Prepare for the Financial Impact of Alzheimer's

Prepare for the Financial Impact of Alzheimer's: Even in the early stages of dementia, financial skills can be diminished. These steps can help protect you or a loved one -- and a retirement nest egg.

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Assisted Suicide Judicial Fiat Sought in New Mexico

Assisted Suicide Judicial Fiat Sought in New Mexico » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: If New Mexico wants to legalize assisted suicide, it is free to so do. But it hasn’t, and so a lawsuit will be filed to impose it by judicial fiat, a tactical move that has failed previously in Connecticut, Florida, Alaska, and California, in front of the US Supreme Court, and muddied the waters in Montana.

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Latest edition of Caring Right at Home

• High-Tech Solutions and In-Home Care: A Winning Combination
• Is It Time to Spring Clean Your Mind?
• What Every Baby Boomer Should Know About Medicare
• Online Buzz: Understanding Delirium vs. Dementia

Book review (+ free offer!): Miracle for Jen

Miracle for Jen, by Linda Barrick with John Perry (Tyndale House) is the account of the fateful accident and subsequent recovery of a young woman who is extraordinary. You could sum it up by saying, "Jen Barrick was a teenager when her life turned upside down through a horrible brain injury." Or you could say, "Jen Barrick was a teenager when God answered her prayers."

It all depends on your perspective, and Jen prefers the latter. Her story must be read to be believed, but ultimately it's not hard to believe.



How could multiple skull fractures resulting in damage to every part of her brain be an answer to prayer? It is if your prayer was for greater intimacy with God and impact for Him.

It's impossible to say how the injury affected her relationship with God, but her mother Linda and other observers documented how, upon coming out of her coma, Jen clearly and cogently expressed herself in prayer and praise to God, as though He was in the room with her. And that ability continues to this day.

Communication with family and friends came less smoothly. In fact, Jen struggled to vocalize her thoughts as severe memory loss hampered her recovery for several months. Yet Bible verses and hymn lyrics would flow effortlessly from her mouth, some that her mother didn't know she had memorized prior to the accident.

While Jen delighted in this new-found freedom, Linda grieved over her daughter's lost capacities. Would she ever go back to school? Would she return to cheerleading or singing in the choir? Would she graduate and have a normal life? Making those old hopes and plans reality seemed impossible. God could heal her, but would He? Would the old Jen return?

Linda began to accept a new reality when she read Jen's prayer journals. What started as an attempt to reconnect with the "old" Jen became a means of embracing the new one. Four months before the crash, she had written,

God, I want You to be my everything. Continue to grow my faith and allow me to know You like never before!

Four days before:

We all want the testimony, but we'd rather skip the test that give us one.

Jen has had quite a testimony since her accident, sharing with groups small and large the miracle of knowing God. This book does not candy-coat the daily struggles along the way, or pretend that one answered prayer alleviates all doubts. Linda writes:

To help me survive the long, hard days I began telling myself over and over that this life on earth is only a dot on the timeline of history, leading to God's eternity where we will experience unparalleled joy. Off and on I'd repeat that truth out loud, so Jen nicknamed me Polka Dot, evidence of one of her first short-term memory triumphs. Every time she called me Polka Dot, it reminded all of us that this difficult and challenging life is a moment in time anticipating life in heaven, with no pain or sorrow, just ahead.

Tucking Jen in bed at night became a family ritual. . . . I often prayed, "Lord, please connect a new pathway in Jen's brain tonight." 

When it was Jen's turn to pray, she was always full of thanksgiving and praise. One night, she astounded us all when she prayed, "Lord, did I meet all of Your expectations today? Did I fulfill all that You had for me to do?"

Wow! It had never crossed my mind to pray a prayer like that. I'd been so busy begging God for healing and help that I had forgotten that this life is not about me or my family's comfort; it is about God and His plan. Jen had a completely different perspective from the rest of us. She knew that God had left her on this earth for a reason. He had things for her to do!

I also appreciate that this book highlights the ministry of caregivers -- their necessity and vital importance. Because Jen wasn't the only one injured in the accident -- both Linda and Jen's dad Andy were severely injured as well -- friends and family members had to step in to provide round-the-clock assistance. Members of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA (yes, that one), were not only relied upon for meals and visits, but for long-term personal care.

Win a copy!
This book would make a great gift for caregivers and is an all-around inspiring memoir for church library shelves. In fact, be the first to email me your name and address and I'll send you a certificate for a free copy!

TyndaleHouse Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.

Quebec assembly committee calls for assisted suicide

Quebec assembly committee calls for assisted suicide | LifeSiteNews.com: The National Assembly committee in Quebec released a report today calling on the provincial government to legalize euthanasia according to a Netherlands/Belgium model, effectively ignoring existing federal laws that protect human life.

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Obamacare rationing panels an ‘immediate danger to seniors’: former AMA president

Obamacare rationing panels an ‘immediate danger to seniors’: former AMA president | LifeSiteNews.com: Former AMA President Donald Palmisano wrote in a Daily Caller column Monday that the Independent Payment Advisory Boards (IPAB), tasked with keeping Medicare expenses under control, would have little oversight as they deal with the disproportionate cost burden from seniors with greater medical needs. “The 15 officials who will make up the board will not only be empowered to make what is expected to be billions of dollars’ worth of cuts to Medicare every year, but will be required to do so when spending exceeds targeted rates.”

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Oregon Report Shows More Assisted Suicides, More Secrecy

Oregon Report Shows More Assisted Suicides, More Secrecy | NRL News Today: Assisted suicide proponents argue that getting the government to sanction medically induced death results in patient autonomy. Of course, they may be the only people nowadays who believe that increased government involvement results in increased individual autonomy.

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Latimer Truths Rarely Told

Latimer Truths Rarely Told » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: In an era of selective journalism and a view that suffering justifies eliminating the sufferer, we shouldn’t allow the whitewashers to carry the day. Read Mark Pickup's blog post about Tracy Latimer, “Can We Finally Get It Straight After 19 Years?”

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Ten years after Belgian euthanasia law, opposition simmers

Ten years after Belgian euthanasia law, opposition simmers - UPI.com: Against all odds, one 16-year-old Belgian teenager is still alive. Tikvah Roosemont was born with about half a brain. Doctors predicted she would likely die before birth, during birth or shortly after. They advised her parents to abort her in the seventh month of gestation. Lionel Roosemont, a professional guide to battlefield sites from World War I, said he and his wife wanted to give his daughter a chance to live and refused to abort her. Today Tikvah is not deaf, lame, blind or dead.

Ten years after euthanasia was legalized in Belgium, Roosemont is speaking out against the practice. He warns that some Belgians want to widen the scope of euthanasia -- the death of an adult caused by medical means at his or her own request. Now, Roosemont said, people are discussing the possibility of legalizing abortion until the day before birth, the infanticide of handicapped babies or euthanasia of minors without parental consent.

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When ICU beds are scarce, doctors' goals change

When ICU beds are scarce, doctors' goals change | Reuters: When hospitals are short on beds in the intensive care unit, doctors are more likely to switch from life-saving care to end-of-life care, a new Canadian study shows. But it's not clear whether that means patients die any sooner, researchers report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

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China to phase out prisoner organ donations over next 5 years

China to phase out prisoner organ donations over next 5 years; says other organs are healthier - The Washington Post: China will abolish the transplanting of organs from executed prisoners within five years and try to spur more citizens to donate, a top health official says. Rights groups call transplants from condemned prisoners a form of abuse and allege that the government, which executes far more people than any other nation, pressures them to donate organs. The government, however, says prisoners volunteer, and that the change is being made because prisoners are less healthy than the general population.

Editor: But the reason given was not concern over ethical violations. "The official Xinhua News Agency quoted Vice Health Minister Huang Jiefu as saying Thursday that prisoner organ donations are not ideal because condemned inmates have high rates of fungal and bacterial infections."

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To go gently into that good night: When quality of death can enhance quality of life

Globe and Mail: Andrée Hoffman lay on a gurney, the outline of her body visible under a floral comforter. Her daughter Basia Hoffman, in her 50s, was a few feet away, playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on the piano, hours after her 90-year-old mother's death. No one was in a hurry to go to the funeral home.

When the time finally came, those who loved Ms. Hoffman gathered around her body for a procession through the halls of Toronto's Kensington Hospice to the front door. In her final days, the staff had given her oxygen to ease her breathlessness, narcotics to help with pain and baths to keep her clean. They even cooked breakfast for her family – the scent of pancakes and eggs lingered in the air, a smell of home.

“You almost feel guilty,” said Basia's sister, Tatiana Hoffman, 56, “because they make it so beautiful and wonderful. But I feel so much relief she is out of pain.”

Multiple Sclerosis Management and Your Diet

Multiple Sclerosis Management and Your Diet - Multiple Sclerosis Center - EverydayHealth.com: For people living with multiple sclerosis, diet is just one component of managing symptoms and disease progression. But what constitutes a healthy MS diet?

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Parisian pro-lifers unite in massive ‘flashmob’ against euthanasia

Parisian pro-lifers don clown garb and unite in massive ‘flashmob’ against euthanasia | LifeSiteNews.com: A pro-life event made the national news on French television Saturday evening when “Alliance Vita” organized a giant flashmob against euthanasia on the “Parvis des droits de l’homme” (“Human Rights Square”) at the Trocadéro in Paris. Seven hundred people, young and old, holding red hearts with the slogan “Caring, not killing,” filled the esplanade facing the Eiffel Tower and danced to the sounds of Paul McCartney’s Live and Let Die.

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Stand Up for Religious Freedom

Rally Locations and Info « Stand Up for Religious Freedom:  The Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom is being held Friday, March 23 at noon, local time, outside federal buildings, Congressional offices and historic sites across the country. The theme for the Rally is “Stand Up for Religious Freedom—Stop the HHS Mandate!” Find a location near you!

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Elderly “Not Safe” in Scottish Hospitals

Elderly “Not Safe” in Scottish Hospitals, Shorter Waits for Grave Than Long Term Care in Ontario | NRL News Today: The UK’s health system continues its implosion. We have already seen the stories exposing the poor care the elderly receive in England. And now, the Scottish Nurses Association has charged that the elderly aren’t safe in Scottish hospitals.

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Tell Me The Story One More Time

Tell Me The Story One More Time | Challies Dot Com: Jeff feared Charlotte would die before he returned to the hospital, and he prayed God would grant her sufficient stamina to hold on. He need not have worried. When he entered her room, panting from his swift jog from the parking garage, Charlotte called him over to her bed. She took his hand, looked into his eyes, and said, “Pastor, tell me the story one more time.”

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Texas hospital starving patient against family wishes

Texas hospital starving patient against family wishes | Spero News: Texas Right to Life denounced the decision by physicians to allegedly eliminate hydration and feeding of a patient under their care in a Texas hospital. According to the group, the hospital has refused to allow the patient and his family to take him to a nearby hospice for care.

Update: Patient dies after hospital denies treatment

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Assisted Suicide Dies in Vermont Senate

Assisted Suicide Dies in Vermont Senate | NRL News Today: Unless something drastic happens, Vermont’s assisted suicide bill has been killed in committee. Interestingly, the Lieutenant Governor, who would break a tie vote in the Vermont Senate, pushed legalizing doctor-prescribed death when in that legislative body, has since changed his mind–and for a reason that I think receives far too little play in "death with dignity”-infatuated media.

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Responding to Backers of Abortions on Babies With Disabilities

Responding to Backers of Abortions on Babies With Disabilities | LifeNews.com: "With my disabled child, I have to be mindful of two realities. One, that his brain is terribly broken; his life is often a battle between life and death, and he is partially blind, nonverbal and prone to life-threatening seizures. The other reality is that he has a spirit, and he is whole and alive on the inside. Over the years, all of us in his extended family have had glimpses into his “secret life,” the place where his thoughts and his words are. Inside a broken body is a complete soul. He feels, he loves, he dreams. I cannot deny who he is on the inside, even if that reality is almost entirely veiled from me. He’s created in the image of God and his life has value, even if that life is painfully brief."

Related: Rick Santorum, Meet My Son

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36 Purposes of God in Our Suffering

36 Purposes of God in Our Suffering | Counseling One Another: Take some time to meditate on the wisdom of God as He works out His perfect will through our suffering. No wonder James, the brother of our Lord, commanded us to “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials” (James 1:2)!

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Share this video on World Down Syndrome Day -- March 21!

Reinventing the wheelchair

Patheos: Watch even just the first few minutes of this incredibly hopeful video.

Dutch activist found guilty of assisting a suicide

BioEdge: Dutch activist found guilty of assisting a suicide: In the latest instalment of a long-running case, the former head of the Dutch Voluntary Life Foundation (Stichting Vrijwillig Leven) has been found guilty of assisting in a suicide. Although euthanasia and assisted suicide are legal in the Netherlands, there are some conditions and Gerard Schellekens, now 75, breached them when he counselled and then helped an 80-year-old woman to die in 2007.

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What people talk about before they die

My Faith: What people talk about before they die – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs: People talk to the chaplain about their families because that is how we talk about God. That is how we talk about the meaning of our lives. That is how we talk about the big spiritual questions of human existence. We don't live our lives in our heads, in theology and theories. We live our lives in our families.

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What You Lose When You Sign That Organ-Donor Card

What You Lose When You Sign That Organ-Donor Card - WSJ.com: What are you giving up when you check the donor box on your license? Your organs, of course—but much more. You're also giving up your right to informed consent. Doctors don't have to tell you or your relatives what they will do to your body during an organ harvest operation because you'll be dead, with no legal rights.

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Should Dehydration Be the Default Decision for PVS?

Should Dehydration Be the Default Decision for PVS? | The Center for Bioethics and Culture: What about the people who unexpectedly wake up? Constable says most of these weren’t truly PVS — even though some had been so diagnosed. (In fact, studies show that PVS is misdiagnosed about 40% of the time.)

But that doesn’t matter because [she says] “the new life gained” by the “miracle patient” is “far less likely to resemble what he lost than to be some state of middle consciousness;” a life “quite possibly, worse than non-existence.” Moreover, the potential benefit of living to be a miracle patient “is not sufficient to trump the public interest in allocating resources to patients more likely to benefit.” Original article

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2 doctors to challenge NM 'right to die' law

2 doctors to challenge NM 'right to die' law | KOB.com: Two physicians are set to challenge a decades-old New Mexico law that prohibits doctors from helping terminally ill patients die. They are seeking to be allowed to prescribe medication to terminally ill patients who want to end their lives.

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'Ashley treatment' on the rise

'Ashley treatment' on the rise amid concerns from disability rights groups | Society | guardian.co.uk: A controversial procedure to limit the growth of severely disabled children to keep them forever small – which ignited a fiery debate about the limits of medical intervention when it was first revealed five years ago – has begun to spread among families in America, Europe and beyond.

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Champion of Death With Dignity Act dies at age 83

Champion of Death With Dignity Act dies at age 83 | Fox News: A doctor who championed for Oregon's Death With Dignity Act has died, assisted by the law he fought so hard for a decade earlier. Portland physician Dr. Peter Goodwin died Sunday at 83 in his home after using lethal chemicals obtained under the Oregon law, surrounded by his family.

Goodwin was diagnosed in 2006 with a rare brain disorder, corticobasal ganglionic degeneration, that progressively robbed him of his movement. Years earlier, campaigning for an Oregon assisted suicide law, he talked publicly about what he would do if he received a terminal diagnosis.

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The Poor Exploited By Growing Market For Human Organs

The Poor Exploited By Growing Market For Human Organs: A Michigan State University anthropologist who spent more than a year infiltrating the black market for human kidneys has published the first in-depth study describing the often horrific experiences of poor people who were victims of organ trafficking. Monir Moniruzzaman interviewed 33 kidney sellers in his native Bangladesh and found they typically didn't get the money they were promised and were plagued with serious health problems that prevented them from working, shame and depression.

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Lessons from assisted suicide campaigner’s death

Lessons from assisted suicide campaigner’s death | NRL News Today: Kelly Taylor's case underlines two important things.

First, it exposes the real agenda of the pro-euthanasia lobby. Dignity in Dying backed the case at the time and have never withdrawn their support, and yet they claim to support assisted suicide only for people who have less than twelve months left to live and who are mentally competent. Kelly Taylor lived more than five years after she first brought her case and was seeking being starved and dehydrated to death after being rendered mentally incompetent. So just how elastic are their real demands?

Second, it shows how inaccurate doctors’ predictions of life expectancy can be.

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Facing death, a top pastor rethinks what it means to be Christian

Facing death, a top pastor rethinks what it means to be Christian – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs: After tending the garden [of pastoral ministry] for decades, Dobson is now being tended himself, largely by Lorna. “ALS forced me into a situation where I grew in understanding of what it means to obey Jesus,” Dobson said in the latest film. “It took me quite a while to find an alternative purpose, but the good news is out there – there is a purpose for everyone.”

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World Down Syndrome Day is coming, March 21

IDSC for Life: How will you mark it? The International Down Syndrome Coalition created a video from responses parents gave to this question: If you could go back to the moment before you had a baby, or adopted a baby, with down syndrome, what would you say?

Plan now to use this video to spread the message on March 21: All life is precious!

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Case of locked-in syndrome seeks to establish dangerous precedent

Case of locked-in syndrome seeks to establish dangerous precedent | NRL News Today: Legal action brought by a locked-in syndrome sufferer, who wants a doctor to be able to end his ‘intolerable’ life lawfully, can go ahead following a judge’s ruling Monday. The Ministry of Justice had previously argued that the case should be struck out on the grounds that it is a matter for parliament, rather than the courts, to decide. But the judge’s ruling today means that Mr. Nicklinson’s case will go to a full hearing, where medical evidence can be heard.

Related BBC article

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Joke Oregon Assisted Suicide Report Published

Wesley J. Smith: One of the great propaganda coups of the assisted suicide movement was making people believe that the Oregon annual reports about assisted suicide were meaningful or informative. But, for example:

• They are based almost solely on self reporting by death doctors, who are about as likely to tell the state that they broke the law as they are to tell the IRS they cheated on their taxes;
• The Oregon Health Authority has no authority or budget to investigate abuses or violations–even if a doctor did self confess. All they can do is refer to the physician’s licensing board.
• The documentation is destroyed after the report is published so there is no independent way to check.
• Over the years, the reports have grown increasingly sparse–seemingly for political impact. For example, in the first few years, it would report how long the death doctor knew the patient who died by assisted suicide and it was often two weeks or even less, meaning that assisted suicide practice was sometimes mere Kevorkianism. Once opponents began hitting that button, the information ceased being publicized in a truly accessible manner.

Caring Coalition conference

Hospice of Michigan is once again privileged to sponsor the Caring Coalition conference, March 21 at Shaarey Zedek, in Southfield. This year's theme, "On My Terms: Patient Directed Care," and the featured speaker is Dr. Ira Byock, renowned author and expert on issues related to death and dying.

Palliative care doctors say 'Best Care Possible' means dying well

Palliative care doctors say 'Best Care Possible' means dying well - USATODAY.com: Ira Byock says the needless suffering at the end of life is partly a result of a current political climate that accuses palliative care doctors and hospice physicians of promoting a "culture of death" or "death panels." Rather, he writes, he is one of the compassionate experts who are "pro-life" and insist people get the best care possible — basically what they want for themselves — and no extra care.

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Lansing Man Survives Traumatic Brain Injury And Speaks Out

Lansing Man Survives Traumatic Brain Injury And Speaks Out: March is recognized as National Brain Injury Awareness month. Every day, traumatic brain injuries happen to soldiers deployed overseas, and to people here at home as a result of car accidents, sports injuries, and falls. With a traumatic brain injury there's usually a loss of consciousness, even if it's a matter of a few seconds. For one longtime Lansing, Michigan, resident, his successful recovery from a traumatic brain injury has inspired him to help others by sharing his story.

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Visiting the Sick

Visiting the Sick | Counseling One Another: Paul Tautges writes, "A seminary student of mine, who is also a pastor, called this week to ask how to begin a visiting the sick ministry team in his church."

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How to Write a Good Sympathy Card

How to Write a Good Sympathy Card | Counseling One Another: "Since my mother’s death, two years ago this past Saturday, I have radically altered the way I write in sympathy cards. I now know more fully the pain that death brings into our lives and, having received so many impacting words of comfort from others, am convinced I will never write in a card the same way I did before."

Related:

• How to be a miserable comforter
• The comforting power of quiet presence

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Karen Santorum fights back against critics on deceased newborn

Karen Santorum fights back against critics on deceased newborn, relationship with abortionist | LifeSiteNews.com: Mrs. Santorum, who is a nurse, has added her voice to her husband’s, strongly disputing Colmes’ account of what happened. “We brought Gabriel home from the hospital to have a funeral mass and to bury him,” she said. “And so, they twist it and they make it sound like it was some crazy thing. ... We brought him home from the hospital to introduce him to our kids and to place him. It was for the funeral mass and the burial. What is so sad to me is that no one can tell me how to grieve, and I’m not going to tell anyone else how to grieve. It’s not right. People have very intense personal experiences and grief is something that is so intensely painful and personal that we all have to grieve in our own way.”

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“Second Thoughts” Disability Rights Group Opposes Assisted Suicide in Massachusetts

“Second Thoughts” Disability Rights Group Opposes Assisted Suicide in Massachusetts | NRL News Today: Disability rights activists are indomitable opponents of legalizing assisted suicide and an essential constituency in the diverse and broad-based coalition that opposes the death agenda. Now, a new DR organization, Second Thoughts, has been founded to fight against the pending Massachusetts initiative that could bring legalized assisted suicide to the Bay State.

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Joy on God's terms

Joni and Friends: Jesus is joy spilling over onto earth. The Savior is “joy-incarnate” splashing over heaven’s walls. Jesus swims in elation, and … He is driven to share that joy with us. I mean, He’s driven. Why? Jesus explains in John 15:11, “so that My joy may be in you.” Wow! Jesus has a goal and it’s to make His joy complete and mature in you. He wants you to be happy, to be glad, to be full of His joy. I mean, isn’t that great?!

Can it be? Could God really be that generous? Is He really heaven-bent on seeing us full of joy? Yes, He is, but there is a small catch. God only shares His joy on his terms, and those terms call for you and me to, in some measure, suffer as His beloved Son did while on earth. We may not understand His reasons, but we are insane to fight Him on this. He is in ecstasy beyond words. And it is worth anything to be his friend. . . . We can’t have the crown if we do not first bear the cross.

And that is why I'm so happy. If the reasons for my cross weren’t clear; if I didn’t understand God's goal for my sufferings; if I saw no purpose in the heartaches or hardships, then I would have every reason to be sad, but God has told me in His Word that there is a goal; there are reasons; there is a purpose. Because when I endure suffering without complaining, then and only then does God pour out His joy. The joy of the Lord…[is] a joy like nothing earth has to offer. God's joy is rock-solid and down deep, it’s constant and never fluctuating, it is powerful and strong enough to sustain me through anything. It doesn’t depend on circumstances, but my joy is “in the Lord” as scripture says time and again.

When Being Pro-Life Isn’t Enough to Stop Abortion

When Being Pro-Life Isn’t Enough to Stop Abortion « Public Discourse: The challenge in preventing abortion of Down syndrome fetuses is not convincing mothers that their child is a human being with a right to life, but of assuring expectant mothers there will be support for their children after they are born.

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Music For The Soul - Dignity: Songs & Stories for Caregivers

Music For The Soul - Dignity: Songs & Stories for Caregivers: "Listening to Dignity is like sitting in the company of a friend who knows our hearts and has walked where we have walked; who knows our trials and blessings, joys and tears, and our fears and sorrows. This resource was created for busy caregivers who find it difficult to find the time to schedule one more thing, yet need encouragement and support and, most of all – to feel understood."

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Who are the chronically costly? Health care's 1%

amednews: Who are the chronically costly? Health care's 1% :: March 5, 2012 ... American Medical News: They are older patients with cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other serious chronic conditions. Many have multiple health problems, and their relatives might not be helping with their care. Most have private insurance, are white and female.

They are the costliest 1% of patients in the U.S. Caring for them accounts for more than 20% of what the nation spends on all of its health care.

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At Child's End of Life, Talking About Death

At Child's End of Life, Talking About Death - ABC News: Children often have some idea that their condition is serious from listening to doctors, being aware of their own bodies or even researching their disease. "Sometimes, they're already making up details in their mind about what's happening because they don't have an explanation," said Angela Locke, a child life specialist at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland. "Sometimes it's less scary when parents give the honest truth."

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Special treatment for Dutch royals

IBTimes: Dutch Prince Johan Friso, who was caught in an avalanche two weeks ago, was flown to a special clinic in London yesterday. Friso, who was buried in snow for 20 minutes, and had his heart stop beating for 50 minutes, has been in a coma due to major brain damage.

The Prince had been treated in an Innsbruck hospital in Austria since the accident. Doctors announced last week that they fear Friso will never wake up from the coma, and if he does, it may take years. The Royal Family released a statement yesterday stating that the hospital was chosen "on the recommendation of experts," and that it is the best facility for the Prince in his current state.

German media explained that this type of care would not have been possible in the Netherlands, because the only rehabilitation hospital, Leijpark Hospital in Tilburg, only treats patients who are younger than 25.

Related: Recent story on euthanasia in Holland

Changing tack: Withdraw food and water from PVS patients

BioEthics: Abstract -- "In the United States, the decision of whether to withdraw or continue to provide artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) for patients in a permanent vegetative state (PVS) is placed largely in the hands of surrogate decision-makers, such as spouses and immediate family members. This practice would seem to be consistent with a strong national emphasis on autonomy and patient-centered healthcare. When there is ambiguity as to the patient's advanced wishes, the presumption has been that decisions should weigh in favor of maintaining life, and therefore, that it is the withdrawal rather than the continuation of ANH that requires particular justification. 

"I will argue that this default position should be reversed. Instead, I will argue that the burden of justification lies with those who would continue artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH), and in the absence of knowledge as to the patient's advanced wishes, it is better to discontinue ANH. In particular, I will argue that among patients in PVS, there is not a compelling interest in being kept alive; that in general, we commit a worse violation of autonomy by continuing ANH when the patient's wishes are unknown; and that more likely than not, the maintenance of ANH as a bridge to a theoretical future time of recovery goes against the best interests of the patient." --Catherine Constable

National Right to Life commentary

Assisted-Suicide Doctor Invokes Law He Built

Daily Beast: Peter Goodwin is dying. He has corticobasal degeneration, a condition that resembles Parkinson’s disease, but takes a much more aggressive and lethal course. And so, in the very near future—maybe weeks, maybe months—Goodwin, a resident of Oregon, will use that state’s controversial Death With Dignity Act to end his own life. That Goodwin should find himself in this situation is a novelistic twist, considering that he was one of the doctors responsible for getting the law passed in the first place.

The Death With Dignity Act became legal in Oregon in 1997. Since then, more than 500 terminally ill patients have used its provisions to end their lives with their doctor’s help. The number of patients who opt for this course has increased every year since the law went into effect.

“I’ve been sort of surprised and disappointed by how slowly this process has grown, mostly because, of course, it runs in the face of most religious faiths. Because death really is the territory of the religious hierarchy, and the religious hierarchy is very intolerant to this new idea,” Goodwin says. “But why it hasn’t caught on with the mass of people is surprising for me.” And he does seem genuinely surprised. For Goodwin, this is a simple issue of personal freedom and autonomy. “And that’s what our country is based on,” he says. Since the law went into effect, Goodwin himself has assisted in the death of many patients.

Editor: A "novelistic twist" would be if a person who campaign against assisted suicide opted for it. Or, better yet, if a person who campaigned for it ultimately rejected it as a solution to his or her suffering.

Euthanasia in the Netherlands: Rick Santorum’s bogus statistics

Euthanasia in the Netherlands: Rick Santorum’s bogus statistics - The Washington Post: “In the Netherlands, people wear different bracelets if they are elderly. And the bracelet is: ‘Do not euthanize me.’ Because they have voluntary euthanasia in the Netherlands but half of the people who are euthanized — ten percent of all deaths in the Netherlands — half of those people are enthanized involuntarily at hospitals because they are older and sick. And so elderly people in the Netherlands don’t go to the hospital. They go to another country, because they are afraid, because of budget purposes, they will not come out of that hospital if they go in there with sickness.” — Former senator Rick Santorum, at the American Heartland Forum in Columbia, Missouri, Feb. 3, 2012

Life Desire Statement

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Euthanasia supporters, critics in Canada look to Dutch for evidence

Euthanasia supporters, critics in Canada look to Dutch for evidence: Six "mobile euthanasia units" will become available in the Netherlands, starting March 1, to zip around this tiny and remarkably liberal country to help Dutch citizens facing an "unbearable" and "hopeless" medical situation die in their homes.

A group of prominent citizens, meanwhile, has been lobbying since 2009 for a major expansion in the scope of Dutch assisted-death laws, allowing older people who are "tired of living" but have no serious medical problem to end it all without the involvement of a physician.

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UN sponsors first World Down Syndrome Day: greatest threat is abortion

LifeSiteNews.com: Pro-life activists say they are thrilled that the UN is sponsoring its first World Down Syndrome Day, which will be celebrated at UN Headquarters in New York on March 21, with the focal point of the day being a conference titled “Building Our Future.”

Diane Grover, co-founder of the International Down Syndrome Coalition for Life, pointed out that the greatest challenge facing people with Down syndrome “is actually being born.” She said that she hopes the international celebration will draw attention to the extremely high abortion rate for children with Downs.

76% of patients neglect end-of-life care planning

amednews: 76% of patients neglect end-of-life care planning :: Feb. 27, 2012 ... American Medical News: More than 80% of patients believe it is important to have their end-of-life wishes in writing, yet less than a quarter of them have accomplished that planning, said a survey of nearly 1,700 California adults released in February.

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Disabled Adults at Higher Risk for Violence Than Adults Without Disabilities

Disabled Adults at Higher Risk for Violence Than Adults Without Disabilities - ABC News: Mentally ill adults are at four times higher risk for violence, and adults with intellectual impairments are also particularly vulnerable.

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Grandmother left to die of thirst

Grandmother, 75 'was left to die of thirst' after nurses refused to give her enough to drink | Mail Online: Irene Seddon, 75, developed kidney failure because she was deprived of fluids for more than a week over the Christmas period. Her health deteriorated at Whiston Hospital in Merseyside (UK) and she picked up a fatal case of pneumonia, dying five weeks later in February 2006.

Hospital chiefs admitted their care failed and have paid her family a five-figure sum in compensation.

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Finding Joy in Alzheimer's

Finding Joy in Alzheimer's - NYTimes.com: Given our aging population and the Alzheimer’s epidemic, it’s essential that we reassess our thinking about the elderly and old age dementia. Certainly, a great deal of pain and hardship can accompany life’s third act (and, for that matter, any of its acts). But what I learned from my grandmother’s journey through Alzheimer’s was that my grief regarding her condition had largely to do with my failure to accept the change she was undergoing.

Robert Leleux is the author of “The Living End: A Memoir of Forgetting and Forgiving,” from St. Martin’s Press.

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