Euthanasia Activist Forms Suicide Pact with Friends - Doesn't Want to Care for Her Parents 

Residents Object to Body Bags from Suicide Site in their Apartment Complex

Sleeping Pill Awakens So-Called PVS Patients

Homeless Denied Hospital Care in Netherlands

Italian Coma Victim Awakens, Says He Was Conscious

Missouri Legislature Cuts Medicaid Payment for Life-Sustaining Equipment

RESIDENTS OBJECT TO DIGNITAS’ BODY BAGS. Zurich apartment complex residents are gathering signatures to evict Dignitas, the assisted suicide provider that uses a 4th floor flat. Describing it as a “house of horrors”, a long time resident of the complex said, “This is meant to be a residential flat, but some days you’d think it was a morgue.”

For many residents, the worst part is seeing these suicidal people in the halls and elevator on their way up to the apartment to die. “The look in their eyes haunts me, particularly if they are young”, said a resident. For others, seeing the corpses in body bagts propped up in the corner of the communal three-person elevator is the most disturbing. Since the elevator isn’t big enough for a coffin, Dignitas uses body bags to transport the corpses to the hearse. Kelvin L, another resident, said, “It’s very creepy. The floors are thin and when we hear movements upstairs, we know that means they’re up there, and someone’s going to die.” [British Medical Journal, 3June2006; Daily Telegraph, 4June2006; International Task Force Update, 2006, vol. 20, no. 3, internationaltaskforce.org]

SLEEPING PILL AWAKENS “PVS” PATIENTS. As reported earlier, a South African man thought to be in PVS for 3 years, was prescribed a sleeping pill to calm him down. Within 25 minutes of receiving the pill, the man awoke and began talking.  Louis’ case was one of 3 such cases reported in the May 2006 issue of the medical journal NeuroRehabilitation. All 3 cases involved males around age 30 who had been in “PVS” at least 3 years. All were given daily doses of Zolpidem (brand name Ambien) twice each day, to keep them conscious for about 8 hours. Their responses were monitored for 3-6 years.

Researchers found no long-term side effects and concluded, “Zolpidem appears an effective drug to restore brain function to some patients in the PVS’. The Glasgow Coma Scale and Rancho Los Amigos Cognitive test scores for all 3 men improved with the drug’s use.

South African physician Dr. Nel [co-author of the study]: “There is a lot of research to be done before we can start using this drug on others, but now we have something we can work on...When you think about how many life-support machines have been switched off over the years, it makes you wonder.” The British company ReGen Therapeutics plans to begin clinical trials to further test Zolpidem on 30 coma patients in July. [NeuroRehabilitation, 31May06, pp 23-28; UPI, 1June06; ITF Update, 2006, vol. 20, no. 3]

HOMELESS AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IN THE NETHERLANDS are being denied needed hospital care because they are uninsured, according to 2 Rotterdam doctors who have been treating 20+ uninsured patients /week. In an articlc in the Dutch medical journal Medisch Contact, the doctors wrote that it is “unacceptable” that “medical help for some patients in our country has declined to a third world level.”

Last January, a new national health insurance system took effect, and hospitals are objecting to the costs and responsibilities that come with uninsured poor patients. [British Medical Journal, 3June06] “In a country where euthanasia is legal, inexpensive, and accepted medical practice, the temptation for an easy solution to a costly problem could be disastrous.” [ ITF Update, 2006, vol. 20, no. 3]

Missouri Legislature Cuts Medicaid Payment for Life-Sustaining Equipment -- As of 1Sept05, MO Medicaid will no longer pay for feeding tubes, nutritional formula, breathing machines, canes, crutches, walkers, wheelchair batteries and other medical equipment necessary for people with disabilities. The medical equipment and services are now considered "optional" requiring almost 340,000 adult patients to apply for "exceptions" to their medical care and get letters from their doctors. Patients needing feeding tubes are being told to apply for appeals. Of the 1048 people who have filed appeals, 427 appeals hearings have been heard and only 31 patients have won. [www.notdeadyet.org; HLA Action News, Fall 2005]

Italian Coma Victim Awakens, Says He Was Conscious. In a coma for 2 years following a car accident, Salvatore C., father of 4 children, awoke suddenly and told doctors and family that he heard everything going on around him despite doctors who told family he was not conscious. "I understood everything and I cried in desperation." At the same time, Italy's national bioethics committee had just released guidelines that incapacitated patients should be provided normal medical care, including food and water. [LifeNews.com, 5Oct05; HLA Action News, Fall 2005]