Jean Balchin • Mar 20, 2018 •
When I was a child, I was rather prone to misbehaving. On occasions when I was particularly naughty, my father would sit me down with a copy of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and would order me to rewrite four of my favourite entries. It wasn’t actually that bad a punishment; being rather childish and petulant, … Read More
Jean Balchin • Mar 09, 2018 •
In Tuesday’s post, we looked at the history of euthanasia legislation in New Zealand, and compared it with that of Canada and the Netherlands. Let us now examine the various reasons for the legalisation of euthanasia in New Zealand. (Before you ask, yes, we’ll be examining reasons against the legalisation of euthanasia, and issues with the End of Life Choices Bill in the next … Read More
Jean Balchin • Mar 06, 2018 •
I shall not abandon old age, if old age preserves me intact as regards the better part of myself; but if old age begins to shatter my mind, and to pull its various faculties to pieces, if it leaves me, not life, but only the breath of life, I shall rush out of a house that is crumbling and tottering. Read More
Jean Balchin • Feb 28, 2018 •
A recent Newshub Reid Research poll has revealed that the vast majority of New Zealanders support euthanasia. Written by Act New Zealand MP David Seymour, the End of Life Choices Bill has 71% of the country’s support, with 19.5% against it and 9.5% unsure. Under said Bill, a person wishing to end their own life must meet all … Read More
Guest Author • Mar 06, 2017 •
By Andrew McGee, Queensland University of Technology The Victorian Parliament will consider a bill to legalise euthanasia in the second half of 2017. That follows the South Australian Parliament’s decision to knock back a voluntary euthanasia bill late last year, and the issue has also cropped up in the run-up to the March 11 Western … Read More
Guest Author • Oct 15, 2013 •
Euthanasia, or physician assisted suicide is illegal in New Zealand, but that’s not the case in the Netherlands. In this Sciblogs Podcast, Lindsey Horne talks to Professor Aad Tibben, a physician from the Netherlands who helps Huntington’s Disease suffers with their end of life directives and we also get an update on the current situation as it … Read More
Ken Perrott • Jul 08, 2012 •
Such titles always bring euthanasia to my mind, but I realise that is my perspective – I am just so much close to the problem of dying with dignity than I am to problems related to death and quality of … Continue reading → … Read More
Guest Author • Dec 05, 2011 •
By Richard Denniss, Crawford School at Australian National University We can choose so many of our life experiences, but it seems we can have no say in whether we die in pain or at peace. Today we consider why we don’t have a policy on physician-assisted suicide. It’s often said that the only certain … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Nov 30, 2011 •
In commenting on the case of Sean Davison - the man who has just been convicted of assisting the suicide of his terminally-ill mother – John Kleinsman (the director of the Nathaniel Centre, the New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre) makes the salient point that legalising euthanasia will leave the elderly vulnerable to pressure from family, health professionals [...] Related posts: … Read More
Darcy Cowan • Jul 26, 2010 •
Suicide is a sensitive subject, by it’s very nature it seems we are obliged to treat it with kid gloves. In public it is virtually taboo to even mention suicide, in news media euphemisms are employed in order to avoid explicit use of the “S” word. Attitudes are beginning to change, with more vocal discussion [...] … Read More