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The law against assisted suicide forces some desparate people who want a peaceful death to leave their own country and travel overseas to accomplish their goal. This sort of thing needs to change so that people can die in ther own homes on their own terms.

When Rosemary asked her son-in-law James Ross to look at the logistics of an assisted suicide at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland he wasn't sure if he could do it. Here he tells how he joined her daughters on their mother's final journey from the U.K. to Switzerland.

The Independent, 24th April.

Dying With Dignity is very active across Canada and we have 70% to 80% of Canadians supporting our cause of medically assisted dying. However, the right-to-die movement is also gathering momentum throughout North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Recently, in New Mexico, a lawsuit was filed requesting clarification of a state law. Two cancer specialists state that a licensed physician who provides medical help to die to a dying person who is mentally competent should not be subject to a law that prohibits assisting someone to commit suicide. The doctor would simply be providing a medical service. Click here to read the article in alibi or click on read more below.       

DWD fully supports the findings of the committee of the Quebec National Assembly on Dying With Dignity. Its recommendations are a wish list of things that DWD has been fighting for since 1982. With the release of the Quebec report we have received a huge boost in our goal to provide both compassion and choice to Canadians at the end of life. 

Many newspapers are carrying reports of the committee's report. This one in the Montreal Gazette by Kevin Dougherty is an excellent summary of the situation today and provides a look at what might happen in the future.

Tony Nicklinson, who lives in England and who was paralysed by a stroke seven years ago, has been told by a judge that he can proceed with legal case that could result in a doctor being allowed end his life.

A 64-year-old woman suffering from severe senile dementia has become the first person in the Netherlands to be given euthanasia even though she could no longer express her wish to die, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday.

Euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands under strict conditions. For example, the patient must be suffering unbearable pain and the doctor must be convinced the patient is making an informed choice.

In a frank and personal documentary, author Sir Terry Pratchett considers how he might choose to end his life.

Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2008, Terry wants to know whether he might be able to end his life before his disease takes over.

What will it take to legalize choice in dying in Canada?  This thought-provoking article from the Walrus says that the movement will need its own Morgantaler.

See  the Walrus for the full article.