Let elderly people 'hurry up and die', says Japanese minister

Justin McCurry, guardian.co.uk

Taro Aso says he would refuse end-of-life care and would 'feel bad' knowing treatment was paid for by government

Japan's new government is barely a month old, and already one of its most senior members has insulted tens of millions of voters by suggesting that the elderly are an unnecessary drain on the country's finances. Taro Aso, the finance minister, said on Monday that the elderly should be allowed to "hurry up and die" to relieve pressure on the state to pay for their medical care. "Heaven forbid if you are forced to live on when you want to die. I would wake up feeling increasingly bad knowing that [treatment] was all being paid for by the government," he said during a meeting of the national council on social security reforms. "The problem won't be solved unless you let them hurry up and die." Read more

Legalization of Assisted Suicide Opens Door to Abuse

By Janet Grace
From Civil Beat Community Voices

Civil Beat recently published a Community Voices article by Dr. Charles Miller called “Aid-in-Dying is Not Assisted Suicide.” In his article, Dr. Miller, founder of the Physician Advisory Council for Aid in Dying (PACAID), promotes what he euphemistically calls “aid-in-dying” in lieu of the generally accepted term “assisted suicide.”

Groups like PACAID attempt to obfuscate the moral and legal issues surrounding assisted suicide in Hawaii by using the euphemism “aid-in-dying.” However, the real meaning of this term becomes clear by an understanding of the group’s mission, which is to promote physician involvement in hastening patients’ deaths, such as through issuing a prescription for lethal drugs.

Discontinuing care that would otherwise extend a patient’s life is vastly different than taking affirmative steps to end life. Patients legitimately have the right to make end of life decisions such as when certain medical interventions are no longer appropriate. This is legal and presents no ethical dilemma. As a skilled home health and hospice caregiver, the notion that any care provider has a role to play in helping people take their own lives is offensive. Read more

Hawaii Medical Association Rejects Assisted Suicide

Serving Hawaii since 1856, the Hawaii Medical Association (HMA) is a voluntary, professional membership organization for physicians, resident physicians, and medical students in the state of Hawaii. HMA is dedicated to serving physicians, their patients, and the community through representation, advocacy, and public service. HMA is part of the American Medical Association (AMA) and is the parent organization for Hawaii's five component medical societies that operate independently, but in a network with the HMA in all four counties in the State of Hawaii. In the last several decades, medical technology has made tremendous advances in saving and extending lives. As a result, life expectancy has increased dramatically.

The Hawaii Medical Association, along with the American Medical Association, oppose any bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide or death. We believe physician-assisted suicide to be unethical and fundamentally inconsistent with the pledge all physicians take to devote themselves to healing and life.

Christopher D. Flanders, D.O.
Executive Director
Hawaii Medical Association

Teen Wakes as Doctors Prepare to Harvest Her Organs

Alex Schadenberg, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

There have been several reports in the past few years about people who are being prepared for organ donation, who wake up or shows "signs of life." These stories create a distrust in society concerning the practice of organ donation and it leads to fewer people willing to be organ donors. The abuse of organ donation related to the wish to procure more organs for an endless demand for organ donation may be leading to sloppy evaluations by some physicians, while other physicians consider people who appear to be nearing death as suitable organ donors because they "will die anyway." Read more

Euthanasia by any other name

Paul Russell, MercatorNet.com

Euthanasia by any other name is still the deliberate taking of a human life and politicians are right to reject it. Read more

A matter of trust

Martin Cullen, MercatorNet.com

If we are seriously debating euthanasia, is it any wonder that so many patients are suspicious of hospital doctors? Read more

Words to live by

“The role of taker of life must never be assigned to a physician; in any case, the law must never permit him to perform it, for this would jeopardize and perhaps destroy the physician’s role in society. A patient must never have to suspect that his physician might become his executioner."

 ~Hans Jonas, ethicist