Euthanasia and assisted suicide in the news in New Zealand
Dr Kay Mitchell of Auckland university anonymously surveyed 2,600 family doctors by mail and found 225 cases in which treatment had been withheld or painkillers used with at least a partial intention to cause an earlier death. Rev. Dr. Michael McCabe, director of the Nathaniel (Catholic bioethics) Centre, expressed concern that the findings could undermine trust in physicians. Dr John Adams, chairman of the New Zealand medical association, commented that the preservation of life is one of a doctor's primary obligations.
Meanwhile, Peter Brown's "Death with Dignity Bill" is to be debated in parliament. Among those opposed to it are Kaikoura M.P. Dr. Lynda Scott, the Maxim Institute and the country's Catholic bishop's conference. Proponents of the legislation include Dr. Philip Nitschke, an Australian euthanasia advocate who is in New Zealand marketing his 'exit bags'. He is also speaking in defence of assisted suicide advocate Lesley Martin, charged with attempting to murder her terminally-ill mother by drug overdose and suffocation.
Continued pressure for legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide, particularly in the absence of protective legislation, is a matter of concern for those who do not wish to participate in such procedures.
28 March, 2003
Guernsey euthanasia
committee has not yet met
The president of a legislative committee that is to investigate the
legalization of euthanasia/assisted suicide has admitted that the work group
has not met in the six months since Guernsey's parliament voted to begin the
enquiry.[See Pro-euthanasia
postcard campaign in Guernsey ].
27 March, 2003
Merck & Co.
acknowledges abortion as source of fetal cell lines in vaccines
Children and God for Life and Human Life International are involved in a
struggle with the board of directors of Merck & Co. Inc., a pharmaceutical
company that had a net income of
$7.2billion in 2002, $34.6 million of which came from viral vaccine sales.
The dispute involves a shareholder's resolution put forward by Rev. Thomas
J. Euteneuer of Human Life International, but highlights the moral
controversy involved in the production and use of some vaccines.
26 March, 2003
Survey of
morning-after pill use in United Kingdom
A survey of England and Wales conducted by the Department of Health in
2001/02 has been released by the Office for National Statistics. It
suggest that 7% of female respondents
aged 16-49 and 21% of women aged 18-19 had used the potentially abortifacient morning-after pill
during the preceding 12 months. About a million packs of the drug are provided
annually in the United Kingdom. The widespread use of the product is
likely to make it increasingly difficult for health care workers who, for
reasons of conscience, object to dispensing it.
24 March, 2003
United Nations proposes "reward and punishment" to enforce
population control
The UN Emergency Unit for Ethiopia is pushing for aggressive population
control measures enforced by "reward and punishment" in order to make the
country less dependent on foreign food aid. The suggestion may bring
Ethiopian health care workers who do not share the United Nations moral
outlook into conflict with those who want to impose the UN policy. [Africa.com]
[See
No Place for Abortion in African Traditional Life - Some Reflections (2002)]
21 March, 2003
New eugenic screening test
The Lancet reports that a new quadruple blood test has halved the 14% false
positive rate associated to current pre-natal screening tests. The
tests are used to identify Down's Syndrome and other conditions in order to
facilitate abortions, thus presenting a problem for health care workers who
object to eugenic practices and/or abortion. [BBC]
20 March, 2003
Taiwanese doctors
testify against euthanasia
The Taiwanese legislature, considering an appeal for euthanasia from a
leukemia patient, has been told by physicians that better palliative care is
the appropriate response to such requests.
19 March, 2003
New York mayor vetoes
coercive bill
Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, has
vetoed a bill that would have required
all city hospitals to provide the potentially abortifacient morning-after
pill to patients complaining of rape. He asserted that the bill was
unnecessary.[New York Post]
18 March, 2003
Immigrant woman fired
for refusing abortion
A Filipina woman employed as a live-in caregiver, has been fired and
threatened with deportation because she refused to have an abortion.
Eurasian Homecare Services and the man who employed her had sent her to
Notre Dame Hospital after they learned she was pregnant. The
conversation with the there doctor was conducted on her behalf in French, a
language she did not understand. When she learned that they were
discussing arrangements for an abortion, she refused. [Montreal
Gazette]
Assisted suicide bill in
New Zealand
Assisted suicide legislation has been proposed by New Zealand First MP Peter
Brown. The bill requires two medical opinions, consultation with a
psychologist or psychiatrist, and a waiting period. Only those 18
years or older would be allowed to request assisted suicide.
Dr Philip Nitschke, a well-known euthanasia advocate from Australia, is on a
speaking tour of New Zealand, and has come to the support of a woman charged
for attempting to murder her sick mother. Continued advocacy of
euthanasia and assisted suicide illustrates the importance of protection of
conscience legislation.
17 March, 2003
Euthanasia proposed in China
32 members of the National People's Congress moved that euthanasia should be
legalized in China, initially in Beijing and Shanghai. China's
coercive population control policies, which already adversely affect health
care workers who object to abortion [Chinese
health care workers and the 'one-child' policy] provide a
particularly troubling backdrop for the proposal.
14 March, 2003
UK
attempt to ban euthanasia by starvation and dehydration
The Patients' Protection Bill, which would ban the deliberate withdrawal of
nutrition and hydration as a means of causing the death of patients, has
received a second reading in the House of Lords and been sent to committee.
[Hansard]
Pro-euthanasia
postcard campaign in Guernsey
The 58,000 residents of the Channel Island of Guernsey will be receiving
postcards from a local group, which they will be asked to sign and return to
support legalization of euthanasia. In September of last year the
States, Guernsey's parliament, voted to investigate the legalization of
euthanasia. Guernsey is not part of the United Kingdom. It is subject
directly to the British sovereign, and is not subject to laws passed by the
British Parliament unless the laws specifically include such a provision.
The Privy Council must approve Guernsey's statutes.
13 March, 2003
Baby to be made to order
as blood donor
A hospital ethics committee in Melbourne, Australia, has approved the
production of a baby by means of IVF, guided by eugenic screening and tissue
matching. The child's parents plan to use blood from the umbilical
cord for transfusion to a sick sibling. The case illustrates how
artificial reproductive technologies can be used for unforeseen ends which
may, in such circumstances, give rise to conflicts of conscience among
participating health care workers.
12 March, 2003
US Senate fails to
pass coercive measure
A measure that would have forced hospital emergency rooms to dispense the
potentially abortifacient morning-after pill to rape complainants failed to
muster enough votes in the Senate to pass.
Protection of conscience bill moves forward in Wisconsin
Wisconsin's Senate Labor Committee has approved
Senate Bill 21,
which would protect pharmacists who, for reasons of conscience, refuse
to dispense drugs or devices that would cause death through abortion,
euthanasia, physician assisted suicide, etc. Testimony from three
pharmacists supporting the bill is available on the Project website.[Testimony
of Pharmacist Klubertanz Re: Wisconsin Senate Bill 21]
Assisted feeding to be
withdrawn
In the state of Victoria, Australia, a Civil and Administrative Tribunal
ruling that a feeding tube could be removed from a woman suffering from
dementia will not be challenged. A Right to Life group had appealed
the ruling to the Supreme Court, but has since withdrawn from the case.
It appears that the woman will be starved to death on the grounds that the
assisted feeding constitutes medical treatment rather than care.
Culling surplus by
lethal injection
The BBC reports that 49 infants in utero were killed by lethal
injection in 2001. Most were normal and healthy, but were culled
because the mother did not want to bear all of the children she was
carrying. The procedure has become more common because of in
vitro fertilization, with implantation of more than one of the resulting
embryos. [BBC
report] Lethal injections of potassium chloride are used in the
province of Alberta to ensure that infants scheduled for late term eugenic
abortions are dead when they emerge. The practice developed after it
was revealed that some infants had survived late term abortions and had been
left to die at Foothills Hospital in Calgary. [Nurses
At Foothills Hospital Rebel Over The Horrifying Results Of Late-Term
'Genetic Terminations']
7 March, 2003
Abortion in Africa
International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) hosted a conference on
'unsafe abortion' in Kenya in the first week of March, attended by health ministers
from Ghana, Mozambique and Namibia. The head of the African Alliance
for Women's Reproductive Health and Rights claimed that thousands of African
women die annually from unsafe abortions, blaming restrictive abortion laws
inherited from former colonial powers. Mrs Charity Ngilu, the Kenyan health
minister, has stated that "the denial of women to make free choice on their reproductive
health life is wrong,"
but bishops of the Catholic, Anglican and Independent Pentecostal churches
denounced the statement; Muslim leaders in Kenya are also opposed to
abortion. Aside from the fact that reliable statistics
cannot be had, the notion that suppression of abortion is an artifact of the
colonial period is disputed. [See
No Place for Abortion in African Traditional Life - Some Reflections (2002)].
Conference attendees do not appear to have been advised that the failure to
take into account the position of conscientious objectors in South Africa
was a significant omission in the legalization of abortion in that country.
[See
Traumatised Health Care Professionals Forced to Take Part in Abortion
Procedures].
6 March, 2003
Wrongful life
suit in Alberta, Canada
A 'wrongful life' suit will proceed in the Court of Queen's Bench of
Alberta. Acting on behalf of her disabled daughter, a woman is suing
her obstetrician because the child was born with serious physical and mental
disabilities. The threat of 'wrongful birth' and 'wrongful life' suits
can be used to pressure physicians and others to become involved in eugenic
practices, which some find morally objectionable. [News
report]
Catholic-Jewish statement affirms freedom of conscience
A joint
statement, issued after a first meeting between delegations of the Chief
Rabbinate of Israel and the Holy See, a statement was issued that included
the following assertion:
4.1. Human life is of unique and highest value in our world. Any attempt to destroy human life must be rejected, and every common effort should be made, in order to promote human rights, solidarity among all human beings, respect for freedom of conscience.
"Autonomy" the most popular reason for assisted suicide
Official statistics published by the Oregon Department of Human
Services reveal that 38 people died by physician assisted suicide in the
state, which legalized the practice in 1998. 58 people had been
given prescriptions for lethal medication. Among the reasons for
seeking assisted suicide, concern about "losing autonomy" was
expressed by 85% of the patients. [See
Assissted Suicide- What Role for Nurses?]
4 March, 2003
Abortions demanded
at hospital in South Africa
In the South African town of Rietvlei near Umzimkhulu in Eastern Cape, a
controversy has arisen because women were refused abortions at the local
hospital. Accusations of misconduct have been leveled at the staff,
who are reported to object to the procedure for religious or moral reasons.
Those who want to force the staff to provide abortions claim that this is
required by the South African Termination of Pregnancy Act. [See
South Africa Changes Abortion Law; Are
State Doctors in the Western Cape willing to implement the Choice of
Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1996? An opinion survey conducted in the
Western Cape in November 1997.;
No Place for Abortion in African Traditional Life - Some Reflections (2002))
3 March, 2003
Protection of conscience bills introduced in Wisconsin and Missouri
Legislators in Wisconsin and Missouri have introduced bills that would
ensure freedom of conscience for pharmacists with moral objections to
dispensing certain drugs. See Wisconsin
SB21 and Missouri
AB480, and the
Project Letter to the Editor.
Australian tribunal claims nutrition and hydration are 'treatment'
Consistent with some notable judicial decisions, the Civil and
Administrative Tribunal in the Australian state of Victoria has decided that
artificial nutrition and hydration are forms of medical
treatment rather than
care. The decision paves the way for a proxy decision maker to
cause the death of a patient by withdrawing food and fluids, a procedure
which is likely to give rise to conflicts of conscience for some health care
workers.
28 February, 2003
TV
programme claims Dutch euthanasia guidelines ignored
The 'Reporter' , a Dutch television programme, has broadcast claims that the
actual euthanasia rate in the Netherlands is higher than officially reported
because many doctors find the reporting requirements too time-consuming.
The programme asserted that many administer lethal doses of morphine on the
pretext that they are intended to control pain, or sedate patients and let
them die of dehydration and starvation.
25 February, 2003
Slovakia and Vatican negotiating protection of conscience protocol
A new document being drafted by the Vatican and Slovakia will acknowledge
that, for reasons of conscience, Slovakians are free to refuse to carry out
obligations that the state would otherwise impose. The document will
include reference to conscientious objection to military service, parental
authority to withdraw their children from sex-education classes,
recognition of Sunday observance, and protection for doctors who refuse to
perform abortions.
23 February, 2003
Treatment and care in
advance directives
Hammersmith Hospitals Trust in London is asking patients to provide advance
directives about
care and
treatment should they develop diseases like advanced dementia or cancer,
or problems like confinement to bed after a stroke or double incontinence.
The forms include reference not only to ordinary treatment for illness, but
to artificial nutrition and hydration. The provision of nourishment is
looked upon by many conscientious objectors as basic care, not treatment,
despite legal rulings to the contrary. Conflicts may arise if health
care workers are required to starve and dehydrate patients in conformity
with the directives sought by the Trust.
21 February, 2003
Hawaiian bill
threatens freedom of conscience
Hawaiian Senate Bill 658 would require all hospitals to provide the
potentially abortifacient morning-after pill to rape complainants. The
bill provides fines of $5000 each time a hospitals decline to provide the
drugs. After a second violation, the state will revoke the hospital's
certificate of authority. The bill appears similar to one just passed
in New Mexico. (See
previous report)
Continued pressure for euthanasia in United Kingdom
Lord Joel Joffe has put forward the Assisted Dying Bill, which would permit
people suffering from terminal or serious and incurable illnesses to obtain
'medical assistance to die'. The fill is not thought likely to become
law.
[BBC]
The continuing efforts of pro-euthanasia advocates ought to alert health
care professionals to the importance of solidarity in defending freedom of
conscience. Those who demand that colleagues be made to facilitate or
participate in morally controversial procedures should realize that they
themselves could become victims of their own policy objectives.
19 February, 2003
Preliminary statistics indicate increase in assisted suicide in Oregon
Compassion in Dying, an assisted suicide lobby group in Oregon, reports that
30 of their clients killed themselves in 2002, compared to 17 in 2001.
The group believes that the number amounts to about 80 percent of the
assisted suicide deaths in the state, where the practice is legal.
Official statistics will be released next month. The executive
director of the group believes that publicity about a lawsuit intended to
hamstring the law actually increased interest in assisted suicide. He
also suggested that physicians had become more comfortable with it.
Conflicts of conscience are more likely to arise as the practice becomes
more common. [For another view of the situation in Oregon, see
Assisted Suicide: What Role for Nurses?] An assisted suicide
bill is now before the Arizona state legislature.
18 February, 2003
Importance of backing from religious leaders emphasized
Australian Labour Party member John Hogg, deputy president of the Senate in
Queensland, has asked Catholic Church leaders to become "more aggressive" in
public support of Catholic teaching. He complained that Catholic
politicians who defend Church teaching are often left to fend for themselves
when Church authorities fail to support them, especially when they are
attacked by nominally Catholic groups opposed to Catholic teaching. [Zenit
interview] Conscientious objectors not infrequently encounter the same
problem, which is not unique to the Catholic Church.
Lesbian sues Christian doctor for refusing insemination
An obstetrician who refused to perform artificial insemination on a lesbian
patient is before the 4th District California Court of Appeal in San Diego
defending herself against a civil suit. The doctor, a Christian,
offered to provide fertility treatments and to care for her after she became
pregnant, but would not provide artificial insemination because to
inseminate a homosexual would conflict with her religious beliefs.
For 11 months the doctor provided drug and hormone therapies as the patient
tried self-insemination with sperm from a sperm bank. The obstetrician
also performed diagnostic surgery on the patient to determine her
suitability for artificial insemination, and referred her to another doctor
to perform the procedure. However, the obstetrician and her colleagues
declined to have the insemination occur in their clinic. [News
report]
Wisconsin sees support, attacks on freedom of conscience
Senate Bill 21,
a protection of conscience bill for pharmacists, has been introduced in
Wisconsin. It is reported to have broad support in both houses.
Advocates for freedom of conscience in Wisconsin request support for SB 21
and opposition to LRB-1983/1 and LRB-1984/1, two bills that would force
hospitals to provide the potentially abortifacient morning-after pill to
rape complainants.
17 February, 2003
Anti-Muslim
bias alleged in British medical schools
Christopher McManus, Professor of Psychology and Medical Education at
University College London, has produced research that suggests that
applicants to medical schools from ethnic minorities have less than half the
chance of acceptance as whites. Even so, the proportion of medical
students from minorities has risen from 10 to 33 per cent over the last
twenty years, and it is now being suggested that medical schools are
restricting the admission of Muslim applicants. The restriction is
said to result from the refusal of Muslims to participate in courses that
are contrary to their faith. Many, for example, will not perform
abortions. An executive member of the Muslim Doctors' and Dentists'
Association also identified artificial reproductive procedures and
euthanasia as contentious issues.[The Times]
13 February, 2003
Virginia
Senate committee kills protection of conscience measure
House Bill 1741,
passed by the House in January, has been killed by a committee of the state
senate.
12 February, 2003
Dubious survey suggests UK nurses favour assisted suicide
Half of 1,000 nurses in the United Kingdom surveyed by Nursing Times
magazine are reported to believe that assisted suicide should be legalized;
1 in 20 "believe" that their colleagues are already involved in euthanasia
or assisted suicide. However, the wording of the statement yielding
the 1 in 20 result was ambiguous. "Health professionals already quietly help
patients to die" does not specify that the "help" provided is, in fact,
deliberate killing, nor does it indicate the origin of the respondent's
"belief". The result is further complicated by responses suggesting
confusion about the moral significance of providing a last dose of morphine,
or an increasing frequency of doses, intended to relieve pain but not to
kill. The Royal College of Nursing noted that the survey sample was
relatively small, and reiterated support for better palliative care rather
than legalization of euthanasia. [See
Assisted Suicide: What Role for Nurses?;
Consensus Guidelines on Analgesia and Sedation in Dying Intensive Care Unit
Patients ]
11 February, 2003
Attacks on freedom of
conscience in New Mexico and New York
House Bill 119, passed by New Mexico's House of Representatives, would force all
hospitals in
New Mexico to offer the potentially abortifcacient morning-after pill to
rape complainants. It now goes to the state Senate. As a form of
preamble to the main text of the statute, the bill offers a series of
purported "findings", including the statement,
"Emergency contraception cannot and does not cause abortion." It
appears that this was included in order to circumvent the state's
protection of conscience statute, which prevents health care workers
from being forced to participate in abortions.
The bill
demands that hospitals not only counsel rape complainants about the use of the morning-after pill, but also provide the potentially abortifacient pill upon request. A hospital that does not comply may be fined $5,000.00 for each complainant who is not given information and/or the pills, and $5,000.00 for each month that it provides emergency services without having trained its personnel to impart "medically and factually accurate and objective information" about the drug. After a second fine, the hospital's licence may be revoked. There is no exemption for denominational hospitals or institutions founded upon principles that preclude the provision of potentially abortifacient drugs.The state Assembly in New York has passed a similar bill. Bill A19 demands that all hospitals provide the 'morning-after pill' upon request by a rape complainant, as well as information that has been 'approved' by a state official. The latter requirement is even more restrictive than the New Mexican law, which at least requires that the information provided be medically and factually accurate. There is no provision for conscientious objection. The bill has now been referred to the state Senate. It is possible that hospitals may defend themselves by relying upon New York's Civil Rights Law, but the application of the saving provisions of that statute depends upon judicial interpretation and is far from certain.
7 February, 2003
Canada must pay for sex
change operations
Madam Justice Carolyn Layden-Stevenson of the Federal Court of Canada has
ordered Correctional Services Canada to pay for sex change operations that
'medical opinion' deems to be an "essential service for a particular
inmate." Her ruling was apparently influenced by the fact that such
operations are covered by the state medicare system in most provinces.
The inmate who initiated the action was a man convicted for the murder of a
transvestite associate. The notion that such surgery could be
considered an "essential medical service" may prove to be a troubling
precedent if it is applied in cases involving conscientious objection.
[National
Post]
5 February, 2003
Pope reminds Catholic health care workers of duty to form conscience
Pope John Paul II's
message for the World Day of the Sick included a reminder that
"Catholics working in the field of health care have the urgent task of doing
all they can to defend life when it is most seriously threatened and to act
with a conscience correctly formed according to the teaching of the Church."
31 January, 2003
Umbilical cord yields more
stem cells
Kansas State University has found that Wharton's Jelly, a matrix within
the umbilical cord, can provide a ready supply of stem cells for research
without the ethical concerns associated with destroying embryos to obtain
them. The cells obtained from
Wharton's Jelly can be propogated for over a year, frozen, and made to
express foreign proteins. They can also be induced to form nerve
cells. [Study]
The report is one of many that indicate that conflicts of conscience among
researchers can readily be avoided by using stem cells from
non-controversial sources.
Joint declaration against abortion
Plans to widen the grounds for abortion in Indonesia have been opposed in a
joint declaration signed by Buddhist, Catholic, Muslim, Hindu and Protestant
religious leaders. The statement was issued after a meeting of the
leaders at Jakarta's Istiqlal Mosque. It indicates that, without
exemptions for conscientious objection, legalization will lead to conflicts
of conscience among the adherents of these religions who are health care
workers. [UCAN]
30 January, 2003
Aborted infants provide eye tissue
A team at the Doheny Eye
Institute in Los Angeles, California, which transplanted tissue from the
retinas of aborted infants into four patients, noted improvement in two
of them. At least one expert has suggested that more common eye
ailments might be treated in the same way. Use of tissue obtained
through abortion can give rise to conscientious objection. The
likelihood of such conflict increases when experiments of this kind raise
expectations that such tissue may or should be used.
Canadian doctor ordered to pay $325,000 for 'wrongful birth'
A wrongful birth case in Vancouver, B.C. that has attracted considerable
criticism did not deal with the issue of conscientious objection, nor did it
concern a physician who could be described as 'pro-life'. There was no
evidence that the physician generally discouraged patients from having
amniocentesis, nor does the judge's summary of the evidence suggest that he
objected to abortion. The case turned on a conversation between a
physician and a pregnant patient described as " a sophisticated and
experienced businesswoman woman," who told him that she wanted to have a
"perfect baby."
He testified that he had told the patient that she should seriously consider having an abortion if amniocentesis revealed an abnormality, but she responded that she would not consider having one. In addition, he asserted that the patient’s travel plans complicated arrangements for the test and followup. The physician claimed that he would have arranged for the test if it had not been "too late."
The trial judge rejected the doctor’s testimony that the patient said she would not have an abortion. The judge concluded that the physician had added "self-serving notes" to his clinical record after the fact "in order to bolster his case" once he became aware of the possibility of the suit against him. He ruled that the physician ought to have expedited the test, and that had he made the attempt to do so he probably would have been successful.
The finding against the physician was that his failure to arrange for an amniocentesis "fell below the accepted standard of care and was negligent." The result of this negligence was the birth of a child with Down Syndrome, who would have been aborted had the condition been detected by the test. However, the judge ruled that the parents were also negligent, assessing their contribution to the outcome at 50%. Damages assessed against the physician mainly reflected an assessment of costs that would be incurred by the parents during their lifetimes to reasonably "promote the mental and physical health" of the child. The judge calculated the amount at $193,771 (USD). The judgement is of concern from the perspective of freedom of conscience in health care because it indicates that eugenic practices are now considered a legally enforceable 'standard of care'.
Abortion
statistics and conscientious objection
A recent Alan Guttmacher
Institute study notes that almost one quarter of hospitals providing
abortions performed fewer than six abortions. The study's authors
explain that they "were most likely
performing abortions only in cases of fetal anomaly or serious risk to the
woman’s life or health". Even at face value, this is a tacit admission
that refusal to provide abortions for reasons of conscience could not be
said to present a threat to women's health. Although the number of
abortion providers declined, the decline was slightly lower than that
recorded between 1992 and 1996. This does not suggest a catastrophic
reduction sometimes claimed by those who oppose freedom of conscience in
health care.
The
study also reported that 1,819 physicians performed at least one
abortion in 2000 - a decrease of 11% since 1996. An
article by Sydney Smith, a family physician, notes that most of these
providers were probably obstetrician-gynecologists, and would amount to only
about 5% of the total number of obstetricians in the United States.
Smith suggests that personal convictions rather than external constraints
are responsible for the low rate of participation.
29 January, 2003
Virginia committee approves protection of conscience measure
A committee of the Virginia legislature has approved
House Bill 1741,
that would protect pharmacists, doctors and other health
professionals who refuse to dispense abortifacient drugs. The bill was
amended to delete a requirement for referral by conscientious objectors.
28 January, 2003
Pressure for euthanasia
continues in UK
ITV1, a British national television channel, has broadcast a programme
which followed Reginald Crew on his trip to Switzerland, where he died by
assisted suicide. More Britons are believed to be planning similar
excursions. Responding to news of Crew's death, Chris Davies, a
British Liberal Democrat in the European parliament, now argues for the
legalization of euthanasia.
An anonymous person has contacted a London newspaper and claimed to be a Scottish doctor who has assisted eight terminally ill patients to commit suicide. He also asserted that six other physicians had told him that they had also assisted in causing the deaths of patients. The chairman of the UK's Voluntary Euthanasia Society, Dr Michael Irwin, a former general practitioner, maintains that physicians contribute to a third of all deaths in Britain, and congratulated those whom he said had administered lethal injections. The VES conducted an internet poll that purported to show that half of Britain's physicians believe that people should be able to obtain medical help to facilitate their deaths, but only a third supported legalization of assisted suicide.
Pro-euthanasia group gets government grant for counselling
The Ontario Ministry of Culture will provide a grant of over $177,000.00 to
the pro-euthanasia group 'Dying with Dignity' to develop a counselling
programme in Toronto. The founder of the group, who claimed to have
been present at over 350 suicides, killed herself in 1999. Her book,
A Gentle Death, is advertised on the group website. The
grant was approved by the Trillium Foundation, which is an agency of the
ministry. Approval of such initiatives from government agencies is
likely to lead to normalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia,
generating pressure for legalization.
27 January, 2003
Chinese
scientist claims to have cloned humans
Lu Guangxiu, who works at a laboratory in Changsha, Hunan province, claims
to have cloned more than 80 human embryos. Four had been allowed to
develop to the stage when they could have been implanted in a womb. [Sunday
Times, 26 January]
24 January, 2003
Swiss situation clarified
A report in the Medical Post dated 24 July, 2002, alleged that the new Swiss
abortion law would force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions. A
letter to the Project from the Swiss Embassy in Canada, now confirmed as
"99% true" by a spokesman for the Swiss Conference of Catholic Bishops,
confirms that this is not the case. The letter states that "there are
no more hospitals existing in Switzerland that are based on a catholic
foundation; all of them are now managed by secular directors. There
are, of course, medical staff with religious inclinations. . . their number,
however, is constantly declining. The only remaining indication today
of some hospitals' former catholic orientation are their names such as
St. Anna . . . there is no more hospital in Switzerland that would truly
qualify for the adjective 'catholic'. . .". (Project
letter to The Medical Post)
Eugenic screening
recommended in Germany
Germany's National Committee on Ethics has approved pre-implantation genetic
diagnosis (PGD) h to screen embryos for genetic defects. The committee
included limitations that would limit the destruction of embryos to those
that would be aborted under the current rules for eugenic abortions.
Making eugenic screening a standard practice can create problems for those
who have moral objections to the procedure.
20 January, 2003
Resistance
to performing late term abortions condemned
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), England's largest private
abortion provider, has criticized Scots medical professionals who decline to provide
late term abortions. BPAS chief executive Ian Jones claimed that women in
Scotland usually travel to England for abortions after 15 weeks'
gestation. The Sunday Herald report quotes Jones as saying, "if these
doctors do not want to treat women for a late abortion then we do not want
them treating women." BPAS plans to open an abortion clinic at a Scots
National Health Service hospital.
18 January, 2003
Freedom of conscience based on human dignity, not religious or cultural
equality
The Roman Catholic Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Church has
issued an important document tht focuses on the application of Catholic
belief in political life.
Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in
Political Life challenges widespread attitude that would see "a
large number of citizens, Catholics among them, are asked not to base their
contribution to society and political life – through the legitimate means
available to everyone in a democracy – on their particular understanding of
the human person and the common good."
West Virginia hospital acknowledges philosophical and religious views
The board of the United Hospital Center (UHC) in Clarksburg,West Virginia,
which voted last month to permit eugenic abortions, has reversed its
decision as a result of complaints from the public. The hospital's
president explained that the board had decided to "respect the community's
values . . . from a religious and philosophical standpoint."
[Clarksburg Exponent Telegram, 15 January, 2003]
15 January, 2003
One-child policy to continue
in China
The Standard, China's business newspaper, reports that the government
intends to continue the one-child policy. The policy has resulted in
forced abortions and infanticide and the coercion of some health care
workers. [See
Chinese health care workers and the
'one-child' policy]
Survey indicates "partial birth" abortions have tripled
When the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) survey concerning partial birth abortion was released in 1996, there were questions about the accuracy of its claim that about 650 procedures were performed annually in the US. Two years later a spokesman for the Institute stated that he was "pretty sure" the number was between 500 and 1,000. A survey just released by the Institute, using the same method, places the number at 2,200. If the survey is accurate, the increase suggests a greater likelihood that health care workers who object to the procedure may come under pressure to participate in it.
14 January, 2003
Freedom of conscience respected by New Brunswick College of Physicians
In November, 2002, the New Brunswick College of Physicians and Surgeons
published a practice comment that acknowledges that doctors do not have to
participate in procedures that they find morally objectionable. More
important, the comment also acknowledges that they do not have to refer a
patient to another physician. In a
bulletin a year earlier, the College requested feedback on the question
of whether or not a greater onus ought to be placed on conscientious
objectors to facilitate morally controversial procedures.
The comment directs physicians to advise patients when their recommendations or practices are influenced by their moral judgement, so that patients are aware of why a physician is declining to provide a requested service or treatment. It identifies referral or the provision of information about alternative means of access as "preferred" but not obligatory practices. The College Registrar, Dr. Ed Schollenberg, explained that the comment is carefully worded because the subject is inescapably controversial. The College wishes to assist physicians in providing care to patients while respecting their own moral integrity.
The Project was among those who responded to the College request for feedback, and also contributed a letter to the editor on the subject following media reports on the bulletin.
Malaysian Muslim Council illustrates difficulty for religious believers
A declaration by the Muslim National Fatwa Council of Malaysia illustrates
how different views within a religious group may make it more difficult for
those associated with the group to explain the basis for their religious
objection to morally controversial procedures. The Council agreed that
cloning of human embryos was acceptable as long as the embryo is destroyed
before it reaches 120 days of age; it held that abortion was morally
acceptable during the same period. Such opinions are not universally
shared among Muslims. (See, for example,
Islamic Medical Ethics: Some Questions and Concerns. Such
differences of opinion also exist among other religious denominations, and
are sometimes cited as a reason for disregarding religious conviction as a
legitimate basis for conscientious objection.
7 January, 2003
Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons accommodates Christian physician
The Ontario College of
Physicians and Surgeons has accepted a suggestion from Dr. Stephen Dawson
that has resolved complaints lodged against him. Dr. Dawson, a
Christian physician who practises in Barrie, Ontario, was charged for
professional misconduct because he refused to prescribe birth control pills
to four unmarried women.
Dr. Dawson now posts a policy statement in his waiting room that includes a statement that he will not prescribe birth control pills to unmarried women nor Viagra to unmarried men, nor will he arrange for abortions. He will not offer further information about his religious convictions except in response to queries from patients.
The resolution reflects the fact that there were two different issues at play in the case: the exercise of freedom of conscience, and the manner in which it was exercised. College spokesman Kathryn Clarke explained that the focus of the College was on the latter. "We simply wish to be assured that when he explains to his patients why he does not provide these services that he does so in a professional and respectful manner."
Dr. John Williams, director of ethics for the Canadian Medical Association, confirmed that physicians are not obliged "to do something that they feel is wrong", and do not have to refer patients in such cases. Dr. Williams made a similar statement in conversation with the Project Administrator in the spring of 2000. [CMAJ]
[For details of the case, see the story from The Barrie Examiner, and letters to the editor from the Project to The Barrie Examiner and the National Post. Comments from the Christian Medical and Dental Society and the Catholic Civil Rights League (Canada) appear in a Lifesite News story. Journalist Michael Coren offers a Real Audio commentary. The Project also responded to an editorial broadcast by the CBC criticizing Dawson; the CBC did not broadcast the Project response.]
Mexican National Human Rights Commission denounces coercive measures
The National Population Council of Mexico, which is supported by the United
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is reported to have set
national quotas for "family planning" that are to be met by regional hospitals
and local
family planning teams. The National Human Rights Commission has
protested that the programme involves threats, bribes, and the
imposition of procedures and drugs without the informed consent of the
patients. In such circumstances there is reason to be concerned that
health care worker who object to morally controversial procedures will also
be victimized.
6 January, 2003
Money offered to
clinics to find 'spare embryos'
The Medical Research Council in the United Kingdom is attempting to increase
the number of embryos donated for destructive research. It is giving
money to some IVF clinics so that they can find ways to encourage donation,
perhaps by hiring employees to "aid consenting potential donors" in deciding
to donate their embryonic offspring.
4 January, 2003
National health insurance supports in vitro fertilization in Israel
500 human embryos at the Rabin Medical Centre - Hasharon Campus in
Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv died when a container in which they were stored
was accidentally left unsealed. The news report stated that every
hospital in Israel has an IVF unit, and that the treatment is offered free
as part of the national health insurance scheme. State supported
procedures, particularly on this scale, may create a dynamic of expectation
that all health care workers will co-operate with what has become a
matter of public policy. Making no claims with respect to the
situation in Israel, this can generate considerable opposition to
conscientious objection within the medical profession.
1 January, 2003
Utah Supreme Court rejects wrongful birth lawsuits
Utah's Wrongful Life Act was passed in 1983 to prevent 'wrongful
birth' or 'wrongful life' lawsuits. It prevents physicians from being
sued by a woman who claims that she would have had an abortion had she known
that her child was going to suffer from some form of birth defect.
Parents of a Down Syndrome child sued the University of Utah Medical Center
because of what they claimed were faulty prenatal tests. The majority
of the court ruled that that act protects health care professionals who
withhold information, but that this does not create a substantial obstacle
for a woman who might want to obtain an abortion. The court held that
an aggrieved party could pursue other forms of action, such as breach of
contract. Plaintiffs in breach of contract cases are limited to
collecting for actual financial losses, whereas the case before the court
included a claim for punitive damages.
It appears that parents in Utah who might want to abort a child for eugenic reasons can seek a physician who explicitly agrees with their outlook, thus ensuring that they will be given the information they desire. If the information proves to be inaccurate, they cannot sue for wrongful birth or wrongful life, but can sue for breach of contract. Since eugenic screening is not 100% accurate, it would presumably be necessary to prove that the physician was negligent or incompetent in order to succeed in an action against him.
The effect of the Act, as applied in this case, is to make wrongful birth and wrongful life suits contrary to public policy in Utah, while preserving the remedy of breach of contract. This ensures the protection of health care professionals who do not want to participate in eugenic screening, but it does not prevent parents who have made explicit eugenic screening agreements with health care professionals from holding them to account.