Blog
May 21, 2016
From Voluntary Euthanasia to Rational Suicide? Exit’s 20th Anniversary Conference
The forthcoming Exit 20th Anniversary conference is titled ‘From Voluntary Euthanasia to Rational Suicide’.
But what are we talking about?
Generally speaking, VE – voluntary euthanasia is the catch-all term that means an assisted death. Euthanasia comes from the Greek, meaning good death.
Voluntary speaks for itself (although as some Christian groups would argue, there …
February 28, 2016
America’s Moral Panic over Euthanasia in the Netherlands
Whoever said it was Donald Trump who was causing moral panic and outrage in the US at the moment was only partly right. The other mischief maker is the Dutch, at least where euthanasia is concerned.
The study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows a few things. And not …
October 7, 2015
California’s End of Life Options Act (SB-128) – What’s it all about?
“I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain,” he wrote in a letter addressed to state lawmakers. “I am certain, however, that it would be a comfort to be able to consider the options afforded by this bill.
“And I wouldn’t deny that right to others.” …
September 27, 2015
Submission to Inquiry into End of Life Choices
I made a late submission to the Parliamentary Committee Inquiry into End of Life Choices in the Australian state of Victoria, not expecting it to be accepted, but it was. Here it is :
……the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells –
From the jingling and the
September 4, 2015
A day in the country
When Australian Broadcast Corporation invited contributions to their Death and Dying ABC Open project, I submitted the following. But it has not appeared on the website. Is this a case of censorship by our national broadcaster? I guess we’ll never know since they are not responding to my emails.
Dr. Johannes Klabbers
On a …
August 4, 2015
Why I don’t want to know about dying to know day
A lot of things have a day now. Last week we had Cheesecake Day. That was good. I like cheesecake. In Mexico they have a Day of the Dead. In Australia The Groundswell Project has declared August 8th #DyingToKnowDay.
Perhaps you’re just dying …
July 22, 2015
The life and death of Rogi Wieg
Rogi Wieg, a well known Dutch poet, died by voluntary euthanasia in Amsterdam on Wednesday night.
Throughout his life he suffered from serious depression and anxiety. He frequently had long spells in psychiatric institutions where he received electroshock therapy. He attempted suicide three times. His request for euthanasia was granted on the basis of ‘unbearable …
July 13, 2015
Oh: A word about Nembutal & Young People
The Fairfax media in Australia this week seemed to have worked themselves into a lather about young people taking Nembutal.
As was written about in Philip Nitschke’s autobiography Damned If I Do back in 2012 when Fairfax last mounted a moral panic campaign on this topic, those who are younger than 40 invariably work in …
July 13, 2015
What the Supreme Court Decision Means
If anyone was wondering what the Northern Territory Supreme Court really means, here it is. According to Exit International lawyers, the decision is a scathing account of the behaviour of the Medical Board of South Australia and the NT Medical Tribunal. Both failed miserably to apply the law.
The following was first published by Sparke …
June 15, 2015
The slippery slope
Those who are opposed to rational people having the ability to make their own choices about how their life ends are fond of using the phrase ‘the slippery slope’ and also of quoting erroneous statistics from The Netherlands.
Steven Poole in The Guardian wrote a nice article on the origins of the phrase and why …
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