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The Hemlock Society USA intends to change its name to one more acceptable to legislators. But it cannot make up its mind to what. When Hemlock’s founders adopted the name in l980 it was meant as an allusion to the poison weed used by ancient Greek and Roman civilizations for suicide. In literature, particularly Shakespeare, the ‘taking of hemlock’ referred to rational suicide. American legislators apparently see odious connotations to Socrates taking hemlock because the Roman Senate condemned to him to death or exile for treasonous teachings.

(From The Guardian in London, April 16, 2003)

Campaigners for euthanasia claimed yesterday that a failure to make assisted suicide legal in Britain was driving people abroad to end their lives. The case of Robert and Jennifer Stokes, a couple from Bedfordshire who were helped to die by a Swiss euthanasia group, has renewed concern about “suicide tourism”. Mrs. Stokes is believed to have attempted suicide before.

Regarding the last ‘famous’ Dutch case (Brongersma/Sutorius), on December 24, 2002, the Netherlands Supreme Court confirmed the verdict by the Court of Appeal Amsterdam, that declared GP Sutorius guilty of assisting in the suicide of former senator Brongersma, but did not give him a sentence. The court ruled that “the GP acted conscientiously and carefully”, but he should not have helped, because the senator was “not ill” (the courts: there was no medical classification of his condition). Further appeal is not possible.

In December, 2002, a donation was received from the Marilyn Seguin Memorial Fund, a fund for the care of the seriously ill at the end of life, that had been initiated as part of Marilyn’s estate, at her death in September of 2000. Her solicitor, Martin Campbell of Toronto, Canada, informed us that $10,000 in United States funds would be received by the World Federation of Right To Die Societies.

Right to Die Europe is an integral part of the World Federation. Its aim has been to facilitate an exchange of information on matters of particular relevance to member societies in Europe. In the past, this has been achieved by holding an annual meeting of delegates from member societies and by ad-hoc exchanges of information.

Most proposals for law reform to allow voluntary euthanasia focus on the dying. This is perhaps due to a perception that it will be easier to succeed with law reform if it is limited to the terminally ill.

In the Luxembourg Parliament on March 12, 2003, a Resolution /bill drawn up by Jean Huss (vice-president of ADMD-L and Representative of the “Green” party and the Socialist Parliamentarian Lydie Er

President’s report by Michael Irwin MD.

The annual meeting of the Dutch Voluntary Euthanasia Foundation (NVVE) on March 29, 2003, voted on several important changes to its constitution, a new name, and a fresh name for the Drion Pill. These changes were felt necessary because legalization and social acceptance have been achieved.

Main points in this change were:

The next international conference of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies will be held in Tokyo next year (2004) on September 30 – Oct 1, 2, and 3. The venue will be the TOSHI CENTER HOTEL in Tokyo.

The hotel is located in the center of Tokyo and access is easy for the members in Japan. The hotel has enough conference rooms for plenary sessions and individual sessions and accommodations for 300 persons (239 single-bed rooms, 70 twin rooms and others). It is only a short, ten-minute walk to the Diet Bldg and Imperial Palace.

The World Federation of Right To Die Societies biennial conference in Tokyo in the fall of 2004 will see the presentation of the first Marilyn Seguin Memorial Award. The Board of Directors, at their meeting in Luxembourg in October 2003 discussed possible recipients and have decided on a very worthy individual who will be receiving this inaugural presentation in honor of Marilyn Seguin.