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Belgium Palliative Care Workers Unable to Kill Patients Due to Shortage of Euthanasia Drug

By John Jalsevac

BRUSSELS, Belgium, August 11, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Palliative care personnel in Belgium are complaining that a changeover in the pharmaceutical market has rendered them unable to euthanize their patients, Expatica reported on Wednesday.

The problem occurred after the U.S. manufacturers of Pentothal, the “euthanasia drug,” transferred their license to another firm. Since then the flow of the drug into Belgium has stopped. According to The Brussels Journal a change-over in the method of packaging the drug is the cause of the sudden lack of supply.

Palliative care workers are deeply concerned about the dearth of Pentothal. Without the drug they say it is impossible to comfortably kill the on-average 30 patients a month who are officially euthanized in Belgium, as well as the speculated much larger number of patients whose deaths by euthanasia go unregistered as such.

“Our supply [of Pentothal] is completely finished,” said Marc Cornely, a spokesman for a large chain of Belgium pharmacies.

“We have been without [Pentothal] for weeks now,” complained professor Wim Distelmans, a palliative care professor at the VUB. “The intention of  euthanasia is to bring the patient into an [sic] in an irreversible coma in an elegant and reliable manner. Pentothal is the only drug which can do this.”

The new producer of the drug, Hospira, however, has said that the shortage could soon come to an end, as they have a stockpile of 4,000 bottles of Pentothal which could be pumped into the market once the proper paperwork is filed. Initially it was feared that it could be as long as three months before Belgium’s palliative care givers were able to kill their patients, but with Hospira’s emergency plan that time could be cut down to several weeks.

Alex Schadenberg the executive director of Canada’s euthanasia prevention coalition, pointed out the dark irony of the earnest concern of Belgium’s palliative care and pharmaceutical agencies.
 
“This proves how the dignity of the person has been lost in Belgium,” he said. “When it is considered a medical emergency that they do not have the necessary drug to kill people. People don't need to be killed they need to receive excellent end of life care. They then die with true dignity, being cared for with proper pain and symptom management with care to the persons physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual needs.

“Euthanasia is not a medical act and should not be administered within the framework of palliative care within Belgium.”

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CMA Doctors: FDA Move to Allow 'Plan B' Without a Prescription is Unsafe and Unwise

Makes no sense since "lower doses of those hormones in contraceptives require a physician's prescription"

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The 17,000-member Christian Medical Association (CMA, http://www.cmda.org) today urged the Food and Drug Administration to protect women from sexually transmitted disease and disinformation by requiring a prescription for "emergency contraception" drugs and by accurately labeling the products, known also as "Plan B" and "emergency contraception."

After intense political pressure from abortion activists and politicians including Sen. Hillary Clinton, who threatened to block Senate approval of Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach as FDA Commissioner, the FDA recently announced that it is prepared to reverse itself and approve over-the-counter sales of the powerful hormonal drugs to women aged 18 and older.

CMA Executive Director Dr. David Stevens said, "Politicians are trying to push FDA approval through with strong-arm tactics that have no place in evaluations of women's health and safety. We saw these same tactics deployed in the previous administration, when then-President Clinton's first official act was to order the FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to coordinate the marketing of the dangerous abortion drug RU- 486.

"This move by the FDA appears to be based on political expedience and ideology rather than science. It makes no medical sense to offer over-the-counter access to a powerful hormonal drug when lower doses of those hormones in contraceptives require a physician's prescription," Stevens observed.

"Over-the-counter use of these drugs is unsubstantiated by data," Dr. Stevens added. "'Emergency contraception' has been promoted as the regimen that would lower unwanted pregnancy and abortion rates, but hard data to back this claim is lacking. In the two largest 'advance placement' studies of which we are aware...neither happened. Because of a lack of studies on repetitive use, which is likely with many users, we do not know the long-term risks of these drugs."

Dr. Gene Rudd, an obstetrician and CMA's Associate Executive Director, noted, "Over-the-counter sales of these drugs facilitates predators and pressure. Though the use is supposed to be limited to those 18 and above, it will not prevent older sexual predators from purchasing them for use in covering up their actions. They will also be purchased by older boyfriends to coerce underage girls into sexual activity."

Dr. Rudd also addressed the issue of the abortifacient nature of "Plan B." Despite clear data that "Plan B" has a secondary mechanism which prevents an already fertilized egg to implant in the womb--effectively, an abortion--this mechanism is not publicized or acknowledged by Barr Pharmaceuticals, the company that manufactures "Plan B".

"The current packaging of these pills," pointed out Dr. Rudd, "also violates the vital medical principle of informed consent. The FDA allows patient education material to claim that the product does not affect pregnancy or cause abortion. The drug's labeling falsely assures women that they are not taking the life of a human being when they take the pill. While some within the scientific community have obfuscated for political reasons the terms associated with early human development, a significant percentage of women still consider pregnancy to begin with fertilization.

"Adequate informed consent requires that information be appropriate for the patient--not the provider. No credible expert disputes that EC must have post- fertilization effects to be effective (especially since in real life it is often taken post-ovulatory). Many women will feel betrayed when they learn the scientific realities of the mechanisms of action."

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Plan B Could Be Available Over-the-Counter in U.S. Within Mere Weeks
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06080901.html

FDA Commissioner Hearings Begin: Nominee Takes Heat from Both Sides of Abortion/Plan B Debate
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06080301.html

FDA Reopens Debate on Over-the-Counter “Morning After Pill”
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jul/06073107.html

Report on Abortion-Causing Morning-After Pill Shows FDA Used Great Caution
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05111505.html

US Bishops Tell FDA Over-The-Counter "Morning-After" Pill Would Be Harmful to Minors
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/oct/05102803.html

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Everything’s OK: US Researchers

Regarding the state of the world (or what it could be)

By John Jalsevac

(After a stressful three weeks filling in for news editor John-Henry Westen who has been galavanting around India)

SOMEWHEREVILLE, US, August 11, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A group of elite scientists working in a top secret lab in an undisclosed location in the United States have said that they were stunned earlier this week when the data that they were working with proved beyond a doubt that in fact absolutely everything in the universe is perfectly ok.

“These results are astounding and strangely anti-intuitive,” explained researcher Dr. Gaudia to Phasmatis News Service. “The results of this research go against all of our expectations. I mean, right now there’s war over in Lebanon and Israel, people are starving to death in third world countries, and everywhere you look it seems people are generally unhappy and depressed. But despite all that, this research has proved beyond a doubt that in fact everything’s ok.”

“Personally,” he said, “I’m quite relieved. I think I’m going to take a few days off, go home, spend some time with my family and smoke a good cigar or two. I mean, why not?

“At first I had to admit that I was a little sceptical,” he added. “But then I really started thinking.

“I mean, if you’ve taken even a glance at modern physics you’ll know that the universe never really is intuitive. In fact, sometimes it's just an infuriatingly mind-bending place to live in. So why not? What if everything is ok? Maybe it’s just something that we can’t really see clearly. But there it is. It just the way it is, and we have to accept that. Everything’s ok.” 

The unexpected results of what the researchers said has been a several decades long, top-secret project that analyzed the most difficult questions about life, the universe and everything, and which compiled enormous amounts of data on every topic known to man, has taken the world by storm.

Saddam Hussein, the imprisoned ex-dictator of Iraq is reported to have been deeply shaken by the conclusion of the research. “If everything’s ok,” he remarked to his guards, “why have I been killing all those people for so many years? I wish I had known this sooner. If I had I probably would have spent a lot less time killing people and a lot more time swimming.”

Some experts have already speculated that the study will have an enormous impact on the Middle East, along the same lines as the personal effect that it is said to have had upon the former Iraqi dictator.

Already one firefight in Southern Lebanon is reported to have come to a premature end when a communications officer who had just received the news over his radio stepped into the middle of the battlefield, yelling, “Hey! Stop everyone! Everything’s ok!”.

Both Israeli and Hizbollah soldiers proceeded to lay down their weapons and rather sheepishly apologized to one another.

“Sorry about that,” said Corporal Asher to the Hizbollah soldier he had tried to kill with a grenade moments earlier. “Silly sort of thing to do in retrospect. Do you want to go swimming?”

“Oh yes, absolutely,” the unnamed Hizollah soldier reportedly responded. “I do like swimming."

The news of this research has also come as a pleasant surprise to many in the pro-life movement.

“This is really great news,” said Steve Jalsevac, the managing director of LifeSiteNews.com, at a press conference of pro-life leaders. “I mean, I was looking back at all the stories that we’ve been running this past week, and for a moment there I really wasn’t so sure. What with doctors killing their patients and polygamy and embryonic stem cell research and whatnot, for a moment there…”

“But now, to be perfectly honest, I have to admit that I don’t know what got into me. So there you have it, everything’s ok, and I’m glad that after this somewhat gruesome week we can tell our readers that really, everything’s ok.

“I know it might not look like it on the surface sometimes,” he added. “And I suppose we’ve got to keep doing our part, which will continue to be difficult and sometimes depressing, even with this new assurance. Personally I’m not sure that this study is going to bring a sudden end to all the evil in the world. But either way it’s refreshing to know that that’s just the way it is—in some mysterious, fundamental, eternal sense that we don’t always see on the surface of things, everything’s ok, under control, and following the plan of the Big Man.”

The Sun, Star and the Globe and Mail newspaper chains have all suggested in their reports on the press conference that by “the Big Man” Jalsevac most likely meant Michael Moore. Jalsevac did not, however, clarify his statement.

“Hey everybody!” LifeSiteNews.com’s editor John-Henry Westen exclaimed happily when asked if he had any remarks for today’s news. “Everything’s ok. Isn’t that great? Why not go swimming or something? I know that’s what I’m gonna do.”

According to witnesses John-Henry did in fact then take his wife and very happy seven children swimming.

Although most who have heard about the study have admitted that never had they even once suspected that the universe was actually ok, there have been a very few who have expressed little surprise at the outcome of the research.

“Duh!” said Pope Benedict the XVI  when asked for his comments on the study’s results.

Everything's OK

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Re-establish Christian Society to Save Democracy - Australian Parliamentarians, Prime Minister

Separate church and state "one of the great differences between us and Muslim societies"

By Hilary White
 
CANBERRA, August 11, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A meeting held on Tuesday of  300 Australian Christian politicians and community leaders argued that Christianity has been under "consistent attack" and that Australian society must be re-Christianized in order to survive the corrosive effects of radical secularism.
 
The Australian reports that the forum was addressed and endorsed by Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who said, “Judeo-Christian ethics, the progressive spirit of the enlightenment and the institutions and values of British political culture have been central to the development of Australian values.”
 
The forum was organized by the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship, a non-partisan group of Christian Members of Parliament. The group’s president, former Nationals leader John Anderson, opened the forum at Parliament House and pointed to the Christian origins of the principles underlying democracy.
 
“I think we confuse in the public mind very much what we really are, and certainly our government is secular,” he said. “It's actually a Christian concept that you should separate church and state -- it's one of the great differences between us and Muslim societies.”
 
“What is a secular value system?” he asked. “I could argue the extreme case, that a secular value system gave us World War II via Nazism.”

The Australian quotes Anderson saying that Australians enjoy the “fruits” of a Christian value system but warned that “no fruit will survive without you tending the roots that provided the growth in the first place and without replanting.”

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Arizona Marriage Amendment Constitutional: Superior Court Judge

By Peter J. Smith

PHEONIX, Arizona, August 11, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An Arizona Superior Court judge has ruled that a constitutional amendment protecting the traditional definition of marriage and banning marriage-like equivalents does not violate the constitution and may be included on the ballot for Arizona’s general election on November 7.

Judge Douglas Rayes of the Maricopa County Superior Court ruled Thursday against the opponents of the "Protect Marriage Arizona" initiative, or Proposition 107, rejecting their arguments that the measure violates a constitutional requirement that says a constitutional amendment must address only a single subject.

The marriage amendment is structured to define marriage as between one man and one woman and also prohibits any leeway for judges and lawmakers to create "marriage imitations" for unwed opposite-sex or same-sex couples.

Arizona Together, a group opposed to the amendment, argued that the two clauses in Proposition 107 constitute two subjects and therefore violate the Arizona State Constitution which requires constitutional amendments to consist of a single subject.

However, Judge Rayes found that the amendment did not violate the single subject rule, since the parts of the amendment merely reinforce marriage by prohibiting legal recognition of pseudo-marriage arrangements.

"The two clauses of the proposed amendment have but one purpose, the protection of marriage by preventing redefinition and extension of official status to marriage substitutes," the judge wrote.

“The judge understood that this amendment is a clear, straightforward proposition with one purpose: protecting marriage,” said Alliance Defend Fund attorney Glen Lavy in a press statement. The ADF and the Center for Arizona Policy are representing “Protect Marriage Arizona” in legal challenges .

Lavy described the court action by Arizona Together as “just another desperate attempt to evade the democratic process by those who advocate redefining marriage.

"Every time this issue has been presented to the voters, it has passed overwhelmingly, by an average of 70 percent”, Lavy continued. “We are confident that we will see a similar result in Arizona, and we are prepared to defend any appeal of today’s decision.”

Arizona Together attorney Charles Blanchard filed an appeal Thursday with the Arizona Supreme Court, claiming that Rayes has misinterpreted the law.

"They're taking a very popular ban on same-sex marriage and trying to get a home run that the public doesn't want," said Blanchard. "The public does not want to ban domestic-partner benefits."
 
Supporters of Protect Marriage Arizona have collected over 307,000 signatures, far exceeding the 184,000 required signatures to place the amendment on the ballot. The Secretary of State's Office has yet to validate the signatures.

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Teacher Fired after Refusing to Allow Seventh Grader to Opt Out of Sex Ed Class

By Hilary White
 
MILLIKEN, Colorado, August 11, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A teacher at a small private school in Colorado was fired after she refused to allow a 13-year-old student to leave class during an explicit classroom discussion about sex. Haley Aochi was told she would have to stay for the class even though her parents had requested that she be excused.
 
Agape Press reports that the school’s physical education teacher, Joel Chase, ignored the parents’ request, and led his class in a discussion of sexual practices including his private views on dating.
 
Knowledge Quest Academy in Milliken, a small community north of Denver, dismissed Chase after Liberty Counsel sent a letter to the school on behalf of the Aochis. Liberty Counsel president, Mat Staver, said that parents have the right to have their children educated according to their religious beliefs and moral principles.
 
Liberty Counsel, a pro-life and pro-family non-profit legal and lobbying organization based in Orlando, Florida, provides pro bono legal assistance in the areas of religious liberty, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family. The Counsel has seen some recent successes defending religious liberty in schools.
 
The group intervened in a recent case in California in which high school valedictorian Brittany McComb had her microphone cut off when she mentioned the name of Christ in her graduation speech. In another case, just last week, Liberty Counsel intervened successfully when a Virginia school district tried to ban material announcing Bible clubs, church activities and other after-school religious events.
 
Staver said that parents’ rights must be protected. “The Aochi family are certainly distressed over the fact that their parental rights were violated -- but pleased with the prompt reaction of the school.”
 
“And I think teachers ought to learn a lesson from this, and that is that they are not de facto parents.”
 
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Valedictorian Speech Cut off at the Name of Christ
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06062202.html

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Barely Studied Risks of Egg-Donation Come Under Scrutiny

By Hilary White
 
August 11, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A report in the scientific journal, Nature, warns would-be parents that health problems with children conceived artificially in IVF labs could take years to emerge.
 
Pro-life advocates who have objected to embryonic research have pointed out that the number of ova needed for large-scale stem cell and cloning experiments place women – especially poor women – in danger of economic exploitation. Now Nature is exploring whether the heavy demand for ova in IVF and related industries are not also a threat to women’s health.
 
Nature reporter Helen Pearson writes that doctors first started asking about the possible dangers of egg-retreival drugs when a 39 year-old woman died of cancer years after donating ova to her infertile sister. Studies have indicated that the drugs used to stimulate ovarian follicles could be linked to the development of some kinds of cancer.
 
Pearson writes that doctors say systematic research needs to be undertaken to examine all aspects of ova donation and possible long-term consequences. Ethical matters, however, are taking a back seat to questions of availability as the stem cell and cloning experiments are increasingly appoved by national governments. While one large, long-term study is under way in the Netherlands, some doctors worry that any negative press will discourage donors.
 
The British Human Fertility and Embryology Authority (HFEA) will meet next month to discuss the problem. But the HFEA is unlikely to be willing to halt its embryo experimentation track. In February, the government regulatory agency – considered by many to be among the most permissive in the world – proposed allowing “altruistic” ova donation to fuel the embryonic stem cell and cloning experiments it has already approved.
 
Read the full report in Nature:
http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060807/full/442607a.html
 
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Feminist Revolutionary Warns of Exploitation of Women with Cloning Research
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/mar/05030303.html
 
British Woman Died of Internal Bleeding After IVF Procedure
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06081006.html

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Homosexuals Hold Protest in Jerusalem in Wake of Nixed Pride Parade

By Peter J. Smith

JERUSALEM, August 11, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - While northern Israel suffers daily rocket attacks, and Israelis hide in bomb shelters, they can rest easy knowing that against all the odds Jerusalem’s homosexuals still held a silent protest over the lack of “tolerance” for their behavior and for the gay pride parade they never had.

According to the Jerusalem Post, about 200 gay activists gathered for a subdued protest vigil in Jerusalem’s Liberty Bell Park on Thursday evening, after police agreed to allow them to demonstrate in the park. Initially Jerusalem authorities had cancelled even that event, which was to replace the cancelled pride parade, but then agreed to permit the event after exacting conditions from the protesters.

"At a time when Jewish blood is being spilt in Lebanon, all that these self-indulgent narcissistic, selfish, perverted people can think about is engaging in sodomy," said New York Rabbi Yehuda Levin, of the Orthodox Rabbinical Alliance of America and the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the US and Canada. Rabbi Levin has lead the international fight to keep the Holy City free from the homosexual pride event.

The police did intervene in the protest to remove a number of anarchists who joined the vigil, unfurled a Palestinian flag, and raised their anti-war placards among the other homosexual rainbow slogans, which read “The Path to God is not always straight" and "Senseless hatred."

"We believe that the holiness of Jerusalem is increased by this city being the center of tolerance and coexistence," said Rabbi Ayelet Cohen, 32, who lead a delegation from New York City's Congregation Beth Simhat Torah, the world's largest homosexual synagogue.

The event finished the six-day World Pride Event in Jerusalem, not with a bang, but with a whimper, since the current war with terrorist groups, Hezbollah and Hamas, prompted a police decision to bar the planned World Pride parade through the streets.

Rabbi Levin, however, criticized police for "wimping out like French poodles" by reneging on their pledge to stop the protest, after the homosexual protesters made clear they would violate the police ban.
 
Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby maintained police did not disperse the event since protesters did not take the gathering into streets, block traffic or use bullhorns.

The international homosexual festival and World Pride parade were condemned by Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders in Jerusalem and around the world as a deliberate insult and provocation to millions of believers, especially since it aimed to flaunt homosexual behavior in the world’s holiest city. All three beliefs traditionally believe homosexual behavior is an “abomination”. A public opinion poll conducted last year showed that three-quarters of Jerusalem residents opposed holding the international homosexual event.

The first World Pride event was hosted in Rome, coinciding with the Catholic Jubilee year of 2000.

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