(LifeSiteNews.com) – Dying patients who want to "shorten their lives" can and do change their minds, and safeguards are needed to prevent "premature deaths," an expert in palliative care told a special joint committee on physician-assisted death Wednesday.

Dr. Monica Branigan of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians said that one such safeguard could be a waiting period "proportionate to the amount of time" the patient "may lose in [his] living." CONTINUE

(The Chippewa Herald) – With a hint of pride in her voice, Myah Larson recalls the list. Pelvis fractured in three places. Severely dislocated hip. Multiple skull fractures. Countless bruises and scrapes. Traumatic brain injury. The bullet points refer to wounds that no person wishes upon another. But Larson suffered each one in a car crash in March 2014.

She spent two weeks in a coma and a month in the hospital. Doctors feared she would never wake up. But nearly two years later, Larson doesn’t look at the list of injuries as things that held her back. She only sees adversities that she overcame. It is with positive lenses that Larson views the world. She’s aware of how fortunate she is to still be alive, and cherishes everything she has in front of her. CONTINUE

(NRO) – The more a population accepts killing as an acceptable response to human suffering, the wider the categories of acceptable euthanasia becomes–and the more people are killed. Belgium validates that premise. In 2015, a record number of people died by lethal injection. From the Yahoo News story:

"Belgium carried out more than 2,000 mercy killings last year, the most since euthanasia was controversially legalised in 2002, the government said Wednesday." CONTINUE

(NRO) – People keep pretending that assisted suicide/euthanasia are about terminal illness. That’s a clear ploy to get people to accept the premise that killing is an acceptable answer to human suffering. After that, logic will take over.

Once a population begins to accept the overarching premise, the limitations such as terminal illness melt away. Sometimes, it doesn’t even have to wait that long. In Belgium, elderly married couples can receive joint euthanasia–even if one or both isn’t seriously ill. CONTINUE

(The Guardian) – Katie Hopkins is "super-keen on euthanasia vans" and says there are "far too many old people". The Sun columnist – who launches her own panel show If Katie Hopkins Ruled The World next month – said it is “ridiculous” to live in a country "where we can put dogs to sleep but not people".

Her comments come shortly after she admitted regretting some of the extreme language she used against migrants in a column she wrote in the Sun entitled "Rescue boats? I’d use gunships to stop migrants". In an interview by Michael Buerk in Radio Times magazine, Hopkins said: "We just have far too many old people." CONTINUE

(scnow.com) – Grayson Hucks used to have a perfectly organized plan. But that all changed last May when Hucks, a junior nursing student at Francis Marion University, was in a car accident that nearly took her life. "It helped me learn that this is not my plan. I’m not the one in charge here," Hucks said. "It’s God’s plan, and how he wants it, it’s going to happen, regardless of what your expectations are."

One week after she was accepted into FMU’s nursing program, Hucks was driving home from a summer internship at Beach Urgent Care in North Myrtle Beach. As she drove southbound, Hucks was involved in a six-car collision on U.S. 17 Bypass. CONTINUE

(First Things) – I was once approached by a member of the Hemlock Society after I had delivered a speech opposing assisted suicide. She asked me, "Mr. Smith, how do you envision your death?" I was a bit taken aback. Her whole approach seemed backwards to me. So, I replied, "Ma’am, I’m still trying to envision my life."

We in the West are often accused of having a “death-denying” culture. But I think the opposite is true. As my long-ago encounter with the Hemlock member illustrates, we are actually—and to an increasing degree—becoming a death-obsessed culture. Death obsession is corroding our society’s belief in the intrinsic value and inherent dignity of human life. CONTINUE

(NRO) – The alarming trend to deprofessionalize medicine continues apace. Doctors are becoming less physicians and more “service providers.” Patients are now akin to customers. In Canada, this may soon require doctors to kill certain patients on demand.

This has many societal ramifications, brought up in a very good column in the LA Times about a controversy about a Catholic hospital refusing to sterilize a woman because it violates Catholic medical ethics. CONTINUE

(The Telegraph) – A painting hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York called The Adoration of the Christ Child. Created in the 16th century by a Flemish artist, what stands out in this sublime presentation of the Nativity is the detail of the characters standing around the crib.

Two of them, an angel and a shepherd, appear to have Down’s Syndrome. This suggests that the condition has been around for a very long time, and it helps illuminate the early modern approach to disability. Religious art normally conformed to classical standards of beauty. By implication, the artist regarded people with Down’s as angelic. As, indeed, they are. CONTINUE

(ESPN) – Norfolk State forward Amber Brown is no longer in a coma, and her family is grateful for what they call a miracle. "I feel like a huge burden has been lifted, a big hurdle has been jumped," Amber's mother, Coretta Brown, said. "She's still critical, but not day-to-day touch and go, so that has let me breathe again.

I am so grateful for what God has done." When Amber Brown, 19, was discovered by a teammate on the floor of her dorm on Jan. 1, her heartbeat was faint and her body cold. The Type 1 diabetic suffered a stroke after her blood sugar spiked to 1,400 and went into cardiac arrest three times on New Year's Day -- once as long as 20 minutes at Sentara Norfolk Heart Hospital. CONTINUE

(NRO) – The Texas Advance Directive Act (TADA) allows a hospital bioethics committee and doctors to veto wanted life-sustaining treatment if they believe the suffering thereby caused is unwarranted–with the cost of care always in the unspoken background.

It is a form of ad hoc health care rationing–death panels, if you will–that place the moral values and opinions of strangers over those of the patient and family. Futile care theory would even allow strangers to veto the contents of a patient’s written and expressly-stated advance directive. Texas Right to Life (among others) has been an adamant opponent of the law, attempting to get it repealed. CONTINUE

(Malibu Surfside News) – The Malibu Rotary Club hosted traumatic brain injury survivor and former race car driver Page Jones at its meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 6, at Pepperdine University. It wasn’t Jones’ first talk at the Malibu Rotary Club, though Wednesday’s meeting was significant in a new way from the time before when Malibu Rotarian Bill Wishard sat down and performed a question-and-answer session with Jones.

Jones is the subject of a new documentary focusing on his recovery after suffering a nearly fatal brain injury in a 1994 race car accident. “Godspeed: The Story of Page Jones” uses, in part, archival footage and home movies that documented Jones’ recovery since the accident he suffered at 22 years old. CONTINUE

(NRO) – From all accounts that I have read, rock star David Bowie died naturally of cancer. But a writer in The Guardian strives mightily to tie his natural demise to assisted suicide. From, "David Bowie Planned His Death," by Ann Neumann:

Bowie may have been a profoundly unique musician, but his secrecy regarding his terminal condition is increasingly common. Death, particularly for those in Bowie’s generation, is becoming something to control – an event to arrange and manage.

He kept his health condition private. And I assume he also received quality medical care and palliation. If that is “arranging” and “managing,” ok. But Neumann makes an unwarranted darker connection: CONTINUE

(LifeSiteNews) – University of Nevada student Hanna Lottritz was mistaken for "brain-dead" after she fell into a coma last July following a round of binge drinking. The 20-year-old's story is a cautionary tale for alcohol abuse, but also for the danger inherent in the contentious concept of "brain death."

Lottritz, who turned 21 last Wednesday, said on her blog she would not be doing any shots or getting wasted to celebrate coming of legal age, and she advocated for responsible drinking, because, she said, "I don't want anyone to go through what my family went through." The journalism student chugged an entire Solo cup of whiskey at a music festival last summer. She collapsed five minutes later and then had to be intubated and life-flighted to the hospital in critical condition. CONTINUE

(The Corner) – This is justice. A court has tentatively ruled that Jahi McMath’s mother can offer proof that she is not brain dead. From the tentative ruling:

The court is not persuaded that the cited allegations in the FAC contain admissions that Jahi is brain-dead. As to the death certificate, while the court can and will take judicial notice of it, the court cannot take judicial notice of the truth of factual conclusions in it. By statute, a death certificate is prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein but is subject to rebuttal and explanation. The FAC includes new allegations to the effect that the death certificate is invalid and has been the subject of requests or petitions to rescind, cancel, void or amend it, but that such efforts have been unsuccessful. CONTINUE

(KSBY.com) – Templeton High School Football player, Isaac Lindsey, took a severe hit during a football game in September, leaving him with a brain injury. He has spent the last three months in a rehab hospital in Northern California, and was welcomed home by his family and friends in a parade just before Christmas Day.

It is a heartwarming story at the end of a challenging journey for a Templeton family, with 2016 at the Lindsey family home starting off on a high note. Isaac is walking and moving around, his mom and dad keep a close eye on him, though, as he can trip and loose balance easily. In the meantime, Isaac says he is happy to be home surrounded by his friends and family. CONTINUE

(West Texas News) – Pinehurst, Texas resident George Pickering pulled out a 9mm handgun at Tomball Regional Medical Center to save his son. Remembering the incident that happened 11 months back, Pickering II admitted that he was aggressive and drunk on that day.

The hospital staff called police for help as Pickering was trying to save his son. Pickering’s son, George Pickering III was on life support. He had a history of seizures. But, after he suffered a massive stroke in January, he went into coma. After the doctors didn’t see much improvement in his condition, they decided to pull out the life support systems. CONTINUE

(NRO) – I have been working against euthanasia/assisted suicide since 1993. During that time, I have seen a lot. But there has been one consistent theme that cuts across Kevorkian, to the Hemlock Society’s Compassion and Choices’ agendas, to the Netherlands: The utter refusal of the media to see what is before their eyes and accurately report the truth about the movement.

Pondering the media’s blatant pro-culture of death bias, I have often thought they know what they don’t want to know. The reporting around Philip Nitschke–Australia’s answer to Jack Kevorkian–epitomizes this phenomenon. Nitschke has always stated that he believes in an absolute right to assisted suicide, to death on demand. CONTINUE

(stuff.co.nz) – On Friday, Kyle Heibner became a certified tradesman. It might seem a modest achievement, but nine months ago doctors were unsure he would survive the night.

Heibner, a 22-year-old mechanical engineering apprentice at Motueka's Talley's factory and racing enthusiast, suffered a near-fatal brain bleed when he was hit by another car while driving at Wanganui's Oceanview Speedway. It is thought that multiple unnoticed concussions sustained at the New Zealand Superstock Teams Champs in Palmerston North the week prior worsened Heibner's injury. CONTINUE

(Mirror) – A couple who said a final farewell to their baby daughter as her life support machine was turned off told of her miracle recovery. Francesca and Lee Moore-Williams, 41 and 44, cried as they held Bella’s hand and took one final photograph before her ventilator was switched off.

The couple even signed a Do Not Resuscitate form meaning no special measures would be taken to keep her alive. But just 30 minutes after their heartbreaking goodbye the 18-month-old tot, who doctors had given up for dead, began kicking and screaming. CONTINUE

Houston, Texas - December 23, 2015: This morning, Texas Right to Life mourns the passing of 46-year-old Chris Dunn. One month after Houston Methodist Hospital determined that Chris’s life was not worth living and that his condition was not even worth diagnosing or treating, Chris succumbed to his illness. We commend Chris’s mother, Evelyn, and the other family members who labored tirelessly to protect Chris from death imposed by the hospital and legally sanctioned by the draconian Texas Advance Directives Act.

Through Chris’s illness and disability, Evelyn never lost sight of the value of Chris’s life. Texas Right to Life is honored to have played some small role in comforting Chris and Evelyn as they endured this tragic circumstance. CONTINUE

(The Corner) – As the state court has permitted Jahi McMath’s mother to present evidence from a doctor who has examined Jahi and believes she does not meet brain death criteria, lawyer Christopher Dolan is making a federal case out of it. From his press release:

"After exhausting all available avenues to work with the State Department of Vital Statistics, Alameda County Department of Public Health, County Coroner’s Office and County Counsel, to have Jahi McMath’s incomplete, and invalid death certificate (not even signed by an attesting physician) rescinded, and her basic human rights restored… The suit requests that the Federal Court order restoration of Jahi McMath’s fundamental Constitutional rights and declare that she is not brain dead as per the criteria established under California Law." CONTINUE

(LifeNews.com) – The Dutch Right to Die Society (NVVE), is now lobbying to have the law changed to allow persons reaching the age of 70 years of age who believe that their life is complete and who are tired of living to be given a lethal pill with which to kill themselves. The Society claims that this is already happening and the law needs to be changed to prevent abuse.

Right to Life challenges the Voluntary Euthanasia Society New Zealand to admit that they support giving a suicide pill to all 70 year olds in New Zealand who are tired of living. It is always morally wrong to take life. This proposal is an attack on the sanctity of life and the intrinsic dignity of every human being. It is a denial of our stewardship of the precious life that our Creator has entrusted to us. CONTINUE

(NRO) – Once again a beautiful woman with brain cancer has been named a "person of the year" by a media outlet for pursing assisted suicide. You will recall that CNN named Brittany Maynard an "extraordinary woman of the year" for committing assisted suicide.

Now the Herald in New Zealand has named a woman who sued unsuccessfully for the right to be killed was named its New Zealander of the Year. From the story: "Instead of spending her last months quietly with family and friends, she spent them in a legal battle – fighting for the right to choose how she died." CONTINUE

(LifeNews.com) - Imagine lying in a hospital bed and being asked: “Do you want to live?” Now imagine this: your answer doesn’t matter. Chris Dunn doesn’t have to imagine this, because he’s living it from a bed at Houston Methodist Hospital. Chris, a 46 year old former EMT, has been in the Houston hospital for more than eight weeks because he collapsed, likely due to a mass on his pancreas. While Chris breathes with assistance from a ventilator, he is conscious and alert.

His mother, Evelyn Kelly, is Chris’s Medical Power of Attorney. She has had to fight for Chris’s continued care because Houston Methodist has invoked a statutory process, found in the Texas Advanced Directives Act, which allows the hospital to override medical directives of a patient and provide only ten days’ notice before withdrawing life-sustaining treatment. And this is coming from a hospital explicitly claiming to be Christian, which proclaims they “strive to treat everyone as a person of sacred worth and value, created by God.” CONTINUE