EXIT now has some 50,000 members. Advice on Living Wills and keeping records of the documents of EXIT members is a large part of the organization’s work. In 2004 EXIT accompanied 153 persons at assisted suicides. The average age was 73 years with a range from 36 to 95. Pre-conditions for assisted suicides are: membership in EXIT Deutsche Schweiz; decision-making capacity; a continuing wish to die; and a hopeless prognosis.
Dr Jerome Sobel, president of EXIT A.D.M.D. Geneve Suisse Romande, joined with representatives of other organizations to write to members of the Swiss Parliament urging them to reject “the Vallender initiative” which, prompted by the perception of “death tourism”, seeks to change the law in order to make assisted suicide more difficult. They pointed out that the existence of the proposal had already had an adverse effect on the work of EXIT ADMD Suisse Romande and EXIT Deutsche Schweiz.
Activated by the Schiavo case, Louise Pallett, new President of the South African Voluntary Euthanasia Society (SAVES),
Ralph Vincent, 86, took his own life in April with a note detailing his intention. In 2002 he was investigated after his wife of 56 years was found dead with a plastic bag over her head. She had been suffering from arthritis, osteoporosis and, unknowingly, invasive cancer. For 20 years they were members of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society in New Zealand. After a 7 month investigation he was not charged but his wife‘s solitary death aroused his passion for the cause.
Two doctors who “together” helped a patient to die, where it was not completely clear that she had asked for this, were discharged from prosecution by the Court of Appeal because of the long time (18 months!) it had taken the prosecution to do its job. Unfortunately they offered no verdict on the principle.
A doctor who administered sleeping drugs and morphine to a terminally ill patient and did not report it was acquitted of all charges. His defense was that it was Terminal Sedation and thus a “normal” medical decision which has nothing to do with euthanasia.
A recent report by a specialist in pain treatment, claimed that pain can no longer be seen as causing unbearable and hopeless suffering and thus as justification for euthanasia. Government Ministers Ross and Donner specifically deny that (legally speaking) Terminal Sedation (TS) or palliative care is to be considered as a real alternative to euthanasia.
In October/November 2003 DGHS carried out surveys on living wills and attitudes to doctors who carry out assisted dying. It seems that 53% of German citizens know about living wills, over 70% in the case of those over 60. 84% said they would not lose confidence in their doctor if s/he helped an incurably ill person to end their life; only 20% thought they would lose confidence in a doctor who provided active and direct assistance in the case of an incurably ill patient.
The Canadian Press reported that a sickly Marcel Tremblay consumed two beers, two shrimp and a crab cake at what he called “a living wake” on Friday, then went home and killed himself, sparking a countrywide debate on the right-to-die issue. Tremblay said he had a litany of health problems, including back trouble, stomach problems and an incurable and eventually fatal lung condition.
Prior to the national elections held in June, 100 prominent citizens of Luxembourg issued a petition to
A doctor at a Hokkaido hospital is suspected of murder over a case in which a 90-year-old patient died in February last year after his respirator was switched off. It will be the first time in Japan that the police have charged a doctor with murder for halting life-sustaining treatment.
Sergio Zorrilla, a philosopher specializing in bioethics on the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of Santiago, said about persistent vegetative states, that of 20,000 people who have been in this state, maybe two will wake up, and they do not return to normal at all.”It makes no sense to prolong the suffering and the act of dying,” he argued, “because it not only hurts the person who is dying, but all of the patient’s loved ones as well. It makes no sense to prolong the agony when medicine can cure and heal other patients.
By Jacqueline Herremans, ADMD, Belgium / Vice-President, World Federation of Right-to-Die Societies
