In some ways, the story which prompted this post is nothing new. We have been helping sick children to die (even if one does not think of the fetus as a child) in the developed West for some time. The Groningen Protocol, which has been around for the better part of a decade, outlines with great specificity the circumstances in which the Read more
Marc and Eddy Verbessem were not terminally ill. They were not in any physical pain. The two Belgian brothers who were identical twins were born deaf and were beginning to go blind to a congenital form of glaucoma. They chose to end their life under Belgium’s euthanasia law which allows patients to take their life with doctor assistance if “the patient is Read more
We often hear that worries about a euthanasia slippery slope are unfounded–especially when discussing public policy initiatives like Massachusetts’ recently-defeated Death with Dignity Act. In a previous post I’ve shown just how steep the slope has been in the Netherlands, but this is just the tip of the European euthanasia iceberg. Belgium has had legal euthanasia only since 2002, but a new Read more
A Canadian study and commentary on the global practices of euthanasia was released in November and has received much attention. It was highlighted by the New York Times, Peter Singer, and yesterday Andrew Sullivan noted it. When these kinds of reports come out, which the Times claims were done by “top scientists”, it is of course prudent to examine the agenda and Read more
A few weeks ago, I highlighted new evidence that many of those supposedly in a persistent ‘vegetative’ state are actually self-aware. We are now learning something similar about those currently diagnosed to be in something called a ‘minimally conscious’ state. The New York Times again exposes some in the medical establishment for thinking about people like Chris Cox in the following way: Read more
Two-thirds of young adults couldn’t name a moral dilemma, says David Brooks, citing a study done on that age group by University of Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith. ‘I don’t really deal with right and wrong that often,’ is how one interviewee put it. So often the respondents would say “It’s up to them” – meaning it’s up to each individual to Read more
In Lawrence MA, Judge Richard E. Welch III sentenced Kristen LaBrie to 8 to 10 years in prison for assault and battery on a child, reckless endangerment of a child, and the attempted murder of her 9 year old son. LaBrie was charged for withholding life-saving cancer treatment from her son Jeremy, who was autistic and developmentally disabled. Jeremy went through a Read more
Unless you are one of the nation’s 400,000 dialysis patients, you may not know that a law passed by Congress 39 years ago provides almost entirely free dialysis to patients whose kidneys have failed, regardless of age or ability to pay. The law itself is really remarkable in its attentiveness to poor and to the discrepancies in health care between the rich Read more
Here is a story about a Belgian couple who ‘couldn’t imagine living without each other’ and so asked for euthanasia together (hat tip to Wes Smith): You heard right, you don’t have to be terminally ill to get it…but why would you? When a culture presumes that one’s choices about one’s own life and body are entirely up the individual, who is Read more
Saturday Morning: 8:00 am
Saturday Vigil: 4:30 pm
Sunday: 7:30 am, 9:00 am, 10:45 am,
12:30 pm, 5:30 pm
Saturday Vigil: 6:15pm
Sunday: 9:00am, 7:15pm
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday: 8:30 am
