--

UK Docs using "Continuous deep sedation" but oppose asst'd suicide ...
the new term for slow termination + If you missed it, you can hear Ron
Panzer, Pres of HPA & Paul Byrne, MD discussing Final Exit: Euthanasia
in America



Hi,

You can listen online to our discussion by going to:
http://www.2btr.com/EndeavorFreedomTV/2009/03/29/Final-Exit-Euthanasia-in-Americ\
a

Also see article below about UK docs.


Best wishes!

If people contemplate and really see the sanctity of life, their
"quality of life" arguments fall away and they will understand that we
are here to care for each other, not to kill each other. Caring, and not
convenience, is the sign of a civilized and just society!


Ron Panzer
for Hospice Patients Alliance
http://www.hospicepatients.org

"What I do you cannot do
but what you do, I cannot do.
The needs are great, and none of us,
including me, ever do great things.
But we can all do small things, with great love,
and together we can do something wonderful." - Mother Teresa

*************************************************

The Hospice Patients Alliance is a 501(c)(3) charitable patient advocacy
organization acting to preserve the original hospice mission and to
promote quality end-of-life services.

Many ask us "what can I do to help? The answer is that you need to get
involved, share what you know and please, support us by donating to our
nonprofit! You can donate at our secure donation page:
https://id304.securedata.net//hospicepatients/donations.html
Your support helps us help others in need.
Thank you for your continued support!

Ron is available to speak to your group. For more information about
hospice or speaking arrangements, visit Hospice Patients Alliance online
or call [616] 866-9127.

The information provided by Hospice Patients Alliance is provided in the
spirit of consumer advocacy in the belief that informed consumers of
health care are best able to access quality care. Hospice Patients
Alliance does not provide legal or medical advice. If you are seeking
legal or medical advice, then a competent and experienced attorney or
physician should be consulted.

*************************************************

Want to learn more about hospice and all the services that your loved
one is entitled to receive? It's all detailed in:

"The Hospice Patients Alliance Family Guide To Hospice Care
(What NO Hospice Will Tell You!)" by Ron Panzer
Available by quick download and readable with the free Microsoft Reader
software.

Get the E-Book version at:
https://www.regnow.com/softsell/nph-softsell.cgi?item=10548-1

###

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/24/assisted-suicide-euthanasia-doctor\
s

Majority of doctors opposed to assisted suicide
Research shows doctors rarely help anyone who is terminally ill to die,
while two-thirds are opposed to changing the law
Sarah Boseley, health editor
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24 March 2009 12.05 GMT

Doctors very rarely help anyone who is terminally ill to die and
two-thirds are opposed to changing the law to allow them to do so, new
research reveals today.

In only around one in 200 deaths have doctors given a patient a drug
with the explicit intention of speeding their end, according to a survey
on British social attitudes by Prof Clive Seale from the Centre for
Health Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, which updates similar
work he did in 2004.

Where doctors have helped a patient to a faster escape from their pain
or distress, most say they have not shortened life by more than 24 hours
and nine out of 10 say their actions hastened death by less than a week.
Doctors who admit to it say they had the full collaboration of the
patient and family.

The revelations of the limited scale of assisted dying in the UK are
published in the journal Palliative Medicine alongside a separate study
of doctors' attitudes towards euthanasia, which shows they are
substantially out of line with public opinion.

Only a third of doctors (34%) are in favour of the legalisation of
euthanasia and 35% in favour of assisted suicide, Seale's work shows.
That contrasts with 82% and 62% respectively of the general public who
were asked exactly the same questions in the survey.

The fundamental difference of opinion is important, says Seale, because
governments who have passed laws to enable assisted dying have only done
so with the support of the medical profession, as happened in the
Netherlands.

"The Dutch medical association in the late 1980s and 90s was moving
towards the view that euthanasia was an acceptable way of dealing with
certain forms of suffering," he said. "Dutch medical opinion was
influential with the government."

Nonetheless, Seale said, governments take account of a lot of views "and
there is a lot of support for assisted dying in the general public".

The pressure on the government to act was intensified last week when
former health secretary Patricia Hewitt called for a change in the law
so that desperate people need not go to Dignitas in Switzerland to die
and put their families at risk of prosecution for helping them.

Nearly 4,000 doctors replied to Seale's questions for the new study, but
although this is far more than the 857 who participated in 2004 the
picture was broadly the same. "Cases of euthanasia in the UK are very
rare," he said. "Instead, end of life treatment decisions are often
taken with input from patients and family, and it is rare for such
decisions to have shortened life by more than a day."

Cases where doctors say they have given drugs for pain relief that they
knew would also shorten life have dropped from 2004 – to 17.1% from
32.8%. Instances of treatment that might have kept people alive longer
being deliberately withdrawn were also down – from 30.3% to 21.8%. The
drop is thought to be partly a result of doctors being asked
specifically whether in those cases they intended to end life, as
opposed to understanding that it was likely to be the consequence.

The survey revealed, however, that in 16.5% of cases, doctors used
continuous deep sedation – heavy sedation which can result in the
patient effectively being in a coma. The figure is higher than in other
countries. In the Netherlands, doctors who were asked a similar question
in 2005 said they employed it in 8.5% of cases, and in Belgium in 2001
the figure was 8.3%.

"The results show that deaths in the UK are particularly likely to
involve continuous deep sedation," said the paper. "This may be a cause
for concern if interpretations of this as 'slow euthanasia' are to be
avoided. A better understanding of the context in which these decisions
are taken is needed to assess this."

The studies were commissioned by the National Council for Palliative
Care, Age Concern, Help the Hospices, Macmillan Cancer Support, the MND
Association, the MS Society and Sue Ryder Care, all of which are
concerned about end of life care.

Dr Teresa Tate, chair of the NCPC's ethics committee and a consultant in
palliative medicine, said that at most several thousand people would
avail themselves of euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide if the law
was changed.

"Estimates suggest 300,000 people die each year who need palliative care
but do not have access to it. Developing good end of life care for all
those who need it should be the focus of our energies as a nation," she
said.
Contact the Society editor
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guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009