Assisted dying: Canada grapples with plans to extend euthanasia to people suffering solely from mental illness (The Conversation podcast)

For decades, people who want to end their life with the help of a doctor, and who have the means to do so, have travelled to a handful of countries, commonly Switzerland, for euthanasia.

But gradually, more countries around the world have begun to permit some form of assisted dying. Politicians in a number of others, including Ireland, Scotland and France, are now seriously debating it.

In Canada, where medical assistance in dying (Maid) became legal in 2016, the government intends to extend eligibility to people whose sole reason for ending their life is mental illness. But that planned expansion, now twice delayed, is deeply controversial.
Interview: 

https://theconversation.com/assisted-dying-canada-grapples-with-plans-to-extend-euthanasia-to-people-suffering-solely-from-mental-illness-230129

Canadian family sues after Catholic hospital prolongs their daughter's suffering

Despite chemotherapy and radiation, her disease was terminal, and the pain quickly became overwhelming. She wanted to end life on her own terms. 

But in Canada, where that procedure is legal, the taxpayer-funded Catholic hospital she was at still wouldn't allow it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCRvPFJYZko

How Oregon’s right-to-die law has inspired other US states and countries

"I voted twice against the law, but once it went into effect and I saw how it worked, I changed my mind," said Jackson, the former chief executive of the Oregon Hospice Association. 

 "I really thought that if everyone had hospice care, they wouldn't need this, which was very arrogant of me because hospice is something where others decide. One of the things that really bothers me is the idea that doctors should decide when to allow you to die. That is just awful. I came to realise this is about choice. Someone should be able to decide for themselves when to die."… 

 More broadly, Oregon's law has forced a greater focus on how people die, with doctors and medical institutions paying closer attention to palliative care and reducing suffering toward the end of life. It has also contributed to the rapid expansion of hospice care…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/26/oregon-right-to-die-law

More states are considering bills allowing medically assisted death this year

A push to let physicians prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients is getting major attention in statehouses this year, with lawmakers in 19 states considering bills to allow the practice…

https://www.axios.com/2024/02/09/medically-assisted-death-states

‘It’s a right over our own bodies’: a remarkable documentary on medically assisted death

Film-maker Ondi Timoner captures her family in a transitional phase, approaching death head-on in Last Flight Home, after her father requests the right to die…

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/oct/06/last-flight-home-medically-assisted-death-documentary

Austria′s parliament legalizes assisted suicide | News | DW | 16.12.2021

Austrian lawmakers have approved a law that legalizes assisted suicide for seriously ill people, subject to tight rules...

https://www.dw.com/en/austrias-parliament-legalizes-assisted-suicide/a-60154513

Sarco suicide capsule ‘passes legal review’ in Switzerland - SWI swissinfo.ch

…The capsule is sitting on a piece of equipment that will flood the interior with nitrogen, rapidly reducing the oxygen level to 1 per cent from 21 per cent. The person will feel a little disoriented and may feel slightly euphoric before they lose consciousness. The whole thing takes about 30 seconds. Death takes place through hypoxia and hypocapnia, oxygen and carbon dioxide deprivation, respectively. There is no panic, no choking feeling…

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/sci-tech/sarco-suicide-capsule--passes-legal-review--in-switzerland/46966510

Terminally ill, he wanted an assisted death – but his hospital was Catholic

Patients in eight states can now legally obtain lethal drugs to end their lives but face obstacles enacting their wishes as Catholic hospitals expand ....
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jan/28/catholic-hospitals-lead-fight-against-access-drugs-assisted-dying

Why people choose medically assisted death revealed through conversations with nurses - The Conversation US

Nurses who surround the process of medically assisted dying are an important source of insight into the real conversations our society needs to have about what it's really like.....
https://theconversation.com/why-people-choose-medically-assisted-death-revealed-through-conversations-with-nurses-122000

Firing Doctor, Christian Hospital Sets Off National Challenge to Aid-in-Dying Laws - The Daily Beast

In Colorado case, the right to aid a cancer patient's death runs up against faith-based hospital policies.....
https://www.thedailybeast.com/firing-doctor-christian-hospital-sets-off-national-challenge-to-aid-in-dying-laws

Death on demand: has euthanasia gone too far?

Countries around the world are making it easier to choose the time and manner of your death. But doctors in the world’s euthanasia capital are starting to worry about the consequences...
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jan/18/death-on-demand-has-euthanasia-gone-too-far-netherlands-assisted-dying

Senate Committee Approves 'Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act' - Insider NJ

Legislation sponsored by Senators Nicholas Scutari and Richard Codey that would create a process for terminally ill patients with less than six months to live to seek medical assistance to end their lives was approved by the Senate Health Committee today...

https://www.insidernj.com/press-release/senate-committee-approves-medical-aid-dying-terminally-ill-act/

Medical aid in dying laws in Washington, D.C., California spark debate

Debbie Gatzek Kratter, a California attorney with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, wants to die on her own terms. She's had chemotherapy treatment, but at a point, it will stop working. She doesn't know if she'll be able to.....

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/06/25/washington-dc-california-medical-aid-dying-physician-assisted-suicide/713546002/

David Goodall: For assisted suicide, 104-year-old went from Australia to Switzerland - The Washington Post

On his final day, before he went to a Swiss clinic to die, David Goodall spoke about his 104 years of life — and his scheduled death....

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/05/09/this-104-year-old-plans-to-die-tomorrow-and-hopes-to-change-views-on-assisted-suicide/

Medically assisted suicide becomes legal in Hawaii

Hawaii became the latest liberal-leaning state to legalize medically assisted suicide Thursday as the governor signed a measure into law allowing doctors to fulfill requests from terminally ill patients to prescribe life-ending medication....

https://www.apnews.com/91a066e44af64b538eaa7472bf6a9cb2/Medically-assisted-suicide-becomes-legal-in-Hawaii

Aid-in-dying gains momentum as erstwhile opponents change their minds | The Sacramento Bee

Susan Boyce, married and the mother of four, doesn't know when she will die, but she knows how. One day, her diseased-decimated lungs will no longer be able to pump oxygen through her bloodstream....

http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article204833344.html

What Medical Aid In Dying Means to Me - Honolulu Civil Beat

A retired registered nurse says the law works as intended in Oregon, as it will in Hawaii.....
http://www.civilbeat.org/2018/03/what-medical-aid-in-dying-means-to-me/

This Couple Died By Assisted Suicide Together. Here’s Their Story - TIME

On the last morning of their lives, Charlie and Francie Emerick held hands. The Portland, Ore., couple, married for 66 years and both terminally ill, died together in their bed April 20, 2017, after taking lethal doses of medication obtained under the state's Death with Dignity law. ....
http://time.com/5179977/assisted-suicide-couple-death/

Doctor: My terminally ill patients deserve end of life options

Sam was a 42-year-old patient of mine with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — also known as Lou Gehrig disease. He was relatively vibrant when he first came to me, but eventually became weaker and had to use a wheelchair to get around. He began having trouble forming words and spoke in a whisper. He even had difficulty swallowing his saliva. He was rapidly losing weight, both in muscle bulk and in overall body mass....

https://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2018/02/21/doctor-my-terminally-ill-patients-deserve-end-life-options/359511002/

Aid-in-dying advocates target next battleground states -- CNN

Will efforts to expand the practice to Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Hawaii succeed this year?....
http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/25/health/aid-in-dying-battleground-states/index.html