SAVES is not affiliated with Exit International / Dr Philip Nitschke and opposes the public availability of a 'peaceful pill'.

A university hospital in Lausanne Switzerland will allow assisted suicide on its premises for legally competent terminally ill patients who are too ill to return home and have persistently expressed a wish to die. Prior to this, patients had to leave the hospital, but were now allowed access to private doctors or to a member of Exit, the Swiss voluntary euthanasia society.

The decision was made after three years of deliberation. The position reflects the views of both the Swiss Medical Association and the National Committee on Ethics.

BBC news 18th December 2005

The year 2005 was a significant one for progress in support for choice in end-of-life decision making. The House of Lords Select Committee has undertaken the largest investigation ever into the issue, and a majority of members confirm that they would back an Oregon style bill which is considered to be an example of successful public policy.

The British Medical Association (BMA), the Royal Academy of Colleges and the National Council for Palliative Care, all traditional opponents to a change in the law, have now adopted a neutral stance. At the 2005 annual meeting of members of the BMA a vote was taken to determine support for the BMA lobbying in favour of choice for assisted dying.

The vote for a complete reversal of the policy position was rejected by a narrower margin than was expected; 58% against and 42% in favour. The subsequent vote on withdrawing opposition to assisted dying was passed by a narrow majority of 53% in favour and 47% against. The BMA stated:

Arguably it can be seen as a sign of the BMA’s maturity that it now acknowledges that this controversial issue can no longer be addressed in black and white terms…From the BMA’s perspective a neutral position entails a campaign for better palliative care, robust safeguards for patients, training and support for health professionals, and clear conscientious objection clauses (1).

Proposals to legalise voluntary euthanasia, where the doctor actually helps a patient die, have been dropped, with the focus now on physician-assisted suicide. Lord Joffe told the BBC:

I feel very strongly about assisted dying. It seems to me to be a human right to make a decision in relation not only to how you run your life, but how and when you die.

Lord Joffe, a former Human Rights lawyer, says his bill is tightly drawn, and there is no room for the courts or individuals to extend the law. That would need new legislation by future governments.
One of Scotland’s most senior doctors has backed a proposed bill similar in terms to Lord Joffe’s Bill. Dr Gordon Peterkin is the first medical director to publicly support voluntary euthanasia, saying that many modern treatments to keep patients alive were ‘harmful to patients and disruptive to families’.

(1). Somerville, A (2005) ‘Changes in BMA policy on assisted dying’, British Medical Journal, 331: 686-688.

Eight patients helped to die each day

Also in Britain a study by Professor Clive Seale of Brunel University has revealed that half of one per cent of all deaths in Britain were assisted by doctors, and research shows that approximately one third of all British deaths during 2004 were hastened using drugs. The research was based on an anonymous survey of doctors. Nine hundred and thirty six of the 585,000 deaths in 2004 were described as voluntary euthanasia, while an additional 1,929 involved ‘ending life without an explicit request from the patient’ (also known as non-voluntary euthanasia), practices which are illegal.

Professor Seale also said that almost a third of all deaths (191,811) had been hastened by using pain relief, or ‘alleviation of symptoms with possibly life shortening effect’ (double effect). However the level in the UK is significantly lower than in other countries where this survey has been conducted. While only 14 per cent of surveyed doctors said they were dissatisfied with the current law, Deborah Annetts, chief executive of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, said:

This research proves that some doctors break the law and deliberately help patients die…This is all done in secret and denied in public ... This cannot be safe.

See www.worldrtd.net

Change of name for VES UK

The UK Voluntary Euthanasia Society is planning to rename itself ‘Dignity in Dying’. While critics have argued that this term reflects the desire of terminally ill people to achieve a higher quality of life rather than calling for assistance to die, Chief Executive Officer, Deborah Annetts states that the name was chosen from the 200 nominations. The proposed change has been well-received by members of parliament and members of the House of Lords.

Members of the board of AUTONOMY, a disability advocate group is in disagreement with the views of the National Council on Disability which opposes choice for legalized assisted suicide. Board Secretary Alan Toy argued that ‘physician assisted dying is more about personal choice than disability rights’. He states:

Personal choice is something the disability community is unanimously in favour of when it comes to living...isn’t making a well-controlled choice to die a bit sooner in the face of terminal illness, an independent choice made by the living? How dare we take away their choice, based on our fear of being devalued as human beings? We devalue them and ourselves by presuming to make choices for them.

Another board member Karen Hwang claims:

Many of us believe the vulnerability argument is inherently discriminatory because it denies our capacity for informed consent, and makes blanket assumptions about the entire disability population’s perception of life and death; exactly what proponents of vulnerability decry in the current medical and social establishment.

See Autonomy Inc website: www.autonomynow.org

In Michigan the attorney for Dr Jack Kervorkian is seeking a pardon and/or commutation of sentence of imprisonment which was imposed nearly seven years ago. This sentence was imposed as a result of giving a lethal injection upon request to a man dying from Lou Gehrig’s disease. Dr Kevorkian had filmed the process and challenged the courts to prosecute him. He is now 77 years of age and scheduled for release in June 2007. His attorney claimed that Dr Kevorkian has been imprisoned for an offense for which not one other doctor in the entire United States has ever spent one day in prison.

Fleming Schollaart and Dr Tom Olsner are the founding members of En Vaerdid Dod (E.V.D.) the Danish right-to-die organization which is the newest member of the World Federation of Right-to-Die Societies. A survey conducted in the Jutland Post reveals that 68% of the Danish population support legalization of voluntary euthanasia. Forty one of the 46 right-to-die groups in the world are now members of the World Federation.

World Federation newsletter December 2005,

After many years of deliberation involving doctors and rabbis, Israeli law now states that a terminally ill person who is in great pain and does not wish to continue to live will not be forced to have their life extended artificially. Twenty two Knesset Members voted in favor, and three voted against the government sponsored Passive Euthanasia Law which will come into effect within a year.

Health Minister Danny Naveh described the passage of the law as a historic moment, saying: "This is one of the most important laws passed by the Knesset. Knesset Member Reshef Chayne (Shinui), who added his own proposal to the law, said during the meeting:

Every person should be able to give written instructions, while being fully aware, in which they can say that if they are in a permanent vegetative state, and dependent on resuscitation, they can be disconnected from life support machines. In a situation of terminal illness, there is redemption in this option, which has been previously denied. Worse, a prolonging of life at times causes suffering to the patient ... If it was up to me the same should be true of those in non-terminally ill situations, like a vegetative state.

If a patient is unable to express an opinion, a decision will be taken based on instructions he or she gave to doctors beforehand. If there are no such instructions, a declaration will have to be made by a close relative or custodian. Yitzhak Hoshen, who has handled many requests from terminally ill patients for disconnection from life support, maintains that the law was important, but not sufficient:

This law only deals with a terminally ill patient who has days to live. It doesn't deal with other situations, like when patients with incurable diseases have many years to live, such as those who are in vegetative states.

See World Federation of Right to Die Societies website: www.worldrtd.net