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Showing posts with label euthanasia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label euthanasia. Show all posts
Friday, June 10, 2016
Should happy demented people be euthanized? Yes, say German and Dutch bioethicists!
Sunday, May 15, 2016
The woman killed by doctors because she was obsessed with cleaning
The woman killed by doctors because she was obsessed with cleaning: Just one of growing numbers of Dutch people given the right to euthanasia because of mental, not terminal, illness
- A Dutch woman called Jackie, 45, has been haunted by horrific memories
- Her mental state has worsened and she now wants to die by euthanasia
- She approached an end-of-life clinic and is now on the waiting list
- It comes after a Dutch sex abuse victim was allowed to choose euthanasia
A woman called Jackie, 45, has been placed on a Dutch euthanasia clinic's waiting list after approaching them because she was haunted by horrific memories and wanted to die
She is a conventional mother who enjoys life with her two children and husband in a farming town 100 miles away from Holland's razzmatazz capital of Amsterdam. Helena waves her youngsters off to school every morning, puts their dinner on the table at night and strongly values the importance of her close-knit family.
The 40-year-old's gentle lifestyle could not be further removed from the euthanasia industry which has given Holland a notorious reputation all over the world. The latest figures show that last year 5,516 Dutch people — including children — were legally killed by lethal injection administered by doctors trained to do the task with rapid efficiency.
Helena is now dealing with the revelation that her sister Jackie wants to die by euthanasia, too. This follows a traumatic childhood experience when she was sexually abused at five years old and developed depression as a result.
Haunted by the horrific memories, 12 years ago Jackie became so ill that she quit her job as a manager in the pharmaceutical industry. As her mental state got worse, she tried to commit suicide by overdosing on pills and was only saved after being taken to hospital.
Brutal electric shock treatment prescribed by psychiatrists to stop the depression didn't work. Next, Jackie went to numerous mental health clinics but none could find a cure. Her GP could do nothing more.
As her depression worsened, she stopped talking, even to her own family. Slipping into this silent world, her physical strength sapped, too, because she lay in bed and rarely went out.
Now she can take only a couple of steps on her own and relies on a mobility scooter if she makes a rare trip out with family or friends.
Helena told the Mail: 'Jackie is only 45 but dearly wants to die. Our family believes she must be allowed to do so. She approached an end-of-life clinic and it has put her on the waiting list for an appointment.
'Her mood has brightened since. She knows there is an end in sight to her suffering and this has given her comfort.'
Jackie's tragic story emerged after her family put a message on Facebook this week sympathising with a very similar case to her sister's. A Dutch woman, in her 20s, last year opted for euthansia after developing mental health problems brought on by having been sexually abused as a young girl.
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According to the Dutch Euthanasia Commission, which monitors the mercy killings, the woman was suffering from a litany of ailments: 'incurable' post-traumatic stress disorder, 'therapy resistant' anorexia, suicidal mood swings, tendencies to self-harm, hallucinations and chronic depression.
Psychiatrists could find no permanent cure.
The woman also became almost entirely bedridden and told doctors that her life was 'unbearable'. They then agreed to give her a lethal injection after a team of independent consultants ruled that she was competent to make the decision to end her own life.
Details of the controversial case were released by the Dutch authorities this week in an effort to prove to critics of the country's liberal euthanasia laws that doctors only carry it out under strict guidelines.
The process involves a patient submitting a request to die to a doctor who, in turn, must agree they are in a medically hopeless condition, suffering 'unbearably', either physically or — contentiously — mentally. Above all, they must have no hope of improvement.
The request then goes to an ethics committee which makes a decision, normally within a week.
This is a photograph of a euthanasia clinic in The Hague. Euthanasia laws were introduced in the Netherlands in 2002. In 2015, there were more than 5,000 euthanasia deaths
Currently, 4 per cent of the 140,000 or so deaths a year in Holland are the result of doctor-assisted suicide and the tally is rising.
In particular, increasing numbers of Dutch people with mental illness demand euthanasia. In 2010, two people with such conditions had their lives ended with the figure increasing to 56 last year.
Of those deaths, 36 were conducted by doctors from Amsterdam's End Of Life clinic which has a lengthy waiting list and sends mobile euthanasia teams across Holland to help patients die in their own homes.
The clinic is run by Steven Pleiter, the former European director of an American IT company, who told me in Amsterdam this week: 'One of the reasons the clinic was set up was to help the 'forgotten ones' who wish for euthanasia but get denied it.
'This is a huge group: those with dementia, the elderly with no clear medical diagnosis and those with psychological problems.'
Soft-spoken and with the air of a doctor (despite his non-medical background), Pleiter says his clinic had 1,234 applications for help last year, a third of them from people with psychiatric problems.
Significantly, many of the mentally-ill patients had already been rejected for euthanasia by their own GPs. He explained: 'If someone has cancer and the prognosis is poor, doctors will shorten their suffering by euthanasia.
'But if you cannot see what a patient is dying of, or know when they will die — it could be many years ahead if the person is mentally ill — then the doctors find it more difficult to decide whether to end a life.'
So Pleiter's team offers to fill this gap. He got into the right-to-die business when his mother suffered a stroke at 80 and was left paralysed down one half of her body. She had always told him that if such an eventuality happened, she wanted to be helped to die.
Her son could do nothing to fulfil that wish, and she struggled on for another four difficult years before getting pneumonia and passing away.
The memory stays with him. 'What our clinic provides is a miracle for some people,' he says. 'They are always very eager when the moment to die comes. The doctor comes in and says it is the time. They find it is a big relief to let go because it is the end of their suffering.'
After the clinic opened in 2012, its first psychiatric patient was a 54-year-old woman who had mysophobia (a pathological fear of germs or dirt). She, like other End Of Life patients, was killed at home after first being injected with a strong sedative and then a muscle relaxant which stops the heart.
Gerty Casteelen, one of the clinic's psychiatrists, conducted eight hours of interviews with her before deciding that she really wished to die. 'It was a long process', the medic recalls. 'I came to understand that her fears completely controlled her life.
'All she could do all day was clean. It was impossible for her to maintain a relationship. Her whole development had stalled.'
The patient wanted to die in the evening, at 11 minutes past eight, in her own home. (She chose the very precise time for reasons she kept to herself.)
She had already prepared the invitation cards for her memorial and had bought champagne for the four women who would watch her death. The quartet were psychiatrist Ms Casteelen who would kill her, an assisting nurse from the End Of Life clinic, the patient's GP and a close friend.
Ms Casteelen recalls that the patient was wearing grey pyjamas and says she was happy and relaxed.
'At eight o'clock, I said: 'We have to start preparing things now. She replied: 'No. I would like another glass of champagne.' We asked her if she still wanted to die. She told us how she had been looking forward to this moment; how she was going to be free.'
Ms Casteelen then went about her work. She began to put a sedative drip in the woman's arm. 'We wished her well on her journey. She fell asleep very quickly. That's when I put the muscle relaxant into her.'
This week, another of the End Of Life clinic's psychiatrists, Paulan Stärcke, spoke at a pro-euthanasia conference in Amsterdam attended by doctors and scientists from all over the world.
Her speech was entitled 'Condemned to live with unbearable psychiatric suffering, or allowed to die?'
Ms Stärcke showed a film featuring the family of a Dutch woman with post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic depression and a personality disorder, who — aged just 34 — chose euthanasia even though her own daughter was a toddler aged only three. She explained that the little girl was living with her father, whom her mother had divorced. After the woman's euthanasia, her toddler daughter attended her mother's funeral.
Ms Stärcke says that she was sure that the woman 'would commit suicide if I didn't help her to die'. The psychiatrist continued: 'I talked to her parents a year after her death.
'They expressed gratitude that their daughter's life ended in this way and not in a violent one (by suicide).
'You can prepare for death by euthanasia, you can say goodbye. It can be a loving memory, not only hurt, as suicide is only hurt.
'Euthanasia is a good death for the person who dies and it carries out the wish of the patient.'
The way these medical experts speak makes euthanasia sound as simple as any other hospital treatment. Yet is there another, much more worrying, side to all this?
Many people are appalled, fearing that legalising mercy-killing is a slippery slope, leading to many more deaths than law-makers intend. They say that this is why it was right that British MPs rejected Lord Falconer's Assisted Dying Bill last year.
The measure would have made it legal for a terminally ill person to request assistance with ending their life in Britain if diagnosed as having less than six months to live.
There is another worrying issue. Research shows that 70 per cent of those with psychiatric problems which the Dutch clinic helps to die are women. A quarter of them are under 50.
Many of the clinic's mentally-ill patients — male ones, too — have already tried to commit suicide on numerous occasions, and more than 30 per cent have been refused help to die by doctors in the past, often because that desire may be linked to their psychiatric disorder.
Earlier this week, alarm bells sounded in Britain when the Mail revealed details of the young Dutch sex abuse victim's decision to die in her 20s.
Tory MP Fiona Bruce, the chairman of the Parliamentary All-Party Pro-Life Group, said: 'This tragic situation shows why euthanasia should never be legalised in Britain. What this woman needed, at a desperate point in her young life, was help and support to overcome her problems, not this option.'
Labour MP Robert Feldo said the 'horrendous' case 'sends out the message that if you are the victim of sex abuse and, as a result, you get a mental illness, you are punished by being killed; that the punishment for the crime of being a victim is death'.
For their part, the right-to-die campaigners argue that Lord Falconer's Bill proposed more safeguards than exist in Holland.
They claim that every fortnight, one Briton has to go abroad to use a euthanasia clinic (normally in Switzerland or Belgium), and this 'death tourism' will continue unless the UK has its own assisted dying law.
They believe it would not result in more people being killed, but fewer people suffering.
In contrast to Holland, only those who are deemed mentally competent would be allowed to end their lives prematurely in the UK.
Which brings us back to Helena, whose depressed sister Jackie plans to die soon with the help of doctors from the End Of Life clinic in Amsterdam.
For many years, her family have lived in dread of a police officer arriving at their door to tell them that Jackie had committed suicide.
Helena says: 'We are sure what my sister wants is a good thing for her. Our own doctors say her condition is untreatable and there is no cure for her.
'She has the right to make up her own mind about dying and the clinic has offered her hope of peace at last.'
That may be the case for Jackie, but it will give no peace of mind to those who have profound worries about any prospect of large-scale, state-sanctioned, euthanasia in this country.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3589929/The-woman-killed-doctors-obsessed-cleaning-Horrifying-Yes-s-just-one-growing-numbers-Dutch-men-women-given-right-euthanasia-mental-not-terminal-illness.html#ixzz48iVU2zof
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Tuesday, August 4, 2015
You might want to take a look at this....
You might want to take a look at this....
Sent: Monday, August 3, 2015 11:39 AM
Subject: Re: [alert] Medscape: Assisted Suicide for Mental Illness Gaining Ground
Thank you Nancy for your brief summary of the key things that you noted in this article, and the position it takes on the subject generally.
It would be very useful if everyone who submits an article or link on the Alert1000 network could give readers a similar brief comment about the article's salient points. It doesn't have to be comprehensive, just state whatever struck you that makes the recommended article a worthwhile read.
With a preamble comment to the article like the one you did here, readers don't don't get confused trying to figure out whether it's straight PR nonsense from the death camp enthusiasts or if it's something else like slyly written academic/industry opinions or media white-wash, or a rare gem of wisdom from someone with knowledge, judgment and considered judgment. People are much more likely to read an article if they are given a brief description of why it's being submitted.
Comment: Note that the article admits that “Euthanasia (referred to as assisted suicide in the Netherlands and Luxembourg, where it is also legal in cases involving suffering due to medical and psychiatric illness) has been legal since 2002 in Belgium, and the law was extended in 2014 to include emancipated children with suffering due to terminal illness.”With the criticism that very few assisted suicide requesters in the US are being referred for psychological/psychiatric consultations, this article tries to make the case that mental illness itself can be grounds for assisted suicide when it causes "unbearable or untreatable suffering". “However, the definition is acknowledged to be subjective”, according to one of the doctors involved.Unfortunately, the countries in Europe that have legalized euthanasia/assisted suicide apparently are the “canaries in the mine” warning us of a relentless march towards the acceptance of euthanasia on demand in the US.Nancy V.Assisted Suicide for Mental Illness Gaining GroundNancy A. MelvilleJuly 31, 2015
- Assisted Suicide for Dementia or Those 'Tired of Living'?
- Assisted-Suicide Ban Struck Down in Canada
- Great Britain Ponders Physician-Assisted Suicide
A first-of-its-kind report offers insights into the characteristics and outcomes of requests for euthanasia on the grounds of suffering related to psychiatric illness in Belgium, where it is legal in that country."This retrospective study draws attention to and deepens our understanding of the circumstances of a rather small but severely afflicted subgroup of psychiatric patients," the study authors, led by Lieve Thienpont, PhD, of University Hospital, in Brussels, Belgium, write.Euthanasia (referred to as assisted suicide in the Netherlands and Luxembourg, where it is also legal in cases involving suffering due to medical and psychiatric illness) has been legal since 2002 in Belgium, and the law was extended in 2014 to include emancipated children with suffering due to terminal illness.Through a required process, patients must show their illness to cause "unbearable or untreatable suffering"; however, the definition is acknowledged to be subjective, Dr Thienpont told Medscape Medical News."By its nature, the extent to which the suffering is unbearable must be determined from the perspective of the patient him- or herself and may depend on his or her physical and mental strength and personality," said Dr Thienpont.The study was published online July 27 in BMJ Open."Unbearable" SufferingTo better understand the characteristics of euthanasia requests due to mental illness, Dr Thienpont and colleagues evaluated 100 consecutive requests that were based on suffering associated with psychiatric disorders between October 2007 and December 2011.The patients included 77 women and 23 men (mean age, 47 years; range, 21 - 80 years).About half (48) of the requests were accepted, and 35 were carried out. Among the remaining 13 requests that were approved, eight patients either postponed or canceled the procedure on the grounds that "simply having this option gave them enough peace of mind to continue living," the authors report.As of a follow-up in December 2012, six patients whose requests had not been approved died as the result of suicide, one of palliative sedation and one of anorexia nervosa.Most of the 100 patients (91) had been referred to either psychiatric counseling or counseling in a program called the Life End Information Forum.Ninety of the 100 patients had more than one disorder; the most common diagnoses were depression (n = 58) and personality disorder (n = 50). Thirteen of the patients were tested for autistic spectrum disorders, and 12 were diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome.Seventy-three of the patients had been deemed medically unfit to work, and 59 were living alone.The analysis is the first report of a relatively large series of requests for euthanasia on the grounds of mental health suffering, Dr Thienpont said."We found that when considering patients' demands seriously, most do find a way to continue with their life," Dr Thienpont said."We also found that some patients postpone or cancel their euthanasia request or procedure themselves, saying that knowing they have the option to proceed with euthanasia gave them sufficient peace of mind to continue living.""For those who do not find a solution for their suffering, and there are no further (reasonable) treatment options available, we do proceed with the euthanasia process with maximum care for dying in dignity."Under the Belgian euthanasia law, 2086 patients died between 2010 and 2011 after their euthanasia requests were granted; the deaths represent 1% of all deaths in Belgium during the 2-year period. Among the euthanasia deaths, 58 (2.8%) were related to neuropsychiatric disorders.The rates reflect a steady increase from just 742 in 2004-2005, which included only 9 (1.2%) for neuropsychiatric disorders.The authors note that "this rise over a 6-year period may reflect a true increase or better reporting of cases of euthanasia."There were no proportionate differences in terms of sex, age, diagnoses, or the nature of the patients' suffering during the period.The male-female ratio between 2008 and 2011 was 51:49. Two percent of these deaths involved patients aged 20 to 39 years; 21.5% were aged 40 to 59 years: 51.5% were aged 60 to 79 years; and 25% were aged 80 years or older.Sodium thiopental, a barbiturate, was the life-ending drug used in the vast majority of cases, the authors reported.Under the law, a request for euthanasia must be made in writing by an adult or emancipated minor who is legally competent and conscious and who is in untreatable and unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement.The request must be confirmed by two physicians. If the patient is not expected to die in the near future, advice is required from a third physician who is a psychiatrist or medical specialist in the patient's disorder. The physicians and patient must all conclude that there is no reasonable alternative remaining to relieve the patient's suffering.Opponents of the law argued during its deliberation that the primary purpose of psychiatric care should be the prevention of suicide, but the opposing argument that the suffering of psychiatric patients is as "unbearable" as the suffering of patients with other medical conditions prevailed."A Bridge Too Far"According to medical ethicist Kenneth W. Goodman, PhD, professor and director of the Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, in Florida, the findings underscore some of the troubling aspects of including psychiatric illness as a reason for euthanasia."What this study makes clear is the need for more research on the question whether a terminal illness should be a precondition for euthanasia or, as in Oregon, physician-assisted suicide," he told Medscape Medical News."Although psychological pain can hurt just as much as physical pain, my fear is that the planned death of psychiatric patients represents a failure of treatment; perhaps more or better treatment would work."The suggestion of patients being deemed to have "no further prospect of improvement" runs the serious risk of drawing a conclusion too quickly, he said."When the stakes are this high, this is not something you get to be wrong about."Although Dr Goodman says Belgian physicians are correct in recognizing the debilitating severity of mental suffering, the idea of mental health issues as a reason for physician-assisted suicide is "a bridge too far for the United States.""The main reason for this is likely that we still have not recognized either the scope of mental pain or, for that matter, many other needs of psychiatric patients.""Look ― we still have to fight for adequate coverage of behavioral conditions in ordinaryhealth plans. Until we sort that out, we will not get it right about mental pain and suffering."Dr Thienpont is cofounder of Ulteam, a clinic established to assist patients who are considering euthanasia. Dr Goodman has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.BMJ Open. Published online July 27, 2015. Full text BMJ Open 2015;5:e007454 doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-007454 “Euth anasia requests, procedures and outcomes for 100 Belgian patients suffering from psychiatric disorders: a retrospective, descriptive study online at: http://bmjopen.bmj.com/ content/5/7/e007454.full
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Belgium: Doctor Tells Man: We Killed Your "Depressed" Mom
A Belgian man whose mother was euthanized without his knowledge by a doctor because she suffered depression has filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights.
The Alliance Defending Freedom says in its petition on behalf of Tom Mortier that oncologist Wim Distelmans, a leading promoter of euthanasia in Belgium, first met Godelieva De Troyer in late 2011. The following February, she made a donation of 2,500 euros to a foundation he runs.
Just six weeks later, Distelmans “euthanized” De Troyer, informingher son a day after she was dead, the complaint explains.
The case challenges Belgium’s law allowing doctor-prescribed death.
It argues Mortier’s mother was not terminally ill but had complained of depression, a condition several other doctors had determined was treatable.
“The government has an obligation to protect life, not assist in promoting death,” said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Robert Clarke. “A person can claim that she should be able to do whatever she pleases, but that does not override the government’s responsibility to protect the weak and vulnerable. We are encouraging the European Court to uphold this principle, which is completely consistent with the European Convention on Human Rights.”
The Alliance Defending Freedom says in its petition on behalf of Tom Mortier that oncologist Wim Distelmans, a leading promoter of euthanasia in Belgium, first met Godelieva De Troyer in late 2011. The following February, she made a donation of 2,500 euros to a foundation he runs.
Just six weeks later, Distelmans “euthanized” De Troyer, informingher son a day after she was dead, the complaint explains.The case challenges Belgium’s law allowing doctor-prescribed death.
It argues Mortier’s mother was not terminally ill but had complained of depression, a condition several other doctors had determined was treatable.
“The government has an obligation to protect life, not assist in promoting death,” said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Robert Clarke. “A person can claim that she should be able to do whatever she pleases, but that does not override the government’s responsibility to protect the weak and vulnerable. We are encouraging the European Court to uphold this principle, which is completely consistent with the European Convention on Human Rights.”
The Belgian law requires three other physicians who had no previous involvement with the patient’s care to sign off on a decision to euthanize.
De Troyer’s own physician, who had treated her for more than 20 years, had rejected her requests for euthanasia.
But she went to see Distlemans, and after a 2,500 euro donation to Life End Information Forum, an organization co-founded by Distelmans, he carried out her request to die because of the depression, ADF said.
Full Article and Source:
Doctor Tells Man:We Killed Your "Depressed" Mom
De Troyer’s own physician, who had treated her for more than 20 years, had rejected her requests for euthanasia.
But she went to see Distlemans, and after a 2,500 euro donation to Life End Information Forum, an organization co-founded by Distelmans, he carried out her request to die because of the depression, ADF said.
Full Article and Source:
Doctor Tells Man:We Killed Your "Depressed" Mom
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Obamacare’s covert support of assisted suicide
Obamacare’s covert support of assisted suicide
Guest post by Michael Cahill, Vista Health SolutionsWithin the voluminous Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) legislation, if you look closely enough, you can find some interesting things that have been glossed over by the mainstream media. Things like secret abortion surcharges and assisted suicide, just to name a couple.
The controversy over federally endorsed abortion and its hidden surcharges has been well documented in conservative media. But there hasn’t been much coverage of late about the legislation’s covert support for physician-assisted suicide.
Currently, only four states in the country legally allow assisted suicide. Vermont, Washington, and Oregon have unrestricted laws, meaning that the administration of life ending drugs is up to the discretion of the patient and his doctor (also it’s covered by insurance). In Montana, assisted suicide is legal through a court order. In the other 46 states, the practice is illegal and has been for most of the last century.
Section 1553
The piece of legislation in question is Section 1553 of the Affordable Care Act, which reads as follows:
(a) In General – The Federal Government, and any State or local government or health care provider that receives Federal financial assistance under this Act (or under an amendment made by this Act) or any health plan created under this Act (or under an amendment made by this Act), may not subject an individual or institutional health care entity to discrimination on the basis that the entity does not provide any health care item or service furnished for the purpose of causing, or for the purpose of assisting in causing, the death of any individual, such as by assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing.To break it down, if a terminally ill patient requests that his doctor help him end his life, and the doctor refuses for moral reasons or whatever the case may be, that doctor is protected by federal law against discrimination. This can be a saving grace for doctors who may subsequently be targeted by insurance companies because of their refusal to help patients end their lives.
While this section is likely a relief to many opposed to assisted suicide, at the same time it’s also disturbing. The section essentially accepts that the norm is for doctors to prescribe lethal doses of a medication for a patient if he asks for it. This flies in the face of the more logical option which might be working with the patient to fight the disease or encouraging him to seek a second or third opinion before considering killing himself.So what does this mean for the future?
The language of section 1553 seems to be intentionally vague. It’s not much of a jump to conclude that it was written with the intention of providing some cover to physicians performing assisted suicides in the states where it’s illegal.
A case arguing as such could very well be taken all the way to the Supreme Court, leading to a Roe v. Wade-type ruling in favor of assisted suicide. Could that be the Obama administration’s goal in including this section? Likely not, but it could still be an unintended outcome of it.
On a different level, it’s also discouraging that the administration chose not to definitively weigh in on the assisted suicide debate at a federal level. Their decision goes against the clear will of the nation, with assisted suicide considered a felony in most states.
Maybe this is because of the president’s personal stance on the issue. In a March 2008 interview, then presidential candidate Barack Obama said that Oregon “did a service” to the country in passing assisted suicide legislation.
He went on to say that while he would be hesitant to legalize assisted suicide nationwide, the United States has to think about these “end of life issues” because of our rising elderly population. Toward the end of the interview he ultimately voiced his support for terminally ill assisted suicide.
In less than six months, the major provisions of the Affordable Care Act will kick in. What the legislation will mean for pro-life Americans has already been reported on extensively. But the question remains, will the worst of those predictions come true? It’s sad to say, but right now things don’t look too hopeful.
Michael Cahill is Editor of the Vista Health Solutions blog. He has a degree in Journalism from SUNY New Paltz and previously worked as a reporter for the Poughkeepsie Journal and an editor for the Rockland County Times. Follow him on Twitter at @VistaHealth and @ElectronicMike
[Images via sodahead.com, saschina.org]
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