Category: News

Formal network of docs offering medical assistance in dying is in the works for northeastern Ontario

Informal referral network currently in place with local physicians

CBC News

Angela Gemmill

For those in Sudbury and District seeking a doctor’s help to die, it may soon get a little easier to find one who is trained.

About 40 doctors and nurse practitioners in the region are now trained to offer Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), after they had specialized training last fall in Sudbury from the Canadian Medical Association.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in June, 2016  that medical assistance in dying is a constitutional right, under Bill C-14.

Between then and now, there has only been an informal network for people seeking medically assisted death, said Dr. Paul Preston, Vice President of Clinical for the North East Local Health Integration Network, and an advocate for access for those seeking a doctor’s help with dying. . . [Full text]

 

Doubts grow over ‘nurse’ used by anti-abortion campaign

The Times

Catherine Sanz

The man portrayed as a nurse for an anti-abortion campaign held an eight-month portering role and falsified a qualification document.

Save the 8th, which campaigns against repeal of the Eighth Amendment, said yesterday it stood by the adverts despite discovering that Noel Pattern, 48, from Wexford, was not honest in the testimony. It said the main point was that Mr Pattern witnessed something he felt was unethical which had not been disputed. The adverts have been taken down at the end of a two-week booking. . . [Full Text]

Dutch prosecutors to investigate euthanasia cases after sharp rise

Doctor-assisted deaths of four women in the Netherlands found to warrant criminal inquiries

The Guardian

Criminal investigations have been launched into four cases of euthanasia in the Netherlands after a sharp rise in the number of doctor-assisted deaths.

The cases follow the opening of a criminal inquiry last year into the euthanasia of a 74-year-old woman who was described by prosecutors as “seriously demented” and legally incapable of choosing whether to die or not. . . [Full Text]

Doctor doubtful over referrals in cases of conscientious objection

Irish Examiner

Evelyn Ring

A leading pro-life campaigner, who is also a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, is fearful that the right to conscientious objection to abortion, yet to be clarified by the Government, may not be allowed in the future.

John Monaghan said doctors who believe it is wrong to terminate a pregnancy should not be compelled to refer the patient to another doctor who would perform the act.

Dr Monaghan said doctors should not carry out abortions where it is not medically indicated. . . [Full text]

 

Two-thirds of GPs will refuse to provide abortion pills

Doctors voted in closed forum to rule themselves out of service

Irish Independent

Eilish O’Regan

A majority of GPs say they will not provide abortion pills to women in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy if it becomes law, according to a survey of family doctors.

Nearly seven in 10 of the 497 GPs who voted in a closed doctors’ forum said they would not be involved in medical abortions.

Around 15.7pc said they would provide the service and 16.1pc were “unsure”.

The doctors are among 3,700 GPs who are registered with GPBuddy.ie, the online medical directory designed by GPs for Irish healthcare professionals.

They responded to a series of questions on the confidential forum.

Although the survey has its limitations, it indicates that, if rolled out nationwide, it would mean a substantial number of GPs would opt out of the abortion service.

However, they would be obliged to refer a woman seeking an abortion to a doctor who provides the procedure. . . [Full Text]