Follow up by Mark Komrad MD (pictured below)

Colleagues,

[Theo Boer, Professor of Health Care Ethics in the Netherlands] spoke last Friday. Many asked that I send the link to the lecture when available. Here it is: https://doctorssayno.net/webinars/

[Professor Boer] spoke about the decades of experience with euthanasia in that country and how it has affected and changed some fundamental cultural values there regarding life, death, and disability.  He document[ed] how it grew vastly beyond the initial parameters. 

This was a very worthwhile talk by Dr. Boer who was  involved in the early days of  the medical euthanasia's roll out in the Netherlands. He was initially supportive, but saw it get quite out of hand. So he became an opponent, and a Cassandra, warning other countries to not go down that path. 

Actress and Activist Liz Carr Creates “Blistering” Documentary On Assisted Suicide

By Diane Coleman, Not Dead Yet.  Original publication 05/16/24.

Liz Carr’s newest groundbreaking documentary on assisted suicide is a in-depth exploration of the emotions and societal pressures that lie at the heart of disability opposition to a public policy that threatens ours lives. The Guardian called it “blistering.” Her gripping and personal narrative, a must-see tour-de-force is available HERE for now. ...

In 2013, Liz Carr created a two part BBC documentary called “When Assisted Suicide Is Legal” about what she called her Euthanasia Road Trip in Europe, Oregon and Washington State. NDY covered Part 1 and Part 2 with excerpts and commentary in our blog, and the audio documentary is still live online:

Webinar Regarding Forty Years of the Dutch Euthanasia Experience (May 24/25 2024)

Featured Speaker Professor Theo Boer, pictured below.

Introductory comments by Mark Komrad, MD, below.

Please click HERE to join: Password: 089934, check your time zones listed below.

* * *

Dr. Komrad:

The international DOCTORS SAY NO organization is opposed to considering assisted suicide and euthanasia as medical procedures. I'm on the board and we sponsor a series of zoom lectures from physicians in several countries. Now, on May 24 [2024] we will be hearing from celebrated Dutch ethicist Theo Boer. 

Canada: Deep Convictions and Deep Pockets are Needed to Fight the MAID Lobby

By Gabrielle Peters (article excerpt).

“On the question of religious hospitals, despite being a lesbian couple, Patricia and I would tolerate life-size crucifixes in the treatment room if it meant being safe from MAID.” ~ Catherine Frazee,  (pictured here).* 

Disabled people often talk about being made invisible. This feeling is particularly striking around issues that are specific to us like MAID, "Medical Assistance in Dying." The lobbyists and proponents for Canada’s MAID regime routinely mischaracterize or, more often, omit mention of disabled people or our reasons for opposition entirely.

New Hampshire Senate Kills Bill

https://www.concordmonitor.com/NH-Senate-kills-MAID-55151269

After months of intense public debate, with Granite Staters on both sides of the legislation that would allow medical aid in dying [meaning assisted suicide, physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia], packing the room at every public hearing, the Senate voted on Thursday to kill the bill  [HB 1283] ....

The bill, which was struck down in the senate with a vote of 17-7 and referred to an interim study, proposed granting individuals aged 18 and above, diagnosed with a terminal illness and a prognosis of six months or less, and having sound mental capacity, the option to end their lives without suffering from the disease. ...

From the time the bill was introduced, legislators said they were flooded with testimonies both in favor of and against it. According to the state website, 658 individuals voiced their support, while 1,125 testified against it...

Canada's Life Span Drop

By Alex Schadenberg

Life expectancy for Canadians has dropped for at least three straight years from 2019 to 2022.

The drop in life expectancy also occurred in the US during Covid, but life expectancy rebounded in the US in 2022, whereas in Canada life expectancy has remained a year lower.

Based on the sheer number of euthanasia deaths in Canada, and the fact that Canadians are not required to be terminally ill in order to be killed by euthanasia, deaths by euthanasia have strongly affected Canada’s death rate resulting in the average Canadian dying one year earlier than in 2019.