Not all safeguards are created equal
If you thought that the safeguards prescribed by Oregon's medical assistance in dying (MAID) law, and the similar laws in eight other jurisdictions, are too onerous, there are others to consider.
Discontinuing all life-sustaining care
A 30-year old Florida Supreme Court decision may provide support for the use of a dementia directive that provides for voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED).
The slippery slope, voluntary decision-making, and equal protection
Slippery slope arguments deny rationality, moral precepts, and legal principles. Few of us who believe in a right to die go beyond the formulation of this right as a voluntary decision of one person about that person's life. The view that no one has the right to take from us the liberty to make such decisions to end our lives except ourselves appears to be the norm in this society for those who are near the end of their lives because of disease or condition. Voluntariness is inextricably bound up with the decision to die to escape suffering near the end of life.
“Self-death” (suicide) as a natural right
A brief look at suicide historically, philosophically, constitutionally, legally, and practically as a right to all who value liberty.
Is Medical Aid in Dying a Human Right?
This post looks critically at the view that Medical Aid In Dying (MAID) is not a human right.
Options near the end of life–Exploring Parkinson’s
My wife and I had occasion to visit some old friends in California recently. We have known one member of the couple since 1962, when we started college together. We last saw them almost three years ago and have stayed in touch through email and phone calls. David has Parkinson's Disease (PD), so we knew that we would likely find him in worse shape than the last time we saw him, when his main symptom was a slight tremor in his hands and a shuffling gait when he walked. Lois had given us reports that he was working on therapies to counter the effects of the Parkinson's.
North Carolina already may be a physician aid-in-dying state
Kathryn L. Tucker, the founder and director of the End of Life Liberty Project has concluded that physicians in North Carolina can provide assistance in dying (AID) to their mentally competent terminally ill patients who request it, subject to the prevailing standard of care, without risk of a viable criminal prosecution or medical practice disciplinary action.
Why FEN should support the Disability Integration Act
You may not have heard of the Disability Integration Act of 2019, but it is worth the support of the Final Exit Network (FEN) and the individual support of all people who favor a self-controlled death
A self-controlled death: More thoughts on the language we use
Suicide is not merely too harsh or blunt or embarrassing or unpleasant or offensive when applied to a self-controlled death. It is inaccurate based on its meaning and associations accumulated over time. The search for more accuracy in our descriptions continues.
“Framing” the right-to-die for the United States
Recently, Derek Humphry wrote about the words we use to discuss end-of-life concerns in the US, focusing on the appropriateness of the term "suicide." He did so, in part, to stimulate a discussion about the words we use. Like Humphry, I have no personal problem with the use of the term suicide–it accurately describes death by our own hand–but I resist it for several reasons.