrome advantage”

Parents of Down syndrome children divorce less: study (01/11/08): Lower divorce rates in the Down syndrome group may be due in part to what the researchers call the “Down syndrome advantage,” which refers to the personality and behavior of most children with the syndrome and the fact that parents of children with Down syndrome are often older, more educated, and married before having children.

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Survey: Should you have the right to die?

Survey: Should you have the right to die? | LifeSiteNews.com: As part of its plans for an upcoming episode on assisted suicide, The Dr. Oz Show has sported a snazzy survey on the show’s website titled “Should you have the right to die?” The survey puts forward sly socratic-like questions that inevitably lead the participant to affirm that one has the “right to die,” that one’s family should support one’s “right to die,” and that doctors should “assist” in helping patients end their lives.

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Look at this face, and then think about the new blood test to detect Down syndrome

This is Abby. The picture was taken in the emergency room at Marybridge Hospital in Tacoma, Washington. Her blogger mother reports she hadn't slept and she couldn't eat because of her breathing. "You could hear the rattle from her airways from down the hall." But does she look like she's suffering for having Down syndrome? A new survey reports that 99% of people with Down syndrome are happy.

Sadly, their supposed misery is one excuse people use for advocating the new blood test to detect Down syndrome. It will lower the risk of miscarriage, but increase the pressure on parents to abort affected babies. 

Abby's mom tackles this and other excuses on Mostly True Stuff. Less risky test? For whom? Not for babies with Down syndrome!

5 ways to help prevent Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's Disease Prevention - Alzheimer's Center - EverydayHealth.com: Healthy habits that are good for you now have been shown to help prevent Alzheimer's later.

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Notes From a Dragon Mom

Notes From a Dragon Mom - NYTimes.com: Ronan won’t prosper or succeed in the way we have come to understand this term in our culture; he will never walk or say “Mama,” and I will never be a tiger mom. The mothers and fathers of terminally ill children are something else entirely. Our goals are simple and terrible: to help our children live with minimal discomfort and maximum dignity. We will not launch our children into a bright and promising future, but see them into early graves. We will prepare to lose them and then, impossibly, to live on after that gutting loss. This requires a new ferocity, a new way of thinking, a new animal. We are dragon parents: fierce and loyal and loving as hell. Our experiences have taught us how to parent for the here and now, for the sake of parenting, for the humanity implicit in the act itself, though this runs counter to traditional wisdom and advice.

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