The late Youssef Cohen moved from New York to Oregon in 2016 because of its aid-in-dying law. During the pandemic, assisted dying for terminal patients has gone online.
John Moore/Getty Images
Terminally ill patients in nine states and Washington, DC can use telemedicine to get a doctor’s approval to hasten their end of life. But family members must mix the lethal drug cocktail themselves.
Noel Conway’s case is discussed in court.
PA/Stefan Rousseau
California now allows terminally ill people to end their lives. In the 2,800-year-old Jain tradition, individuals can choose to fast unto death, when it makes no sense to prolong suffering.
The concept of a timely and dignified death has been replaced by an imperative to keep us alive at all costs.
Nielskliim/Shutterstock
We all die eventually, of course, but these days it’s very hard for doctors and loved ones to let patients and relatives die without doing “whatever it takes”.
How the Daily Mail reported Jeffrey Spector’s final meal with his family.
Systemic change is need to ensure that patients’ voices are heard when doctors make decisions about end-of-life care.
Too stringent an approach to assisted dying risks locking people with mental illness out of the right to make decisions about the end of their lives.
Thomas Hawk/Flickr
Euthanasia advocates often assert a distinction between dying with dignity (good) and suicide (bad), drawing on the community’s twin commitment to both permitting euthanasia in some circumstances, and…
Opinion polls consistently indicate majority public support for legalisation of voluntary euthanasia.
Lee Haywood
When it comes to legislating voluntary euthanasia in Australia, success is rare and short lived. The Tasmanian Voluntary Assisted Dying bill is the latest such piece of euthanasia legislation to be defeated…
Dignitas isn’t for everyone but it’s a compassionate response for some.
Unhindered by Talent
Hard cases, it has been said, make bad law. They also prompt us to ask deeper questions about wider causes and longer term ethical consequences - and this is particularly pressing when it comes to assisted…
The bill fails to tackle discrimination in end of life care that would have helped Tony Nicklinson.
PA/Emma Hallett
Lord Falconer’s assisted dying bill would allow registered doctors to take steps to help mentally competent adult patients to end their own lives, but only in certain circumstances. One of these circumstances…
Paying attention to the interests of the elderly and disabled people ensures we use appropriate eligibility criteria in euthanasia legislation.
SalFalko/Flickr
Ben White, Queensland University of Technology; Lindy Willmott, Queensland University of Technology, and Robert Douglas, Australian National University
A report we recently prepared with independent think tank Australia21 calls for state governments to institute laws allowing and regulating voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide – in defined and limited…
We require the largest amount of health-care dollars in the last 30 days of our life.
Lee Haywood
On the eve of a federal budget looking for savings, I would like to report a medical intervention that reduces suffering, can prolong life and dramatically reduces health-care costs. The intervention itself…