Training helps doctors talk to dying patients

2011-08-17T14:30:25Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Doctors are notoriously bad at delivering that tough message: You are going to die.

But a new study shows a short training program might help them communicate better about terminal cancer, giving the patient emotional support and involving his or her significant others.

The work, published in the

Pratchett defends suicide film

2011-06-14T08:30:30Z

Author Terry Pratchett, who has Alzheimer's, on Tuesday defended making a film showing a man dying at an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland.

Assisted suicide is illegal in Britain and anti-euthanasia campaigners complained that the programme "Choosing to Die", broadcast by the

State votes to outlaw sale of suicide kits

2011-06-14T07:00:52Z

PORTLAND, Ore (Reuters) - Sales of suicide kits, like the do-it-yourself asphyxiation hood used by a man to kill himself late last year, could soon be outlawed in the state of Oregon.

The state's House of Representative passed the bill on Monday to ban the products. It m...

Oregon House votes to outlaw sale of suicide kits

2011-06-13T19:00:10Z

PORTLAND, Ore (Reuters) - Sales of suicide kits, like the do-it-yourself asphyxiation hood used by an Oregon man to kill himself late last year, would be outlawed under a bill passed on Monday by the

2011-06-10T09:00:23Z

TROY, Mich (Reuters) - Friends and admirers of Jack Kevorkian -- known as "Dr. Death" for his prominent role in the U.S. debate on assisted suicide -- remembered him for his quieter, ascetic side, at a memorial service on Friday.

The doctor, who ...

America's 'Doctor Death,' Jack Kevorkian dies at 83

2011-06-03T13:30:36Z

The American pathologist, Jack Kevorkian, dubbed "Doctor Death" for helping dozens of terminally-ill people to commit suicide, died Friday at the age of 83 in a Michigan hospital.

"It was peaceful, he didn't feel a thing," his attorney Mayer Morganroth said of Kevorkian, who had been hospitalized wit...

Zurich voters reject ban on "suicide tourism"

2011-05-16T09:30:51Z

ZURICH (Reuters) - Voters in Zurich overwhelmingly rejected on Sunday proposed bans on assisted suicide and "suicide tourism" -- foreigners traveling to Switzerland to receive help ending their lives.

Only 15.5 percent of voters in the local referendum backed a ban on assisted suicide, while nea...

91-year-old stands by "exit kits" despite suicide furor

2011-05-13T08:00:31Z

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A 91-year-old California woman selling do-it-yourself asphyxiation kits for $60 apiece says business is booming since a depressed but otherwise healthy young man used her product to kill himself in Oregon.<...

Book Talk: Caring for a mother at the end

2011-05-12T02:30:20Z

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - Sean Manning was about to turn 27 when his mother collapsed with a heart attack and then was diagnosed with cancer, the start of a 13-month hospital odyssey that ended in her death aged just short of 60.

An only child, Sean spent most of that time at her bedside in Ohio, shepherding her through a medi...

On father's orders, mother who drove in river buried apart

2011-04-21T14:00:15Z

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A mother who drowned herself and three of her children by intentionally driving her minivan into the Hudson River was buried separately from her children on Thursday after their father intervened in plans to inter them together.

A large crowd of mourners followed a single white casket into the First Bap...

Patrick Stewart backs right to assisted death

2011-04-17T07:30:14Z

Actor Sir Patrick Stewart has declared his wish to be allowed an assisted death.

Stewart, best known for his role as Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek, spoke to The Sunday Times about his decision to become a patron of Dignity in Dying, which campaigns for a ch...

India's top court allows 'passive euthanasia'

2011-03-07T07:30:25Z

India's Supreme Court ruled on Monday that life support can be legally removed for some terminally ill patients in a ruling that will allow "passive euthanasia" for the first time.

The judgment came during a hearing into the case of former nurse Aruna Shanbaug, who has been in a vegetative state in a Mumbai hospital since being raped and ...

'Locked-in' patients happier than thought - study

2011-02-23T21:30:16Z

Many people with "locked-in" syndrome, in which they are conscious but completely paralysed, indicate they are happy, a finding with repercussions for assisted suicide, European doctors reported on Wednesday.

Investigators asked 168 members of the French Association for Locked-in Syndrome (ALIS) about their medical history, emotional state and quality of life, with the responses noted by ...

Hospital spending may pay off for some conditions

2011-01-31T14:30:13Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -- Hospitals that spend more money treating patients with acute illnesses may be better at keeping those patients alive, suggests a new study.

The finding is in line with recent research, but it challenges an assumption held by many policymakers that hospitals can be forced to spend less without significant consequences for patient health.

"The traditional lit...

Undertakers' strike puts Israeli burials on hold

2011-01-18T08:30:18Z

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Undertakers put funerals on hold across Israel on Tuesday after a mortician was shot dead in a suspected dispute over rising fees for scarce burial plots.

Benjamin Hesse, 60, was killed outside his home in Ha...

ÔDeath panels' redux

2011-01-12T02:31:07Z

Administration critics revive false claim about health care, end-of-life talks

When the health care bill was being debated in Congress, Republicans decried a provision they said would create "death panels." They claimed that these panels would determine whether elderly patients would live or die.It was part of their 2009 fear-mongering campaign led by Tea Party star Seeking comfort and the right to die, Ga. woman sues to overturn state's assisted suicide law

Living with a fatal degenerative disease, Susan Caldwell relied heavily on the support of a Georgia-based right-to-die group. She had tried to kill herself in 2008 by strapping on a helium-filled hood, and just knowing the group — the Final Exit Network —...

Experts keep close eye on badly injured whale

2010-12-03T16:30:30Z

Whale experts keep close eye on badly injured whale in south Puget Sound

Experts are keeping a close eye on a badly injured whale seen swimming in south Puget Sound.

John Calambokidis (cal-um-BOH'-kee-dihs) of Olympia-based Cascadia Research says he has received a number of calls from people wondering whether euthanizing the whale might be the most humane option cons...

Caring For The Hospice Patient At Home

2010-11-30T12:39:49Z

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Coping with Terminal Illness: Strategies to Help Students

2010-11-29T14:33:33Z

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His Life's Calling Is Dying

2010-11-29T14:29:49Z

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How to Become Certified in Grief Counseling

2010-11-29T14:38:20Z

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Cremation -- is it the Right Choice for You and Your Loved Ones

2010-11-29T14:53:54Z

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A Good Death for Grandma

2010-11-29T14:29:46Z

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Turning off heart devices near life's end stirs ethical, legal debates

2010-11-29T14:30:22Z

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Spain to pass law to allow death 'with dignity'

2010-11-19T16:30:32Z

Spain's socialist government will approve a draft law in March 2011 on end-of-life care that will allow people with incurable diseases to "die with dignity", the deputy prime minister said Friday.

The law will spell out the rights of patients facing death and their families and the medical staff who care for them so they can "die without suffering", Alfredo Pere...

AZ county employee fired for euthanizing wrong dog

2010-11-19T16:30:12Z

Pinal County employee fired after euthanizing wrong dog who had saved soldiers in Afghanistan

Officials say an employee for Arizona's Pinal County has been fired after euthanizing a war-hero dog that wasn't scheduled to be put down.

The unidentified employee at the Animal Care and Control fac...

What happens during the dying process?

2010-11-29T14:43:14Z

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Should I put my health care wishes in my will?

2010-11-29T14:47:05Z

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What Doctors Think About Assisted Suicide, Romance With Patients and Organ-Selling

2010-11-29T15:01:28Z

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Surprising Variations in End-of-Life Care

2010-11-29T15:01:27Z

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For Dying Cancer Patients, Geography is Destiny

2010-11-29T14:46:24Z

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End-of-Life Cancer Care Varies by Region

2010-11-29T15:01:50Z

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Top 7 papers in medicine

2010-11-29T14:59:34Z

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Paul Sorce

2010-11-30T13:55:01Z

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Study Casts Doubt on Hospice Admission Criteria for Patients With Dementia

2010-11-29T14:42:26Z

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How to Comfort Grieving Loved Ones

2010-11-29T14:36:30Z

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Daniel James Suicide

2010-11-30T13:50:23Z

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Daniel James

2010-11-30T13:50:23Z

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Craig Ewert

2010-11-30T13:50:14Z

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How to Become a Hospice Volunteer

2010-11-29T14:42:59Z

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Health Care Directives

2010-11-29T14:38:53Z

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Grievinig Loss

2010-11-29T14:31:32Z

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Doctors Answer Tough Ethical Questions

2010-11-29T15:01:49Z

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Third divorce left me suicidal, says Phil Collins

2010-11-29T14:59:48Z

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Britain NIreland Peace Camp

2010-08-04T04:00:20Z

In this photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010, teenagers who lost loved ones in acts of terror worldwide take part in a drama session at Queens University Belfast, Northern Ireland. Teenagers who lost loved ones in acts of terror worldwide are camping together this week in Northern Ireland as they learn to move beyond their grief, and become peacemakers ...

India Plane Crash

2010-10-27T15:03:34Z

Grieving relatives take a last look at the body, wrapped in a white cloth, of a victim of the Air India Express plane crash in Mangalore, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, Sunday, May 23, 2010. Grieving relatives collected the victims' remains from the crashed plane and investigators sifted through the rubble Sunday for the cockp...

Kevorkian Van Ebay

2010-04-26T11:01:12Z

FILE - In this Nov. 29, 2007 file photo, Dr. Jack Kevorkian addresses an audience at Wayne State University in Detroit. A Volkswagen van that Kevorkian used in several of the deaths that were part of his 1990-99 assisted suicide campaign is being sold by its ...

Schiavo Anniversary

2010-03-30T14:48:11Z

FILE - In this Feb. 16, 2005 file photo, Bob Schindler, father of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, attends a news conference in front of the Woodside Hospice, where the brain-damaged woman at the center of a life-or-death legal fight now lives, in Pinellas Park, Fla. ...

New Guidelines on Assisted Suicide Released

2010-03-27T07:09:34Z

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 25: Multiple Sclerosis sufferer and right-to-die campaigner Debbie Purdy leaves a radio studio on February 25, 2010 in London, England. New guidlines released today by the Public Prosecution Service aimed to clarify the grounds for prosecution in relation to assisted suicide in the UK. (Pho...

End of Life Decisions