Dying Decisions: Should Relatives Intervene?
Christian thinkers weigh in on whether family or friends should intervene if a terminally ill Christian decides against life-extending treatment.
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Browsing All Posts filed under »ethics«
So-called ‘Death Panels’ Are Back–Why This Is Good
July 12, 2010
Last summer, when the health care debate was in full swing and members of Congress were being hounded at their town hall meetings, it was often heard that the bill being debated would provide for “death panels” in which groups of experts might decide if someone should be allowed to die. The panels were actually… [Read more…]
Defeating Death
May 25, 2010
Yes, Christ defeated death on the Cross, but there’s plenty of people who hope to do better and not die at all. A couple news pieces recently about people who hope to end death: Arakawa, Whose Art Tried to Halt Aging, Dies at 73 Arakawa, a Japanese-born conceptual artist and designer, who with his wife,… [Read more…]
Farce, not Dignity
April 29, 2010
I’ve written about Dignitas, the Swiss organization that helps people end their lives. Now, Swiss authorities have uncovered an estimated 300 urns with ashes near the Dignitas facilities in Lake Geneva. From the Daily Mail: The urns were discovered by chance when divers from a rescue service were looking for a lost sunshade from one… [Read more…]
Dr. Says ‘Keep Me Alive’
April 13, 2010
Emergency room doctor Boris Veysman had an essay today on NPR arguing against the ease with which some families give up on an elderly relative. He relates a story of a woman who could have lived for some time after he performed CPR. ” ‘I think there’s a good chance she is fixable in… [Read more…]
BBC Journalist Confesses to Euthanasia–Gets Arrested
February 18, 2010
A shocking story. A revered BBC journalist admitted–on TV!–to having killed his former lover who was in the hospital dying of AIDS. Time magazine writes, Ray “Gosling, an award-winning journalist whose rumpled persona has endeared him to generations of viewers, went on to recount “a hot afternoon” when he smothered the unknown man in his… [Read more…]
Mike Huckabee Channels John Donne
February 17, 2010
Who said politicians and great literature don’t mix? Former presidential candidate Mick Huckabee posted a defense of his pro-life views on his website yesterday. In the post, Huckabee writes, “We recognize that each life, every life, is unique and that the loss of one unique life diminishes each of us individually and collectively.” It sounds… [Read more…]
Health Care Rationing and the Art of Dying
February 11, 2010
I write in The Art of Dying that death does not come until a choice has been made to allow it. One doctor tells me that there is always something more that can be done. Unfortunately, this forces families into an uncomfortable position. When is the right time–can there even be one?–to say, “Okay, let… [Read more…]
Catholics Require Food, Water Be Fed to the Ill
February 10, 2010
Catholic bishops have expanded the category of patients who should be given food and water. The Chicago Tribune reports they “have decided that it is not permissible to remove a feeding tube from someone who is unconscious but not dying, except in a few circumstances.” In other words, it was wrong to remove a feeding tube… [Read more…]
The Suicide King
February 10, 2010
The Atlantic profiles Ludwig Minelli, founder of Dignitas. Dignitas’s slogan is “To live with dignity, to die with dignity,” and for 12 years the group has been serving cocktails of sodium pentobarbital, a highly lethal barbiturate, to clients from around the world. During that time, Ludwig Minelli has helped more than a thousand people kill… [Read more…]
September 12, 2011
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