GESTIÓN EN SALUD PÚBLICA: BioEdge: On a mission from FEN: assisted dying outside the law

domingo, 2 de junio de 2019

BioEdge: On a mission from FEN: assisted dying outside the law

BioEdge: On a mission from FEN: assisted dying outside the law

Bioedge

On a mission from FEN: assisted dying outside the law

by Michael Cook | 2 Jun 2019 |

A common argument for the legalisation of assisted suicide is that it will stop people from helping spouses, relatives and friends to die illegally. It will make the whole right-to-die issue very transparent.

But not everyone in the right-to-die league plays by the same rules. In the latest post on the Good Death Society Blog, the president of the Final Exit Network, Janis Landis, says that any law permitting assisted suicide, such as Oregon’s or California’s, no matter how welcome or how liberally interpreted, will inevitably exclude some people from being “assisted”.

That’s why there will always be a need for groups like the Final Exit Network:

And so with the hoped-for expansion of PAD laws, the need for our services will be even greater. And of course, our original mission, providing information to those seeking end-of-life options remains urgent. As you know, all the PAD laws require a prognosis of death within six months. Those suffering the most, from neurological diseases such as ALS and Parkinson’s, will find no relief under those laws. And it is particularly cruel for them because the congratulations and celebrations upon the law’s passage have raised hopes which are then dashed when the strict limitations of the law are made clear. We remain the only DWD organization in the United States providing information to these desperate individuals.
So is there a place for FEN in the wake of more PAD laws? If we want these laws to have practical meaning, if we want to encourage improvements in the existing legislative template, and if we want to reach those excluded by the law, the answer is a resounding YES. We are the only organization that provides the missing half of the loaf. Without it, the law remains, for most, a cruel illusion, inapplicable and/or out of reach when people actually seek to use it.

Members of FEN have been charged several times with assisting suicides. The implication of these words by FEN’s president is that right-to-die activists will continue to work beyond the boundaries of legality, even in states where it is legal in certain circumstances.

Michael Cook is editor of BioEdge

An interesting group within the American pro-life movement is African-Americans who oppose abortion. The Rev Clenard Childress Jr, for instance, is a New Jersey pastor who runs a website called Black Genocide. Groups like his highlight the fact that African-American women account for a third of abortions in the US.

This might have been remained a factoid about the US abortion wars, but it was unexpectedly placed on centre stage this week with the Supreme Court's decision in Box v. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky. Justice Clarence Thomas, the only African-American on the bench, was seething with anger when he reflected on the fate of black babies (see our story below):

abortion in the United States is also marked by a considerable racial disparity. The reported nationwide abortion ratio— the number of abortions per 1,000 live births—among black women is nearly 3.5 times the ratio for white women. And there are areas of New York City in which black children are more likely to be aborted than they are to be born alive—and are up to eight times more likely to be aborted than white children in the same area.

Journalists who bothered to report his remarks shook their heads and described him as loopy. He's not. That abortion has a disproportionate impact on the poor and disenfranchised is a blot on American society. For a touching comment on this, check out this rap song from a group called Flipsyde, Happy Birthday.