Category Archives: Euthanasia

It’s long been predicted that the push to euthanise the terminally ill would soon devolve into a push to euthanise the inconvenient. What many seemingly didn’t realise was just how quickly we’d get to that point.

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In the history of Australia, no sitting leader has gone to an election promising to legalise euthanasia as part of their party platform.

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Children between the ages of 1 and 12 could soon be euthanized by doctors in the Netherlands, Health Minister Hugo de Jonge told Parliament last Tuesday.

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If euthanasia is legalised then this is—as Aldous Huxley presciently predicted—the ‘Brave New World’ that we will endure.

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If you want to express your disgust at a country, how would you do it? What action can you take against a nation that displays your anger towards the people there when you are a long way away and can’t actually touch them? It’s sadly a common enough sight which you have probably seen on news reels: you burn their flag. Here’s a similar idea from a different angle: When a man is going away from his sweetheart for a long time – perhaps to war, perhaps some other situation has torn them apart – what can he do to…

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A Belgium court has acquitted three doctors accused of unlawfully euthanizing a 38-year-old woman who was suffering from mental problems. According to AP, Tine Nys’ family took the case to court, arguing that the euthanasia should never have happened, claiming her mental state wasn’t hopeless and treatment was still possible. Tine Nys’ sisters, Lotte and Sophie, claimed she was not incurably ill, as Belgian law requires, but was suffering from the mental stress of a fail relationship. Despite being affected with severe psychiatric problems in her childhood, the 38-year-old had not received treatment for 15 years. Prior to her death,…

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A court in the Netherlands has acquitted a doctor accused of euthanizing an unwilling patient. In the first-ever case of its kind, Dutch authorities accused the doctor of performing euthanasia on an unwilling patient after a regional review board found the doctor had “overstepped the mark” by euthanising a 74-year old woman whose final will was “unclear and contradictory.” Prosecutors argued that although the woman, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, had regularly stated that she wanted to die and reportedly wrote a declaration four years earlier, she also said on other occasions that she did not want to die, which meant…

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In a sign of just how far Western Civilisation has declined, the most dangerous place for a child to be is in her mother’s womb. Similarly, if the rest of Australia follows the leftist fad being currently pursued in states such as Victoria, then euthanasia laws will slowly erode our sense that life is sacred, as well as the belief that doctors should protect our lives. In the midst of this moral crisis, one group, in particular, seems to be somewhat selective in their moral outrage. Mainstream Christians—most of whom identify as Protestant—are often reluctant to speak out publicly in…

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A recent news headline reads, “Police raid elderly Australians over euthanasia drugs”, as police attempt to do their job, yet only so far as curtailing illegal importation and use of intentionally lethal poisons intended to kill persons. Suicide Safeguards Not Prosecuted Australian Federal Police have identified hundreds of traffickers and seized around 15kg of euthanasia drugs between 2007 and 2014 (enough to kill between 1500 and 2500 people) but less than a handful of people have been convicted over an importation offence (whether a minor fine or a suspended sentence). The federal penalty for importing suicidal poisons is up to 25 years…

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The 2019 Synod of the Uniting Church of Victoria and Tasmania has recently voted to allow the practice of euthanasia in all of its health care facilities. As their website records: Today’s major order of business was to decide on the response to the Victorian Voluntary Assisted Dying legislation. Key points from the resolution included: There was a range of faithful Christian responses to voluntary assisted dying. Exploring, accessing and conscientiously objecting to voluntary assisted dying were all within the rage of faithful Christian responses to the Victorian Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017. To give permission within Victoria to UCA…

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When medical professionals and social/thought leaders tacitly approved of Noa Pothoven’s decision to commit suicide, it signals a number of devastating messages to every victim of rape or great trauma. First, it suggests to them that your life is not worth living; second, that evil ought to win; and third, that there’s no hope after victimisation. Noa’s decision to stop receiving care and end her own life was a mistake. To suggest otherwise is cruel and dangerous. Our Creator Jesus holds out His arms to embrace and heal victims of evil, but too often we ignore him and turn to…

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Update: The Levenseindekliniek (end of life) clinic in the Hague said they cannot make a statement due to privacy rules but referred to a statement issued by Noa’s friends which read: “Noa Pothoven did not die of euthanasia. To stop her suffering, she has stopped eating and drinking.” — A teenage girl who was raped as a child has committed suicide in her living room with the assistance of an ‘end-of-life-clinic’. Noa Pothoven, from the Netherlands, said her suffering was unbearable after she was sexually assaulted on three occasions, beginning when she was just 11-years-old. The 17-year-old, who was convinced…

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Bioethicists have started preparing the way for the legalisation of child euthanasia in Canada, with one of the proposals advocating assisted suicide without parental approval. Euthanasia in Canada is currently only available to capable patients aged 18 years or older, however the medical essay titled, Medically Assisted Dying in a Paediatric Hospital, published in the Oxford-based Journal of Medical Ethics, was written “with an eye to the near future when capable young people may gain access to Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID).” In all other regards [than who initiates the euthanasia discussion], our working group has, at present, elected to conceptualise MAID as…

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Two children aged just nine and 11 have become the youngest ever to be euthanised. The children died by lethal injection in Belgium after being diagnosed with cancer. Belgian law allows for children of any age to choose when they want to die, provided they are suffering from a terminal disease. Parental consent is required, as well as an assessment of their mental capacity to make a voluntary and well-considered decision. Over at The Spectator, Mark Powell rightly said, “How can a child of nine or eleven make an a ‘voluntary’ and ‘well-considered’ decision about their own life, especially when…

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The ABC have shared a disturbing video documenting in a positive light the final hour leading up to David Goodall’s suicide. The 104-year-old was one of 15 Australians who traveled to Switzerland to end their lives in the past seven years. The video shows Goodall’s grandson asking Goodall a series of mandatory questions leading up to his death. The questions are designed to ensure he understands the nature of his decision. Goodall admits he doesn’t have an incurable illness, he’s not in unbearable pain, he doesn’t suffer from depression, and he’s not being influenced by family. Goodall is then handed…

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Assisted suicide legislation has a lot of knock-on effects that never get discussed in the emotional debate about pain and suffering and rights. Consider the story of Stephanie Packer, a terminally ill, married mother of four. When  Mrs Packer asked her health insurer if they would cover a particular chemotherapy drug, they refused. Since assisted suicide laws passed, it was no longer covered. What the health insurer did offer to cover was a drug to assist her suicide, with co-payment of $1.20. “My jaw dropped,” Mrs Packer said. “It’s shocking. We put so little value on human life. And it’s…

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Euthanasia: the practice of intentionally ending a life to relieve pain and suffering. The word literally means “good death.” It’s considered good to many because assisted suicide is viewed as a solution and a legitimate means of ending suffering and escaping what feels inescapable. But is this a helpful or even moral portrayal of suicide? People don’t usually choose to end their life while in a right state of mind. They only ever reach that point because they believed the lie of “good death.” The lie of “euthanasia” is that in some instances, suicide is the best option, or even…

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“Hordes of people [are] born, who live, yet who have done absolutely nothing to advance the race one iota. Their lives are hopeless repetitions… Such human weeds clog up the path, drain up the energies and the resources of this little earth. We must clear the way for a better world; we must cultivate our garden.” You’d be forgiven for thinking these were the words of Adolf Hitler. Truth is, they’re not. They’re the words of a woman Hilary Clinton claims she “admires… enormously.” Barack Obama has said he is “truly grateful” to the organisation she founded. And Dinesh D’Souza…

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Today 22 of 40 MPs in the state’s upper house supported the legislation, which will make Victoria the first Australian state to legalise assisted suicide. #BREAKING: The voluntary assisted dying legislation has passed in Victoria's Upper House with 22 votes. #9News https://t.co/5YhEEm244o pic.twitter.com/mEaocLP1Rp — Nine News Melbourne (@9NewsMelb) November 22, 2017 http://caldronpool.com/euthanasia-and-the-most-vulnerable-buyers/

Recently, there have been several attempts to change state laws regarding voluntary assisted suicide. If passed, this form of euthanasia (literally ‘good death’) would allow doctors to assist a person to end his or her life. There are good reasons apart from Scripture to oppose euthanasia: a diagnosis can be incorrect or inaccurate and a prognosis is difficult to determine. Recently, Dr. Kenneth Stevens, a professor emeritus and a former chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the ­Oregon Health & Sciences University in Portland, recalled meeting a patient in 2000 who had been diagnosed with inoperable colon cancer.…

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