Humanize From Discovery Institute's Center on Human Exceptionalism
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Euthanasia

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A group of family members hugging or holding hands for comfort, dressed in black, in times of grief
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Assisted-Suicide Death Ceremonies Becoming Normalized

Back in 1991 or so, I was invited by an elderly and ill suicidal friend — along with about 20 of her other pals — to gather in her apartment for a suicide party. Frances' idea was that she would tell us how much we meant to her, we would reciprocate, and she would swallow pills. Instead, all her friends were appalled and held an intervention. Read More ›
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Team of surgeon doctors are performing heart surgery operation for patient from organ donor to save more life in emergency surgical room
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Euthanasia Turning Suicidal People into “Kill and Harvest” Natural Resource

In the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, and Canada, people who want euthanasia can become organ donors. (A recent report in Spain showed that 13 percent of those euthanized donated organs.) Let’s call it “kill and harvest,” a policy heartily approved by our ever more crassly utilitarian medical establishment. Indeed, a recent study in JAMA Surgery applauds procuring the kidneys of the euthanized because, after five years, the organs of those killed by doctors and then transplanted have worked well — even better than kidneys donated by people after brain death. From the conclusion of the study, which discusses donation after circulatory death from euthanasia (DCD-V): This study found that DCD-V kidney transplantation yielded a lower incidence of DGF [delayed graft function] compared with DCD-III kidney transplantation Read More ›

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Sad young woman sitting on the bed in the bedroom, People with depression concept.
Image Credit: SOMKID - Adobe Stock

Questionable Study on No Assisted Suicide/Suicide Correlation

Previous studies have shown an association between states legalizing assisted suicide and increases in suicide rates for other suicides. Now, pro-euthanasia activists are touting a new study which claims no impact. But the study actually finds a significant impact in the raw numbers. From the study published in the American Journal of Bioethics: 927,929 Suicide deaths were represented in the study. Ten states and the District of Columbia had legalized MAID within the study period. In an univariable analysis, states that legalized MAID differed significantly from non-MAID states with respect to mean monthly suicide rate (non-MAID States: 1.46; MAID states: 1.78; p < 0.0001), as well as several covariates. Oh. But wait, adjustments were made: We constructed geographically-weighted regression models controlling for annualized state-level sociodemographic factors, such Read More ›

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Image by killbyte@flickr at Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Terri_Schiavo_protest.jpg

The Media Still Can’t Get Facts about Terri Schiavo Right

Terri Schiavo was cruelly dehydrated to death almost 20 years ago, and the media still can’t get the facts right. Terri’s case has come up again in media stories discussing the nomination of former congressman Dr. David Weldon to head the CDC. As usual, there are misreporting and wrongful implications when Terri’s case is discussed. Read More ›
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corridor in hospital
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Euthanasia Homicide Averted at Last Second

Why do you oppose euthanasia, Wesley? If people want to die, we should help them die. No. And here’s an individual example explaining just one reason why. A deeply depressed woman was about to be lethally injected in the Netherlands — but changed her mind just in the nick of time. From the New York Post story: Romy, 22, who suffered from clinical depression, eating disorders, and anorexia due to childhood abuse, made the heartbreaking decision to end her life in accordance with legislation in the Netherlands, which allows for euthanasia under certain circumstances. She decided not to go ahead with it at the very last moment. After turning 18, Romy campaigned for four years for her right to die via voluntary assisted dying Read More ›

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Wesley J. Smith Appears on American Thought Leaders to Discuss the Assisted Suicide Movement

Wesley J. Smith was on EpochTV’s American Thought Leaders this week in an episode dedicated to exploring the history and dangers of the assisted suicide movement. From EpochTV: “When a country or a state legalizes assisted suicide or euthanasia, it can no longer call itself anti-suicide, because it specifically approves some suicides. … It’s a very dangerous movement that is normalizing this kind of approach to dying as opposed to natural death.” In this episode, I sit down with Wesley J. Smith, a lawyer, public speaker, award-winning author, and chair of the Discovery Institute Center on Human Exceptionalism. “We’re seeing in Canada also the beginning of a situation where patients who have a tough time getting an oncologist because of Read More ›

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West Virginia Highway Welcome Sign
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West Virginia Voters Enact Constitutional Amendment Banning Assisted Suicide

There will be a lot of political news in the next week. But I don't want it missed that apparently West Virginia voters narrowly passed a constitutional amendment banning assisted suicide. This is the first time that the so-called right to die movement has been proactively pushed back — as opposed to successfully defending against that policy’s spread. Read More ›
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Burning candle on a black background
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Rita Marker, the Great Anti-Assisted Suicide Champion, Has Died at 83

The great anti-euthanasia warrior, Rita Marker, has died at 83 after a long illness. Rita was in Europe in the mid 1980s and, out of curiosity, attended an international right-to-die convention. She was so alarmed by what she heard, she and her late husband and soulmate Mike Marker, formed the nonprofit International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force (later renamed the Patients Rights Council). Along with a loyal staff, Rita began decades of work pushing against that dark agenda. Not every great public-policy activist becomes a household name. Rita wasn’t interested in notoriety or fame. Effectiveness was her lodestar, that and personal sacrifice. For as long as she was physically able, she gave all she had to the cause. Rita had stage fright, Read More ›

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Candaian Healthcare System
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Canada’s Euthanasia Horrors Are Accelerating

The horrors unleashed by Canada’s legalizing euthanasia are growing increasingly clear. Case after case of vulnerable people being killed instead of cared for have now been reported. More than 15,000 Canadians are euthanized annually. Some are even asking to die because they can’t access proper care in Canada’s socialized system, or out of loneliness as much as illness. One Canadian death doctor admitted to killing more than 400 people. Read More ›
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Cylinder compressed gases for oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and argon for welding and hospital
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Death by Nitrogen: Cruel or Death with Dignity?

Alabama just executed its second murderer by nitrogen. It was reportedly not pleasant: Alan Eugene Miller, 59, was pronounced dead at a south Alabama prison. He shook and trembled on the gurney for about two minutes with his body at times pulling against the restraints. That was followed by about six minutes of gasping breathing. And yet, we are told that suicide by nitrogen in the suicide pod is peaceful and dignified. So, which is it? This is another example of what I call cruel and unusual death with dignity.