On the 13th May the Isle of Man’s House of Keys (parliament) voted in favour of introducing a Bill to allow terminally ill adults the right to choose medical help to die.
THE BOSTON DECLARATION ON ASSISTED DYING, made at the 13th International Conference of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies held in Boston, Massachussetts from September 1 to 3, 2000.
The Brussels Declaration on Assisted Dying, made at the 14th International Conference of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies held in Brussels, Belgium from 5- 8 September 2002.
American Medical Association Policies: Withholding or Withdrawing Life-Sustaining Medical Treatment
American Medical Association: Principles of Medical Ethics
The medical profession has long subscribed to a body of ethical statements developed primarily for the benefit of the patient. As a member of this profession, a physician must recognize responsibility not only to patients, but also to society, to other health professionals, and to self. The following Principles adopted by the American Medical Association are not laws, but standards of conduct that define the essentials of honorable behavior for the physician.
Principles of Medical Ethics
American Medical Association Policies: Assisted Suicide
Physician-assisted suicide occurs when a physician facilitates a patients death by providing the necessary means and/or information to enable the patient to perform the life-ending act (e.g., the physician provides sleeping pills and information about the lethal dose, while aware that the patient may commit suicide).
Are Living Wills Followed?
Having an advance directive is no guarantee that end-of-life wishes will be honored. A 1995 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded study of 4,300 critically ill patients found that only 49 percent who requested do not resuscitate (DNR) orders actually got them; 70 percent of those patients were never asked their preferences. There have been many cases in which individuals who have taken all the right steps have been deprived of seeing their loved ones’ wishes carried out because of physician, family, or institutional resistance.
British Medical Association Policy on Euthanasia
That this Meeting recognises that there is a wide spectrum of views about the issues of physician assisted suicide and euthanasia and strongly opposes any changes in law for the time being.
(1997)
That this Meeting continues to be against the legalisation of euthanasia.
(1995)
That this Meeting categorically rejects the legalisation of euthanasia.
(1993)
American Medical Association Policies: Euthanasia
Euthanasia is the administration of a lethal agent by another person to a patient for the purpose of relieving the patients intolerable and incurable suffering.
The following Declarations were made at International Conferences of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies.
The World Federation of Right To Die Societies meets every two years to exchange news and views, to elect Directors and Officers of the Federation, and to conduct other business.
The next meeting will take place nin May 2012 in Zürich, Switzerland and will be hosted by EXIT Deutsche Schweiz
The Bylaws of the World Federation, as adapted after Tokyo can be downloaded by clicking here.
