Physician Assisted Suicide

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- When the Clinton presidential library released papers written by Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan last week, two of them had Kagan taking a pro-abortion position. A third shows Kagan urging former president Bill Clinton to oppose a ban on assisted suicide.

The issue of assisted suicide came up in the Clinton administration following a vote by Oregon voters to make the state the first in the nation to legalize the practice.

The Clinton administration was considering issuing a ruling saying Oregon doctors who prescribe federally controlled drugs to kill patients in assisted suicides were not violating federal law in doing so...

Atlanta (AP) - A judge has ordered Georgia to return $330,000 seized from an assisted suicide group in February.

Forsyth County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey S. Bagley wrote in an order filed Oct. 7 that the money should be returned because the state hadn't filed the necessary complaint in seven months.

Authorities seized the money after four people affiliated with the Final Exit Network, including the group's president and its medical director, were arrested. They were charged with assisted suicide in the June 2008 death of 58-year-old John Celmer, who had suffered from cancer...

A British television channel plans to show a film about an American man who commits assisted suicide at a Swiss clinic, reigniting debate over an issue that strongly divides opinion in Britain. Opponents called the broadcast a ratings-grabbing stunt.

Feelings about the issue ran so high Wednesday that Prime Minister Gordon Brown was asked about the program in Parliament...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law a bill that opponents
say could open the door to the eventuality of physician-assisted suicide in the
nation’s most populous state.

AB 2747 mandates that physicians, nurse
practitioners and physician assistants provide patients diagnosed with a
terminal illness – or who have been given a diagnosis of one year or less to
live – with “comprehensive information and counseling regarding legal
end-of-life options, as specified"...

The miraculous story of a Gulf War veteran on the verge of death following a serious accident has sparked the Arizona legislature to protect incapacitated patients from hasty decisions designed to accelerate their deaths.

Jesse Ramirez made it through a war, but he almost died as the result of not having a living will. Just ten days after a severe car crash, Ramirez' estranged wife ordered his food, water, and antibiotics terminated. He was then transferred to a hospice to die.

There isn't much John Peyton can do on his own except speak, and soon he'll lose even that. The former Boeing computer programmer has Lou Gehrig's disease, which progressively paralyzes its victims. His doctor gives him three to six months to live.

He is using his last months to oppose a ballot initiative that would allow physicians in Washington state to help terminally ill patients end their lives. Only Oregon has such a law.