French court tells doctors to resume life support for paralyzed patient
A French appeals court on Monday ordered doctors to resume giving food and water to a French quadriplegic, lawyers said, some 12 hours after medics switched off the man's life support against his parents' will. The fate of Vincent Lambert has renewed a fierce debate ...
The parents of a Frenchman kept alive in a vegetative state for a decade on Monday will try to have the doctor caring for their son removed before he halts life-sustaining treatment the same day, their lawyers said. The last-ditch move by the parents of ...
Death: We all have to go sometime
"In Japan today, talking about death is taboo," Kobe University medical professor Yoshiyuki Kizawa told the Asahi Shimbun earlier this month. It is remarkable that this should be so. Japan of all nations should be primed for such a discussion. Its traditional culture is breathtakingly ...
Getting the most out of life, Paralympian and euthanasia advocate fulfills Japan travel dream
A Belgian Paralympic champion wheelchair racer and sometimes euthanasia campaigner expressed her delight at making her dream Japan visit a reality. Marieke Vervoort said in a recent interview in Tokyo she wanted to come to Japan ever since she started learning jujitsu when she was ...
Should children be granted the right to die?
Minors with a demonstrable capacity for rational decision-making should have the right to request euthanasia.
Dutch may allow assisted suicide for those who feel life is over
The Dutch government intends to draft a law that would legalize assisted suicide for people who feel they have "completed life," but are not necessarily terminally ill, it said on Wednesday. The Netherlands was the first country to legalize euthanasia, in 2002, but only for ...
Aging, indebted Japan debates right to 'die with dignity'
Retired airline employee Tarou Tanzawa said he hadn't thought much about his own death until his 84-year-old mother was diagnosed with malignant lymphoma and decided against costly and invasive life-prolonging treatment. He watched his mother die peacefully at a nursing home where she received only ...
U.S. 'death with dignity' case stokes Japanese supporters and opponents alike
Both supporters and opponents of “death with dignity” are emboldened by an American woman who committed physician-assisted suicide, believing it may ignite a shift in Japan’s long-standing tendency to avoid the topic.
Why euthanasia should become a legal option
As people live longer and better medical technology traps our parents and grandparents in the limbo of not-quite-gone, quality of life will start to outweigh the number of years lived. Euthanasia should not be taboo.
Euthanasia: the dilemma of choice
Euthanasia is an emotionally charged issue for people on both sides of the debate. Proponents of euthanasia argue that a person suffering from terminal illness should be given the freedom to choose how and when they die. Such discourse is given weight by the ...
The right to die: letting individuals make the choice themselves
It was not the most elegant way to launch a national conversation about the right to die, but this past January Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, 72, certainly drew attention to the issue of terminal patients. Unfortunately he did so by saying that old ...
