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Assisted suicide: Anesthesiologists sound alarm

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In a medical journal article published this month, Canadian anesthesiologists raise concerns about physician assisted suicide:

Euthanasia usually involves a three-step process: a drug to relax the patient, a general anesthetic such as propofol to induce an artificial coma, and, finally, a neuromuscular block that causes respiratory arrest, cardiac arrest and death.

During surgery, “We take a lot of care with our monitoring and our assessment of the patient to judge depths of anesthesia,” Mack said. But if an error is made during euthanasia — and the muscle relaxant injected before the person is in a coma deep enough to prevent feeling the effects — he or she could die by suffocation while paralyzed, but conscious.

heartbeat

It seems like the lawyers at the Supreme Court of Canada were making decisions best left to …well …actual doctors:

In an interview, Mack said doctors are feeling pressured. “A timeline set by the Supreme Court for legislation is one thing, but for us to actually get to the point we can safely provide it is another…”

Shocking. Well, not really.

“We don’t need another Morgentaler”

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Slaw is a Canadian legal commentary blog. It’s not pro-life. But here’s a perspective that doesn’t line up far from my own…For a wide variety of reasons, I hate that assisted suicide has been decriminalized in Canada, but we cannot allow unregulated assisted suicide.

If the current government does nothing, and it’s impossible to see how they could broach such a complicated and sensitive subject as physician-assisted suicide in such a short period of time, then we will be left in a situation where these provisions under the Code are invalid and there is no comparable law to replace it. This would be a similar situation as abortion following R. v. Morgentaler 27 years ago, where no law has followed the Court’s decision.

Unlike abortion though, where most Canadians are content to live in a country where we turn a blind eye to the subject and allow it to continue based on individual preference, there are far more compelling interests at stake here.

The implication of inaction over the Carter decision would be to allow all consensual killing and assisted suicide in Canada, whether there was physician involvement or not, or any oversight for that matter. The vulnerabilities of individuals at the end of life, and potential for a rise in elder abuse, necessitates that some for of legislative reform is undertaken.

Read the rest here.

 

Alberta minors could request assisted suicide

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According to the draft policy by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, minors could request physician assisted suicide:

The old document restricted consent to competent adult patients, but that has been amended to include mature minors. The document states, “legal precedent recognizes mature minors as adults in their ability to consent; the college recommends physicians take a careful and conservative approach to mature minors.”

CPSA Registrar Dr. Trevor Theman said there’s no strict age limit on the requirement for consent, suggesting medical procedures aren’t typically based on age.

“It’s somebody who would not yet be of adult age, who is fully capable of understanding the options and the choices that are available–and the consequences of each–and is understood to have the capacity to make that decision,” he said.

 

Slippery slope? What slippery slope?

Teen

photo credit: i wear your heart on my sleeve via photopin (license)

Planned Parenthood shouldn’t have celebrated that episode of Scandal

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I saw a number of pro-lifers posting about the latest Scandal episode on Facebook. It’s one of television’s top shows. In last week’s episode, the main character apparently undergoes ‘the most realistic’ abortion ever shown during prime time.

I’ve watched Scandal. But I didn’t watch last week’s episode as I caught a story about it on LifeSiteNews, and I won’t be watching it. I’m four and a half months pregnant, and watching an abortion scene (and the scenes that follow) while Ave Maria, Silent Night and Hallelujah are played in the background would bring me to hysterics. Abortion is horrific. Abortion celebrated is a horror that I have difficulty imagining.

I just came across an article that explains why perhaps Planned Parenthood should stop celebrating this episode:

Because ultimately, I bet most viewers won’t remember the filibustering scenes or the political chatter about Planned Parenthood.

Instead, they’ll remember the episode’s most emotional moment: Olivia getting an abortion, all by herself, holiday music overheard, her dad’s voice denouncing family as a “burden.”

That’s not a moment any woman wants. That’s not a moment any man should want to happen.

I don’t know what story Rhimes, who serves on the board of directors of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, and the “Scandal” writers set out to tell. But the one they ultimately told is the true one: Abortion is a tragedy—not just for the unborn children whose lives are lost, but also for the women who have abortions.

Scandal

Read the rest here. Even with the best writers, it’s impossible to portray abortion as something great and wonderful – because women feeling like they need to choose abortion and end the lives of their children just isn’t.

Shopping for that perfect Christmas gift

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Then check out these beautiful pendants:

pendant

I just received one as a gift, and I have already bought one for a co-worker. They start at $45 and feature a mother caressing her womb on one side and an unborn child on the other. A portion of the proceeds go to pro-life charities. They’re Canadian and a wonderful pro-life gift to give and receive at Christmas.

Redirecting pain and anger?

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It’s not uncommon for me to send Andrea a link to a news article with the  accompanying text: “I don’t even know how to blog about this. I don’t know where to start.”

This story about Nicky Windsor is one of those stories. Nicky is a 29 year old woman from England who chose to abort her child.

She became upset with the abortion provider, the Conifer House clinic, because it did not provide her with sufficient options regarding the disposal of her dead baby’s body.

In response to her complaint, the clinic sent a card of apology and “comfort” and two ultrasound pictures of her baby. Nicky’s statement to the media:

She said: ‘I couldn’t believe my eyes. It’s absolutely disgraceful.

‘I’ve never known anything like it. What were they trying to do to me? Why on earth would I want scan pictures?

‘Going through a procedure like that is traumatic enough so to have it all brought back to me in the way that they did was absolutely shocking.

‘When I first got the card I thought it was a nice gesture but when I opened it up and saw two baby scans it absolutely shattered me. It was just an awful feeling.

‘It felt as if I had to go through the loss all over again.’

The front of the card, though not noted in the article reads “Your little one is sleeping soundly. Your little one is sleeping on a cloud, drifting high above. And gently dreams of peaceful things surrounded by your love.”

Nicky is not angry because her child is dead. She’s not angry that she perhaps made the wrong decision. She’s not angry that women are frequently told that abortion is a simple and straightforward procedure with few side effects, when she suffered severe trauma.

She’s angry that she couldn’t do what she wanted with the corpse and she’s angry that she had to look at the child that she “terminated.” She’s so angry that she goes public with her story and speaks to the media.

This story is as maddening as it is tragic. But the article does reveal some of the tragedy of abortion, how it not only ends a baby’s life, but how it hurts women. Nicky herself said that choosing to have an abortion proved to be a traumatic experience. The abortion provider also admits, via the message on the card, that a child was alive and is now dead and that the mother may be concerned about her child’s eternal soul.

I have to wonder if that concern and pain may be part of the reason for Nicky’s anger directed at the clinic. Nicky’s baby is gone and Nicky herself is in a lot of emotional pain.

And those of us who are pro-life are told we can’t call ourselves pro-woman.

Baby feet

 

The disabled feminist analysis of the abortion debate

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The writer of this piece is no fan of the pro-life movement. Her article identifies another tension within the feminist movement, and how it responds to abortion and euthanasia:

Euthanasia and abortion are often depicted as relating to the quality of one’s life. Our status, and indeed our bodies, are held to ransom in a complex orbit. Part of our history as disabled women has been a hushed legacy of forced sterilisation. Although many disabled women are mothers, a large proportion of us are often silenced in the conversation on reproductive and sexual health issues. […]

In the right-to-die debate, the point made about terminal illnesses can too readily segue into stereotyped characterisations of the perceived worthlessness and horror of disabled lives. Pride, self-esteem and achievement for people with disabilities often comes in small compromising individual and collective milestones. […]

Abortion is a difficult conversation for all women. As a feminist with a disability, my politics and values are constantly evolving. I will not negate my own experience, that brings a pride in being part of a rich form of human diversity. In supporting women’s rights to terminate their pregnancies, there is also a need to advocate for rights and adequate resources for people with disabilities.

girl shoes

An “unwanted pregnancy” does NOT equal an “unwanted child”

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I love the honesty of this post. I’m not Catholic but there is much to appreciate in this blogger’s words:

Some of us may be tempted to feel like we are ‘bad Catholics’ if we aren’t feeling over the moon when we see those double pink lines of a new pregnancy. Then when we get around to announcing the baby, and people say “Congratulations!” we are thinking cynically: Yeah, really. But we can’t express our misgivings. We smile politely and make some joke about God’s sense of humor while inwardly feeling devastated. Our fears may be physical, mental, financial, emotional… whatever the case may be, we do NOT want to admit to our good, Catholic friends—much less to our hostile non-Catholic family— that the idea of more children is gut-wrenching.

So we all move along in this faux reality of a Catholicism where being open-to-life means everyone is giddy about being pregnant when it happens.

[…]

How can we testimony to women who are experiencing fear or doubt over an unwanted pregnancy if we are afraid to empathize with them? So often women just want to feel like they aren’t alone. They want to have hope that it will indeed be okay. How can they know that if we aren’t open about living it? As far as they can tell, if you aren’t thrilled about a pregnancy, you will never want your child. What pity! What a lie!

Woman facing sun

What a little honesty can do…assure us we are not alone…and hint that things may in fact get better.

Planned Parenthood’s “best attempt at a defense was a miserable failure”

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Planned Parenthood is scrambling. Matt Walsh explains how:

As for the report itself, like I said, read it. Please read it. Lord, it’s laughable. I really want you to read it so you understand just how thoroughly, profoundly, irreparably dishonest the abortion industry is about everything, and how beholden our nation’s “reporters” are to it. Then again, maybe these water-carrying media members are just angling to the be the latest recipients of the trophies Planned Parenthood hands out to the most cooperative and obedient journalists.

Here’s the deal: not only does Planned Parenthood’s report fail to disprove CPM’s findings, it actually verifies them. In the first couple of paragraphs, the report admits, and I quote, “this analysis did not reveal widespread evidence of substantive video manipulation.” Alright. So there you go. The end, folks. Why are we still talking about this?

Read his article here.

Skeptical

This kid is about as impressed with Planned Parenthood as I am.

 
photo credit: No! via photopin (license)

The right question for Planned Parenthood defenders

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Timothy Brahm of the Equal Rights Institute is asking the right question:

In conclusion, I would like to pose a question to anyone that is still defending Planned Parenthood: There are at least half a dozen videos still coming. Is there hypothetically ANYTHING that could be in these videos that could persuade you that you shouldn’t support Planned Parenthood anymore? Is there anything a Planned Parenthood executive could say that would persuade you that the organization is corrupt? Is there any evidence that could convince you that they are financially profiting from selling baby parts, or doing something else illegal?

If the answer is yes, I’d be really interested to know what would do it for you.

If the answer is no, then it should disturb you that you are that closed-minded. Blind support for any organization is unconscionable.

Read the rest here.

Question mark

photo credit: Question mark via photopin (license)

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