euthanasia underground
Death is a grim topic, and that’s probably why it is rarely contemplated ordiscussed. In our society, death is more taboo than sex. However, death remainsimportant to everyone because each of us must confront it at some time. The Arlene Berry Story is a gripping account of how illegal euthanasia is practised by an informal illegal network of health care providers.
I argue that the “euthanasia underground” is a public health and safety issue which should be addressed in pragmatic terms.
The “euthanasia underground” is the underbelly of nursing and medicine – a dimension of health care work that professional medical bodies choose to ignore. At the empirical level, its existence is undeniable. There is a substantial body of literature quantifying levels of involvement in the practice of covert, physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and active voluntary euthanasia (AVE) in Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia, and other countries. Despite this, remarkably little is known about the social context of these practices.
The overwhelming response of western countries towards assisted death is one of prohibition, backed up by criminal penalties.
Accountability is also absent. The medical profession for the most part turns a blind eye to the practice of illicit euthanasia by its members. Participation is shrouded in secrecy and deception.
In place of a tradition of disinterested service to patients, there is evidence of a complete lack of professional distance, conflicts of interest, and examples of euthanasia without consent.
Because euthanasia is unlawful, it must be practiced in secret. Each participant must re-invent the wheel. “Botched attempts” are common. Desperate doctors end up suffocating and strangling their patients in a desperate attempt to “finish the job”. Suffocations following failed PAS/AVE attempts are referred to euphemistically as “pillow jobs” as one author put it. The degradation involved is disturbing. Underground euthanasia is a "culture of deception", and it is practiced everywhere.
Attractive to moral conservatives – is to “prosecute the offenders” in the hopes of wiping out underground practices. To moral conservatives, evidence of the “anti-professionalism” associated with covert euthanasia confirms the importance of keeping euthanasia illegal, because it illustrates the true horror of delivering the power of life and death into the hands of doctors.
Any attempt to suppress the covert practice of PAS/AVE would require a massive commitment to policing clinical functions. Increasing levels of surveillance over drug prescribing and administration practices, for example, would almost certainly have an adverse impact on those in pain and those who were dying. The most common “euthanasia recipes” consist of overdoses of relatively accessible, therapeutic drugs. A more aggressive policing of analgesics, sedatives and anti-depressants would have a disastrous impact on pain relief and symptom management. The resulting climate of “defensive medicine” could seriously undermine palliative care efforts. But surely common sense should dictate which drugs constitute a safe drug regimen and which should be scrutinized?
There are four types of crime, as defined in the Canadian Criminal Code, that can be considered murder. or homicide. first degree murder - the intentional killing of another person (1) with premeditation, (2) in the furtherance of another serious criminal offense. (3)manslaughter - the killing of another person where there is no intent to kill . In attempted murder, the mens rea requirement, Latin for "guilty mind", is limited, (4) homicide is when a person directly or indirectly causes the death of another person.
A murder is the the unlawful killing or causing the death of another human being, with malice aforethought. Malice aforethought can be express or implied.
Wanton or reckless disregard of a duty which leads to death or injury is grounds for a charge of criminal negligence causing death .CCA | Canada | Corporate Homicide | Analysis Test may also apply to doctors and hospitals. Under the Criminal Code all forms of euthanasia are illegal in Canada.
Roger S. Magnusson opines in his book 'Angels of Death': Exploring the Euthanasia Underground' that mercy killing should be legalized and regulated because, in no small part, "illicit euthanasia" is already practiced. But so too are incest and self-mutilation, and no reasonable person would suggest that those activities should be given the sanction of law..
A physician, working in the emergency department of a 62-bed hospital in a ghost of a mining town in northeastern Ontario fails to diagnose serious infection, including metabolic derangement in a 41 year old mom, while the attending physician fails to attend, electing to alienate and treat his patient over the telephone, unseen, while sitting at home watching TV. Together, these two quacks institute a totally inappropriate drug regimen without doing the inherrent blood work, or other testing. Complications follow, emergency treatment is delayed and the patient suffers brain damage which may or may not be irreversable. Although the patient is placed on life-support, the endotrachial tube is deliberately misplaced where misplacement is NOT detected for one full hour, severely compromising the patient's airway. The patient is slowly bundled off to Sudbury Regional Hospital with a DNR including an order to withdraw life support, without lawful consent. A sudbury doctor is recruited and a murder by proxy plot is hatched. As it turns out, both the Sudbury doctor and the ED physician from Kirkland Lake, Ontario were classmates. Only these physicians, however, have to wonder if criminal prosecution might ensue. My legacy is to make certain that this will eventually happen and that all those involved in the coverup are prosecuted to the fullest.
I find this bizarre. Is it Dr. McLellan's belief that Arlene Berry ceased to be a human being after becoming obtunded due to untreated and/or inadequately treated conditions, including the co-administration of an opiate narcotic analgesic and neuroleptic drugs? Or is it his way of exonerating Arlene's murderers?
The questionable administration of paralysing agents followed by withdrawal of ventilatory support after ordering it raises more than just ethical issues. It also infers medical homicide.
Find out what happens when ventillatory support is discontinued in the presence of neuroleptanalgesia ...
Get the FACTS:
This site provides a window into the 'euthanasia underground'--a secret part of medicine and nursing that few professionals will publicly acknowledge.
http://ca.geocities.com/target_nova/Euthenasia
View the medical record of Arlene Berry and compare.
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MASHCan: Medical Atrocities Self-Help Canada
MASHCan's mission is to fight doctors who intentionally kill their patients rather than face the consequences of their mistakes or sloppy assumptions.
MASHCan's mission is to help families of medically murdered patients ascertain the medical proof needed to establish foul play.
MASHCan's mission is to compile a reference list of clues that a loved one might be in danger of a liability murder, or that he or she was the victim of a liability murder.