Brain dead patients could be kept alive to harvest their organs

Brain dead patients could be kept alive to harvest their organs for NHS - Telegraph: UK hospitals could be allowed to keep patients with massive brain injuries alive solely to harvest their organs. NHS Blood and Transplant is considering radical ways to increase the supply of organs - including that registered donors should receive preferential treatment. The 19 million people on the Organ Donation Register could also be given preference in the event of needing an organ, over those who are not.

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2 UC Davis Surgeons Banned From Human Research

2 UC Davis Surgeons Banned From Human Research - ABC News: Two University of California at Davis surgeons have been banned from doing human research after they injected bacteria into the head wounds of consenting terminally ill patients without university authorization.

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Controversial Down's syndrome testing gets Swiss go-ahead

Controversial Down's syndrome testing gets Swiss go-ahead - Yahoo! News Canada: Switzerland has given the green light for a new prenatal test for Down's syndrome amid controversy over whether this will lead to more abortions. Testing will be available in the country from mid-August following a decision by Swissmedic, the national agency for therapeutic products. The test, developed by life sciences company LifeCodexx, involves screening pregnant women's blood samples for the presence of foetal Down's syndrome, which is also known as trisomy 21.

Editor: This has got to be bad in a country with legal assisted suicide.


Meanwhile: Spanish pro-life group says fetal handicap law should eliminate abortion

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When The Pain Won't Go Away

Lies Young Women Believe | When The Pain Won't Go Away: It doesn't have to be physical; if you have pain that hits you day after day after day, your faith can begin to feel pretty beat up. Or ... that very same pain can be the water God uses to grow your faith into full bloom.

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Paralysed dad learning to walk again after copying his baby girl

Paralysed dad learning to walk again after copying his baby girl | News | The Christian Institute: Mark Ellis, from Derbyshire, now uses a walking aid to get around and his “speech has come on a lot” in the time since he left hospital. His wife, Amy, says the pair use books and toys to learn how to do things and communicate.

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Write to Me Only With Thine Eyes

Write to Me Only With Thine Eyes - ScienceNOW: People "locked in" by paralyzing disorders such as Lou Gehrig's disease have long relied on blinks or facial twitches to build sentences one letter at a time. But they soon might be able to take advantage of a simpler, faster mode of communication, new research suggests. With the help of an old optical illusion, people can train their eyes to write and draw in cursive on a computer screen as quickly as they can write with a pen. In addition to providing a new medium for self-expression, the technique challenges traditional ideas about the limits of human vision.

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Death With Dignity Becomes War on the Elderly in New Mexico

Death With Dignity Becomes War on the Elderly in New Mexico | LifeNews.com: Currently, Doctors Aroop Mangalik and Katherine Morris, along with cancer patient Aja Riggs, are challenging New Mexico’s pro-life ban on assisted suicide in court. They ultimately want to prove that their loophole “aid in dying” argument—giving conscious terminally ill patients lethal medicine to die—is not assisted suicide.

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Assisted Suicide Proposal: “Death Panels on Steroids”

Assisted Suicide Proposal: “Death Panels on Steroids” » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: In their NEJM article, “Redefining Physicians’ Role in Assisted  Dying,” the authors address what they see as a real problem: There aren’t enough doctors willing to participate in assisted suicide. As the authors state, “Many medical professionals are uncomfortable with the idea of physicians playing an active role in ending patient’s lives.” Furthermore, they explain that the American Medical Association and various state medical groups oppose legalization.

Oh dear, oh dear!  What to do?

“We believe there is a compelling case for legalizing assisted dying, but assisted dying need not be physician-assisted.” And how do they suggest that this hurdle between diagnosis and prescription be overcome? Simple. Take the doctor out of doctor-prescribed suicide by setting up a  government-facilitated process that will make it easier for patients to cross the River Styx.

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5 tips to ask for what you need

5 tips to ask for what you need: Oftentimes, the people who could use the most help are those who tend to think they can do it all. But everyone needs a helping hand now and then—and who among us isn’t grateful to feel needed? So the next time you start to get stuck—instead of getting more overwhelmed, practice asking for help with these simple tips. The more you go for it, the easier it will get.

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Protect Yourself in Summer Heat

Online Buzz: Protect Yourself in Summer Heat: Although anyone can succumb to heat-related illness, people over 65 are at higher risk, partly because they don’t sweat as efficiently and have decreased circulation. To keep seniors safe in summer heat, try following these tips.

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Letting Go: The Healing Power of Grief

Letting Go: The Healing Power of Grief: Grief is the emotional process we go through when we lose a loved one. Though people who are grieving do not necessarily move precisely through set stages of grief, grieving does have some common characteristics.

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Law designed to prevent drug shortages should bring peace of mind to parents of kids with cancer

Law designed to prevent drug shortages should bring peace of mind to parents of kids with cancer, Grand Rapids doctor says | MLive.com: For several years, doctors and parents caring for children with cancer have had to cope with sudden, unpredictable shortages of the drugs needed to treat the disease. Now, changes designed to provide a more consistent supply of medication are providing peace of mind for caregivers.

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Mute Girl Thought to Be Mentally Retarded Finds her Voice

Mute Girl Thought to Be Mentally Retarded Finds her Voice: Carly can't speak. Many people called her dumb or mentally retarded. But after she turned 11 years old, she discovered something truly incredible and found her voice. This is a must see video.

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Study: Parents of Kids With Disabilities Beating Abortion Culture

Study: Parents of Kids With Disabilities Beating Abortion Culture | LifeNews.com: A new study published this week in the highly accredited pediatric medicine journal, Pediatrics, reveals social networks are trumping the medical establishment. The study is entitled The Experience of Families with Children with Trisomy 13 and 18 in Social Networks. It shows families are proving to the medical community that their children’s lives, no matter how long, have value and are worthy of care and treatment.

From the abstract: "Parents reported being told that their child was incompatible with life (87%), would live a life of suffering (57%), would be a vegetable (50%), or would ruin their family (23%). . . . Parents who engage with parental support groups may discover an alternative positive description about children with T13-18. Disagreements about interventions may be the result of different interpretations between families and providers about the experiences of disabled children and their quality of life."

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition newsletter online

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition newsletter

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'Why me, God?' Understanding Suffering

'Why me, God?' Understanding Suffering, by Donel O'Mathuna: Many of the current ethical dilemmas in medicine revolve around suffering. Those experiencing suffering, and watching others suffer, propose ways to deal with the pain. . . . Assisted suicide and euthanasia are proposed as solutions for those suffering too much. New technology is often developed to help people avoid suffering. . . . The lengths to which society goes to avoid suffering reflects an inability to deal with its very existence and to understand the redemptive role it can play in life.

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Responding to Patients in the Persistent Vegetative State - an ethical and legal dilemma

Responding to Patients in the Persistent Vegetative State - an ethical and legal dilemma, by Donel O'Mathuna: There is naturally some alienation between us and those in conditions we do not experience or understand. This is very pronounced with those in PVS. But we can alienate them even more when we classify them abstractly. Even the word "vegetative" in PVS alienates them from us. God has reached across the alienation between us and him. We are similarly called to reach out to the strangers of the world, even those around whom we feel uncomfortable (2 Cor 5:16-21). As we attempt to image him truthfully, we ought to reach across the barriers to those in PVS. Our concern should be how we can act as neighbors towards these patients who are strangers to us in profound ways. In doing so, we may be surprised that they respond more like an image of God than our abstract speculation might predict.

For example, when PVS patients in one nursing home were treated more like persons, they responded accordingly. Often the simplest things made the biggest differences. In most institutions PVS patients continually lie in bed in the same room. As the director of this home stated, "We have found that adequate seating has improved awareness and arousal. . . . Our first object is to get them sitting up. It is amazing the response this produces. Body tone improves, head control appears. They look around and may focus on objects or companions."

. . . Those of us who believe that artificially administered food and fluids should be given to PVS patients may soon be called to pay for it ourselves. The pro-life movement has realized that responding to abortion must include providing shelter and resources to those who choose to keep their babies. If death is redefined to include PVS, private funding will be needed to care for these patients. This will be the price we will pay for upholding the preciousness of all human life.

Our God is in the business of protecting and nourishing broken, discarded lives which seem to have little meaning. He can use these tragedies to let his glory shine into a dark and painful world. His images should respond likewise.

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'Medical Foods' and Supplements for Brain Health Advance

WSJ: As pharmaceutical companies struggle to devise new drugs to treat symptoms of dementia, a host of supplements and products called "medical foods" purporting to improve cognitive function are advancing toward the market.

Unlike drugs, medical foods and more common supplements aren't allowed to claim they help cure illnesses. Medical foods are meant to be used under a doctor's guidance to tackle a specific nutritional deficiency stemming from a disease, often in conjunction with pharmaceuticals to treat the particular ailment. They aren't regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and undergo much less stringent testing than drugs. Some manufacturers require patients to get a doctor's prescription to use medical foods, but not always.

Big food companies see opportunities in medical foods. On Thursday, Nestlé SA said it bought a stake in Accera, maker of milkshakes for Alzheimer's disease patients. And last week at the Alzheimer's Association conference in Vancouver, Canada, French food giant Group Danone SA said a study showed its investigational medical food, Souvenaid, could improve cognitive functioning.

It's expensive to support the disabled -- suicide kits are $39.95

It's expensive to support the disabled -- suicide kits are $39.95 - Winnipeg Free Press: The insidious bottom line is this -- last I looked, a take-home euthanasia kit in Oregon cost $39.95. That's a whole lot less expensive than providing someone with the supports they need to cope with the loss resulting from having a disability, and then providing them with the means to get on with the matters of daily living. It's way cheaper to let people suffer, or cut back services so life is untenable, or subtly convince people with disabilities that they have lives that aren't worth living. Imagine being inundated with the message that you have a right to end your miserable, burdensome, devalued life, because, really, it's your choice. Unfortunately, some people with disabilities are starting to drink that Kool-Aid.

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Commemorating 45 Years of Quadriplegia

Commemorating 45 Years of Quadriplegia | Blog | Joni and Friends: She was only 17 when it happened. A young and vibrant Joni Eareckson Tada snapped her neck in a reckless diving accident, leaving her paralyzed. Faced with life in a wheelchair, Joni could barely hold on to hope. But today, 45 years later, Joni is living out her life serving Christ and people affected by disability. So, how did Joni go from despair and depression to leading a thriving disability ministry? Learn more about Joni’s story through the film that has captivated millions around the world—Joni.

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Doubts emerge about Dutch guidelines for terminal sedation

BioEdge: Doubts emerge about Dutch guidelines for terminal sedation: Should deep, continuous sedation at the end of life really be treated as normal medical practice in the Netherlands, ask three Dutch authors in the Journal of Medical Ethics. Although they do not appear to oppose euthanasia, they argue that “morally problematic aspects inherent to palliative sedation do not get the attention they deserve” under current Guidelines for Palliative Sedation by the Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG).

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2 neurosurgeons banned over experiments on dying patients

2 neurosurgeons banned from human research: A prominent neurosurgeon at the University of California, Davis, was banned from performing medical research on humans after he and a colleague were accused of experimenting on dying brain cancer patients without university permission. Documents show the surgeons got the consent of three terminally ill patients with malignant brain tumors to introduce bacteria into their open head wounds, under the theory that postoperative infections might prolong their lives. Two of the patients developed sepsis and died, the university later determined.

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Right-to-die movement has split into two warring camps

Right-to-die movement has split into two warring camps, says Nitschke | NRL News Today: The right-to-die movement has split into two warring camps, according to Australian euthanasia activist Dr Philip Nitschke. Speaking at the annual conference of right-to-die societies in Zurich, he complained that half of the world federation’s board were critical of his attempts to create a do-it-yourself suicide technology and preferred to trudge along the slow path of legislative change. He denounced them as “as luddites in the face of scientifically-driven technological innovation.”

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Medical Nightmare: Doctors won’t let wife act on behalf of ailing husband

Medical Nightmare: Doctors won’t let wife act on behalf of ailing husband | LifeSiteNews.com: An Ontario woman is crying foul after a team of doctors effectively denied her legal right to act on behalf of her husband who was hospitalized after a stroke. Marilyn met with her husband’s team of doctors who not only refused to change his drug regimen, but threatened that if she did not comply with the drug plan, she would loose her legal power of attorney over her husband.

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Nitschke Doubles Down on Death-on-Demand

Nitschke Doubles Down on Death-on-Demand » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: The assisted suicide movement is so full of pretense. It is “only” about terminal illness when nothing else can be done to end suffering, they coo. Baloney. Well, it is only for the “hopelessly ill.” Baloney. Once one accept the ideology of euthanasia, the only question is how long it takes to get to the death-on-demand terminus.

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A letter from Sherri - Thank you for trying to protect my life.

ALEX SCHADENBERG: A letter from Sherri - Thank you for trying to protect my life.:

"My name is Sherri, I am 32 years old and require a wheelchair. . . . I have read of more cases in both the U.S and Netherlands where innocent people have been murdered under 'assisted suicide' or euthanasia laws and it terrifies me to the core that once again there is fight to legalize this here in Canada. As a person with disabilities I struggle with the lack of accessibility and discrimination but I do love life and want nothing more than to live. A law like this is scarey and if it passes I don't think I could seek any further medical care. I have an abusive family who would love to take advantage of such a law. Thank you again for trying to protect my right to live!"

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Afraid of Spiritual Darkness? Sing a Victory Song!

Afraid of Spiritual Darkness? Sing a Victory Song! | Radio | Joni and Friends: Are you afraid of the dark, like dark thoughts or dark moments? Well, consider singing a song of victory to combat the forces of the enemy. Sing today if you feel darkness.

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Doctors Kill In 14% of Dutch Deaths

Doctors Kill In 14% of Dutch Deaths » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: Articles have celebrated the official 2.8% euthanasia rate. But that doesn’t include assisted suicide (0.2) and the fact that 23% of euthanasia deaths are unreported. So, that brings the official count to about 3.5%. . . . But Wesley Smith's research indicates that about 2% of terminal cases require palliative sedation, which is not killing because it is done at the very end of life and death comes from the disease, not dehydration. Using that figure, about 10% of Dutch deaths were TS slow motion euthanasia. That raises the killing count to nearly 14%.

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Strasbourg hits euthanasia ball back into German courts

Strasbourg hits euthanasia ball back into German courts | News | DW.DE | 19.07.2012: The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that it's up to individual countries to decide on euthanasia.

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47 hours with a prince

47 hours with a prince | LifeSiteNews.com: Hannah recounts being tired and frazzled after the birth of her son, who had been given only a short time to live. She confessed to not knowing how to handle a child that was slipping away. Her husband showed her how. He gently took his son and said, “Well, mate, you’re still here for a reason. And as long as you are still here, I am going to serve you as best I can.” He cradled him and swabbed his dry lips. Read their book, 47 Hours With a Prince.

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3-part Alzheimer’s education series

Week 1 – Tuesday, August 7, 2012 2:00-4:00 PM
Understanding Alzheimer’s Disease & Other Dementias
Scott Halstead, PhD, Clinical Neuropsychologist, Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services

• Tips for getting a diagnosis
• Latest information on treatment and research developments

Week 2 – Tuesday, August 14, 2:00-4:00 PM
Legal and Financial Issues
Shawn Weera, Elder Law Attorney

• Tips for making financial and medical decisions on behalf of a person with dementia
• Planning for future care needs: understanding Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans Benefits

Week 3 – Tuesday, August 21, 2:00-4:00 PM
Strategies for Navigating the Dementia Journey
Rachel Bontje, Program Coordinator, Alzheimer’s Association

• Tips for successfully interacting with a person with dementia
• Practical solutions to the daily challenges of caring for someone with memory loss

For reservations or more information call: 616-459-4558 or 800-272-3900
At John Knox Presbyterian Church, 150 Kalamazoo Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49508
A donation of $10 per person (or family) per session appreciated.

IVF pregnancies terminated because of Down's syndrome

IVF pregnancies terminated because of Down's syndrome - Telegraph: Figures reportedly show that the genetic disorder was the most commonly given reason for terminating a pregnancy achieved [in the UK] through IVF-type treatment in 2009, the most recent year for which data is available.

Editor: This article is somewhat confusing, because it talks about babies conceived in test tubes (IVF) but tested during pregnancy. There's no mention of preimplantation genetic testing (PGD) which is routinely done with IVF to screen out abnormalities. In other words, defective embryos are discarded (I thought) so none are implanted in a woman's uterus. This story is disheartening, but an abortion prior to implantation is still an abortion. And genetic testing prior to implantation also yields "designer babies."

Related: Disabled children often victimized more

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Children With Disabilities Are Victimized More Often

Children With Disabilities Are Victimized More Often - NYTimes.com: Children with disabilities are almost four times more likely to be victims of violence than other children, according to a new report commissioned by the World Health Organization.

The report, published in The Lancet on Thursday, found that disabled children were 3.6 times more likely to be physically assaulted and 2.9 times more likely to be sexually assaulted. The most common victims of sexual assault were those with mental illness or retardation, and institutionalized children were attacked more often than those living at home.

Editor: Could the reason for the abuse be an extension of the cavalier attitude society holds toward the unborn disabled baby?

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The Lancet proves euthanasia deaths are rising in The Netherlands

The Lancet proves euthanasia deaths are rising in The Netherlands | LifeSiteNews.com: The media decided to ignore the significant growth in the number of euthanasia deaths since 2005, by reporting that the current percentage of euthanasia deaths in the Netherlands is similar to the percentage of euthanasia deaths in 2001, before it was officially legalized.

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Dehydrate dementia patients to death to save money

Dehydrate dementia patients to death to save money: British Medical Journal editorial | LifeSiteNews.com: Raanan Gillon, emeritus professor of medical ethics and former chairman of the Institute of Medical Ethics governing body, wrote that a ruling last year by the High Court against dehydrating an incapacitated patient to death was “profoundly disturbing” because it took the life and death decision-making power out of the hands of doctors and required that the principle of the “sanctity of life” take precedence over other considerations.

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Why disabilities?

Why disabilities? | HeadHeartHand Blog: There are 600 million people with disabilities in the world? Why so many? What’s God’s purpose in this?

God’s purpose? Surely a good God has nothing to do with people having disabilities?

Yet, in Exodus 4:11, God claims a role in disability: “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?”

But why? Why disability, Lord? What’s your purpose?

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Free ebook: Weak and Loved

Doctor accused of ending patients' lives prematurely

Doctor accused of ending patients' lives prematurely - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): There are calls for a Queensland doctor to be stripped of his right to practise medicine and investigated over allegations he prematurely ended the lives of patients under his care. Former Queensland Medical Board investigator Jo Barber says the doctor's actions are so dangerous he could have been charged with manslaughter or murder.

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Assisted Dying: Experts Debate Doctor's Role

Assisted Dying: Experts Debate Doctor's Role - ABC News: Instead of prescribing the life-ending medication, physicians should only be responsible for diagnosing patients as terminally ill, advocates say. Terminally ill patients should then be able to pick up the medication from a state-approved center, similar to medical marijuana dispensaries. But assisted dying advocates say doctors should be involved in the dying.

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Oregon Assisted Suicide Not “Last Resort”

Oregon Assisted Suicide Not “Last Resort” » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: The New England Journal of Medicine has long advocated assisted suicide in its pages. It now has a piece supposedly rebutting opponents of legalizing assisted suicide in Oregon. For example, it says that assisted suicide was not carried out on people with mental illnesses. How we would know, since death doctors referred only a couple of suicidal patients for a mental health “consultation” in the last several years, the article doesn’t say. Moreover, the state statistics are a joke, since they are mostly dependent on physician self reporting.

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Dutch doctors turn to ‘continuous deep sedation’ to keep official euthanasia figures low

Christian Medical Comment: The Lancet report showing that euthanasia rates have not increased in the Netherlands since legalisation in 2002 will no doubt be seized upon by enthusiasts for decriminalisation in the UK and elsewhere but the figures are not at all what they seem at first sight and the press release sent out by the journal is selective and misleading in its reporting of the facts.

If you read the press release sent by the Lancet (reproduced by Medical Xpress) it all seems cut and dried. . . . But if you read the abstract along with the full article and accompanying comment you get a very different picture altogether.

The key fact which should alert people to something odd going on is the reference to ‘continuous deep sedation’ in the Netherlands which appears in the article’s abstract but tellingly (and perhaps even disingenuously) not in the Lancet press release.

The abstract states, ‘Continuous deep sedation until death occurred more frequently in 2010 (12.3% [11.6—13.1; 789 of 6861]) than in 2005 (8.2% [7.8—8.6; 521 of 9965]).’ But what was the rate of ‘continuous deep sedation until death’ in 2001 and previously?

On examining the article we learn from table 1 that it was not measured in 1990 and 1995 and was 5.6% in 2001. In other words there has been a steady increase in this category of cases which in 2010 accounted for 16,700 deaths. Over the same period the number of deaths after ‘intensified alleviation of symptoms’ has also increased from 20.1% to 36.4% and now accounts for over 49,500 deaths annually.

Levels of Dutch euthanasia have changed little since 2002 legalization, study finds

Levels of Dutch euthanasia have changed little since 2002 legalization, study finds - The Washington Post: A summary published Wednesday on The Lancet magazine’s website said that “in 2010, of all deaths in the Netherlands, 2.8 percent were the result of euthanasia. This is higher than the 1.7 percent in 2005, but comparable with (levels seen) in 2001 and 1995.”

Analysis: Dutch doctors turn to ‘continuous deep sedation’ to keep official euthanasia figures low

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End of Life Decisions 101

bioethics.com » End of Life Decisions 101: The care of patients near the end of life can be ethically challenging. Physicians and other health care professionals may find certain concepts vague and hard to understand. Furthermore, there must be a balance between two extremes: a treat-at-all-costs vitalism on the one hand, and a too-rapid withdrawal of potentially beneficial treatments on the other. The purpose of this article is to provide some conceptual clarity.

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Euthanasia Versus Letting Die: Christian Decision-Making in Terminal Patients

By Dennis M. Sullivan, M.D., Cedarville University: The care of terminal patients is often difficult and ethically challenging. The standards of competent and compassionate care that characterized a previous generation seem to be wavering, replaced by a post-modern mélange of newer conflicting theories and ethical values.

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Welcome to Mourning 2.0

Welcome to Mourning 2.0: Technological advances have dramatically altered how we grieve for and memorialize the dead. In this new era, the bereaved readily share their sorrow via Facebook comments. They light virtual candles on memorial websites, upload video tributes to YouTube and express sadness through online funeral home guest books. Mourners affix adhesive-backed barcodes or "QR code" chips to tombstones so visitors can pull up photos and videos with a scan of a smartphone.

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Hospitals 'letting patients die to save money’

Hospitals 'letting patients die to save money’ - Telegraph: Tens of thousands of patients with terminal illnesses are placed on a “death pathway” to help end their lives every year. However, in a letter to The Daily Telegraph, six doctors warn that hospitals may be using the controversial scheme to reduce strain on hospital resources. Supporters of the Liverpool Care Pathway, which allows medical staff to withhold fluid and drugs in a patient’s final days, claim it is the kindest way of letting them slip away. But the experts say in their letter that natural deaths are often freer of pain and distress.

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Minority patients less interested in hospice care

Minority patients less interested in hospice care - amednews.com: Nonwhite patients were 20% less likely to enter hospice care. The disparities in end-of-life care did not end there. Among patients who opted for hospice, minorities were likelier to visit the emergency department and stay in the intensive care unit. Nonwhites also were about 40% likelier to disenroll — or leave — hospice, the study said. A common reason why patients disenroll is that they want more aggressive treatment.

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Songs may hold key for injured brains

Songs may hold key for injured brains: Music can help patients with severe traumatic brain injury unlock memories from their past, a new study has shown.

Related:
First Steps for TBI and Stroke Patients
Bringing Andrea back from brain injury: a father's story

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Physician's Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment: Helpful or a New Threat?

Physician's Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment: Helpful or a New Threat? | Daily News | NCRegister.com: Some ethicists see stronger danger at end of life with new form that patients can sign. 'A living will on steroids.'

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Should We Kill Alzheimer’s Patients?

Should We Kill Alzheimer’s Patients? » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: A very disturbing article in New York Magazine by Michael Wolff.  It tells the difficult story of his mother’s dementia, a course of physical and mental decline about which I am very familiar as my uncle died from the complications of that Alzheimer’s disease. But Wolff says that such patients have lost dignity, and indeed, he more than implies the proper approach to dealing with dementia is to kill them sooner rather than bear the emotional and financial expense of caring for them over the long term.

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Be aware: Coordinated bid to change end-of-life laws

Be aware: Coordinated bid to change end-of-life laws | News | The Christian Institute: Dr Peter Saunders, one of Britain’s leading opponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide, says a synchronized assault has been launched on the courts, the media, the medical profession and Parliament.

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Patient dying of thirst rang police

Daily Mail: Nurses forgot to give Kane Gorny his medication and he became so delirious he called 999. His mother said she spent hours trying to convince staff he needed attention but was told he was all right. Alarm finally raised an hour before his death when a doctor realised how serious his condition was

34 Lessons Learned From Thinking My Son Had Leukemia

34 Lessons Learned From Thinking My Son Had Leukemia | LifeNews.com: "It turns out Noah is fine, and cancer free. I could go on and on about how scared we were today, how my wife and I both cried, and how fearful we were, but to be honest I’m physically and mentally exhausted after today. I wanted to share just a few things I learned today, in no particular order."

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When you're dead, you're dead; when you're 'brain dead,' you're alive

When you're dead, you're dead; when you're 'brain dead,' you're alive | ALL.org: The medical doctors who believe that “brain death” is equivalent to death are basically saying that “brain-dead” patients are the same as dead patients. Yet, there are significant differences between a “brain-dead” patient and a truly dead patient.

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Perfect Gifts for Hospital Visits

Perfect Gifts for Hospital Visits - CarePages.com: These ideas will help you choose gifts for a friend or family member who's in the hospital or recovering that will brighten their spirits and help ease their recovery.

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Prenatal genetic screening "may be inaccurate"

Prenatal genetic screening "may be inaccurate": American experts have developed a blood test which they say could be used to screen foetuses routinely for over 3,000 conditions like muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis. However, the researchers acknowledged the ability to predict the genetic code of a foetus at 18 weeks could lead to "many ethical questions" because it might lead to more abortions.

Some British experts have warned that the test -- still many years from clinical use -- may be more of a harm than a help because in many cases it would be difficult to predict how a mutation might affect children and how acute their disability might be. Others argued that any information parents can obtain to help them prepare for possible eventualities once the child is born should not be withheld.

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Denmark quietly debates euthanasia

BioEdge: Denmark quietly debates euthanasia: The Danish Parliament’s advisory panel on ethics seems to be slowing warming to the idea, according to an article in the Copenhagen Post. In 1997 and in 2003 the panel dismissed the idea. However, at its May meeting this year, there was a heated debate.

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Parents would have aborted daughter with cystic fibrosis: judge gives green light to sue

Parents who would have aborted daughter with cystic fibrosis sue: judge gives green light | LifeSiteNews.com: A girl born with cystic fibrosis is at the center of a lawsuit filed by her Montana parents, who claim they would have aborted their girl had they known of her chances of having the disability. Judge Mike Salvagni ruled that the parents, Kerrie and Joe Evans, are free to move forward with their lawsuit.

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Woman appeals for daughter’s mercy killing

The Hindu : States / Tamil Nadu : Woman appeals for daughter’s mercy killing: The grievances redress meeting held every Monday at the District Collectorate saw an unusual petition being submitted. Among many requests for protection of lives and livelihood, this one appealed for ending a 14-year-old girl’s life. And the appeal came from none other than the girl’s mother.

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