The BBC report on the ruling by the Supreme Court that legal permission will no longer be required to end care for patients in a long-term permanent vegetative state. The decision applies to patients who are being kept alive by artificial means such as tube feeding and hydration. It means that when family and doctors [...]
MDMD are delighted to learn that the Scottish parliament has removed any time limit from its definition of "terminally ill" in their Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018. The story was reported by the BBC and the Guardian. The Guardian article states "There were a number of significant last-minute amendments to the legislation, including the removal [...]
Breakfast TV News presenter Eamonn Holmes has been widely quoted in the media for openly saying that he would prefer a medically assisted death if he developed dementia. A Sun on Sunday article strongly supports him. A Daily Mail article also covered the story, its comments show strong support for Eamonn's view. Describing his fear [...]
There has been much reporting of the death of 104 year old Dr David Goodall, who ended his life at Lifecircle in Switzerland on 10th May 2018. The BBC include a video extract from his last press conference in an article on their website. Dr Goodall was a British ecologist and botanist who was not [...]
MDMD Associate Coordinator Colin Brewer represented MDMD at the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group on End of Life Choices. Here is his report... We heard a good presentation by Dignity in Dying’s Scottish organiser on their excellent recent survey of people from Britain who approached Dignitas for assistance and the financial, legal and bureaucratic obstacles that [...]
The BBC Ideas website has recently added a short video titled 'Should we be able to choose our own death?'. Although MDMD had no part in its making, it demonstrates one really good way of achieving our goal. It is a personal opinion piece by philosopher Nigel Warburton. He starts by asking us to imagine [...]
Dignitas issued a hard-hitting press release this week "Ignorance, irresponsibility and hypocrisy – How a majority of UK politicians violate human rights and create suffering and costs". Here's an extract: Just over a week ago, once again an individual from the UK has travelled to DIGNITAS – To live with dignity – To die with [...]
A recent article in the Washington Post describes moves in Oregon, USA to try to extend their Death with Dignity Act to include help for those suffering from degenerative diseases such as Motor Neurone Disease, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Related discussions are taking place in other US states and in Canada. For example, a recent paper [...]
The latest stage of Omid’s legal case to be allowed an assisted death in the UK was heard in the High Court on 7/8th March 2018. The Daily Mail reported it here. Omid’s legal team argued for the right to cross-examine expert witnesses – in particular to question the written evidence given by Baroness Ilora [...]
The Daily Mail reported recently on a number of euthanasia cases in the Netherlands which are being investigated over concerns that the correct procedures may not have been followed, leading to euthanasia of people who possibly did not meet the strict criteria set out in the Dutch legislation. See Daily Mail articles "Dutch police investigate [...]