Service, not Servitude
BioEdge
There is a startling statistic tucked away in Ontario’s September quarter euthanasia statistics. A total of 519 people were euthanised from July 1 to September 30.
Nothing too surprising.
But of the total euthanised, it appears, from government’s sketchy summary, 30 donated organs. In other words, somehow the euthanising doctor and the transplant surgeons coordinated their efforts so that these people could give their organs to others. . . [Full text]
1newsnow
The New Zealand Medical Council says it’s ‘up to the challenge’ of three controversial law changes currently before Parliament.
A new law enabling the terminally ill to access assisted dying, along with reform to cannabis and abortion laws, has sparked widespread and sometimes heated public debate.
“I think these (proposals) represent a potential challenge to the medical profession,” says Dr Curtis Walker, Chair of the NZ Medical Council. “But I know the medical profession is up to it.” [Full text]
Voxy.co.nz
The impact of legalising euthanasia will be devastating on older people, the poor and disabled, according to two University of Otago psychiatrists who are calling on their colleagues both in New Zealand and internationally to oppose the move.
Consultant psychogeriatrician Associate Professor Yoram Barak and Senior Lecturer Chris Gale, from the Department of Psychological Medicine, have reviewed the laws and practices in every country with legal euthanasia and how they have been modified.
They found the most vulnerable – the elderly, the poor and the disabled – are disproportionate in their use of euthanasia. . . [Full text]
BBC
Over the past year, there have been mounting criticisms of a study into the effects of puberty-blocking drugs when used to treat young people with gender dysphoria – including concerns raised by Newsnight.
The study was carried out at the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) at London’s Tavistock Clinic – England’s only NHS youth gender clinic – and partly led to the clinic lowering the age at which it offers children puberty blockers. The clinic started recruiting young people to the study in 2011.
Puberty blockers are given to young people who are struggling with their gender identity. They work on the brain to stop the rise in sex hormones – oestrogen and testosterone – that accompanies puberty. These are the hormones that lead to changes in the body, such as periods, breasts or voice-breaking. . . [Full text]
The Irish Times
Catholic politicians should look to the comments of newly canonised Saint John Henry Newman when considering issues of conscience, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.
Mr Varadkar made his remarks after Labour leader Brendan Howlin highlighted comments by Catholic primate Archbishop Eamon Martin last month at the Kennedy Summer School.
Archbishop Martin said Catholic politicians in particular had a responsibility to support laws that “uphold the dignity of every person from conception to death”. He also cautioned against politicians leading “parallel lives compartmentalised in to spiritual and secular spheres”.
Mr Howlin suggested that this idea of Catholic politicians “has the potential to be deeply problematic” as Irish society becomes more pluralist and multicultural. . .[Full text]