"Canada Legalizes Physician-Assisted Dying"

NPR:  The new law "limits the option to the incurably ill, requires medical approval and mandates a 15-day waiting period," as The Two-Way has reported.

The Canadian government introduced the bill in April and it passed a final Senate vote Friday. It includes strict criteria that patients must meet to obtain a doctor's help in dying. As we have reported, a patient must:

"Be eligible for government-funded health care (a requirement limiting assisted suicides to Canadians and permanent residents, to prevent suicide tourism)."

"Be a mentally competent adult 18 or older."

"Have a serious and incurable disease, illness or disability."

"Be in an 'advanced state of irreversible decline,' with enduring and intolerable suffering."

Some lawmakers wanted to broader eligibility criteria that would include degenerative diseases, Reuters reports. "The key amendment that senators had been pushing for was to broaden the criteria for who qualifies for assisted dying," reporter Dan Karpenchuk tells our Newscast unit. "They had insisted that it includes suffering Canadians who are not close to death."

Ultimately, the senators dropped the amendment and adopted the bill with the more restrictive language – but Dan says the law will likely be challenged in courts.

"Doctor to Start End-of-Life Practice in Berkeley"

NBC Bayarea.com:  As California's right-to-die law goes into effect Thursday, a Berkeley-based doctor will open one of the first practices in the state that specializes in end-of-life options.

"I think it's an important right for the patient to have at the end of their life to control the way they die," says Dr. Lonny Shavelson.

The new law will allow terminally ill patients who meet certain criteria to ask their doctor for a prescription for life-ending medication. But in the event the patient's doctor declines to participate, Shavelson will step in. He already has several appointments with patients to evaluate their situations.

"This needs to be a well thought out, carefully planned," he says. "It's not something you call on Tuesday and say, 'Doctor, I'm suffering,' and on Wednesday we give you a prescription."

"'Me Before You' perpetuates idea that the disabled should consider suicide"

Chicago Tribune:  As press reports show, some people with disabilities have already begun to protest the new movie, "Me Before You," which opens Friday in the U.S. The primary objection concerns the essential plot point about which romantic partner's life counts for less, the young able-bodied woman's or the young and severely disabled man's. Guess who draws the short straw?

As a severely disabled man myself — I was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a progressive neuromuscular weakness that renders me quadriplegic — I'm loath to give this movie any additional publicity. But the timing of the release could not be any more disturbing. Just a week after, on June 9, California's so-called Death with Dignity law takes effect. The repercussions of this ghoulish juxtaposition are positively frightening.

The law — styled after its predecessors in Oregon and Washington — permits physician-assisted suicide in the nation's most populous state, under strict regulatory controls. Nothing to worry about, supporters say. It applies only to those with terminal conditions who have been thoroughly evaluated by medical professionals.

I wish I could believe it. But all the safeguards in the world are nothing against the power of Hollywood to influence sentiments. (read more)

California pushes gateway drugs

"California Governor Signs Bill To Legalize Physician-Assisted Suicide"

In a statement, Brown, a Democrat, said that he carefully considered the theological and moral implications of his decision.

“In the end, I was left to reflect on what I would want in the face of my own death,” said Brown, a former Roman Catholic seminary student. “I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain. 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.”

Tim Rosales, a spokesman for California Against Assisted Suicide, criticized Brown’s decision, saying that for some patients, the cost of medical treatment could far outweigh the cost of assisted suicide.

“His decision was based on his personal background, as somebody of wealth and access to medical care, and that’s a very different background and a very different reality for millions of Californians living without that same access,” said Rosales, “These are the people who will be hurt by giving doctors the ability to prescribe lethal overdoses for patients.”

"Swiss right-to-die group gets green light for new suicide room"

"I expect that we will go ahead with the conversion because the reason for it is clear," said Exit Managing Director Bernhard Sutter. "Patients who live in Basel, who cannot be helped at home and who cannot travel to Zurich would have a place where they can die."

Exit helps the vast majority of patients at their homes and the assisted suicide room is for people who do not have their own bed to die in.

When I read this I couldn't help think of "mattress girl".

Assisted Suicide: "Our members told us to get active on this subject. It was ripe for a decision,"

The Guardian: Exit added "suicide due to old age" to their statutes at an annual general meeting held over the weekend, allowing people suffering from psychological or physical problems associated with old age the choice to end their life.

Assisted dying is legal in Switzerland and technically even a healthy young person could use such services. However, organisations involved in this work set their own internal requirements, which differ from group to group.

The move has been criticised by the Swiss Medical Association amid fears it will encourage suicide among the elderly. "We do not support the change of statutes by Exit. It gives us cause for concern because it cannot be ruled out that elderly healthy people could come under pressure of taking their own life," said the association's president, Dr Jürg Schlup.  (read more)

"NM ruling will allow doctors to help patients die"

"Aja Riggs has undergone aggressive radiation and chemotherapy treatment for advanced uterine cancer. The 49-year-old Santa Fe resident remembers the feeling of her skin burning, all the medication, the nausea and the fatigue so immense that even talking sapped too much energy."

All she wanted was the choice to end her life if the suffering became too great.

She has that option now thanks to a New Mexico judge's landmark ruling Monday, which clears the way for competent, terminally ill patients to seek their doctors' help in getting prescription medication if they want to end their lives on their own terms.

Who said 'you can't always get what you want'?

Of the song, Jagger said: "'You Can't Always Get What You Want'... I'd also had this idea of having a choir, probably a gospel choir, on the track, but there wasn't one around at that point. Jack Nitzsche, or somebody, said that we could get the London Bach Choir and we said, 'That will be a laugh.'"

Richie Unterberger (Allmusic song reviewer) concludes of the song, "Much has been made of the lyrics reflecting the end of the overlong party that was the 1960s, as a snapshot of Swinging London burning out. That's a valid interpretation, but it should also be pointed out that there's also an uplifting and reassuring quality to the melody and performance. This is particularly true of the key lyrical hook, when we are reminded that we can't always get what we want, but we'll get what we need."

And what we need is ObamaCare to work... or something.