The culture of death is spreading

Pope Paul VI warned that the natural progression of an abortion mentality in society would be the acceptance of other forms of unnatural behaviors and ultimately, mankind assuming control over death. We know now how right he was.

And it continues to get worse. I received this notice, but with no link, and wouldn’t want to send anyone there anyway.

The following article is a media release from the Dignitas suicide clinic in Switzerland. The release explains that a person who was denied a prescription for Sodium Pentobarbital because of that persons mental illness has now been granted the right to have the prescription. This means that a decision to end one’s own life is not limited to people with physical illness but now based on whether a person believes that their life is “not worth living anymore.”
 
The Swiss Federal Court has now granted all people in Europe the right to die based on a principle of radical personal autonomy. This philosophy holds that someone not only has a right to commit suicide but the state has the obligation to assist that suicide, if the person wishes.
 
There are no safeguards or concerns for people with disabilities and other vulnerable people. The only caveat is that the person must be able to: form his/her will freely and act thereafter.
 
The Swiss have now opened the door to a free-fall into the abyss of the culture of death. The end of this free-fall is the societal pressure and culture that demands an obligation to die for the weakest members of society who are seen as lacking the quality of life or too stupid to recognize that their life is not worth living.

Alex Schadenberg
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Here’s the news item:

Dignitas in Switzerland issued this bulletin on 1 February 2007

The Swiss Federal Court has acknowledged the right of a person to determine the way and the point in time of his/hers end of life as a guaranteed European human right and at the same time basically granted mentally ill this right just like everyone else, if they have capacity of discernment.

At the same time it dismissed a request for the removal of the obligation to present a prescription for the lethal drug necessary for an accompanied suicide. The decision has been announced by the lawyers of the appellant in Uster and Wetzikon ZH.

The decision by the Federal Court has been procured through the complaint of a mentally ill man, a member of Dignitas, for whom – due to legal insecurity – no physician would have written the prescription for the drug Sodium Pentobarbital necessary for a risk-free suicide. The reason for this refusal was the always somehow vague threat by the Zurich Cantonal Physician to withdraw the permission to work of those physicians who would write such a prescription. For this reason, the appellant addressed himself to the Federal Council, the Director of the Federal Department of Health, the Zurich Cantonal Physician and the Zurich Cantonal Pharmacist, claiming the right to have direct access to the necessary drug.

To justify his claim, he referred to the European Convention of Human Rights, which in article 8 secures that all contracting states shall respect the private life of everyone within their jurisdiction. Private life would also include the decision on one’s own end of life.

This is a growing effort, already being pushed in this country. Understand the issues and the ramifications.