GESTIÓN EN SALUD PÚBLICA: Euthanasia debate halted in Victoria after MP rushed to hospital

viernes, 24 de noviembre de 2017

Euthanasia debate halted in Victoria after MP rushed to hospital

Euthanasia debate halted in Victoria after MP rushed to hospital

Bioedge

Euthanasia debate halted in Victoria after MP rushed to hospital

by Xavier Symons | 17 Nov 2017 | 2 comments

The bid to introduce euthanasia in Victoria is taking its toll on politicians, with one parliamentarian being rushed to hospital after a marathon 26-hour sitting.

Daniel Mulino, who staunchly opposed the bill, was taken to hospital in an ambulance just before 10:30am on Friday. Mr Mulino had suffered an “emergency” in his office, though colleagues later confirmed that he had stabilised: “I have had an update from Mr Mulino personally, and we can say he is all good”, said Labor MP Jaclyn Symes.

Parliament was adjourned at 11:30am, and will reconvene next Tuesday.

MPs had debated just nine of a 140-clause amended bill by the end of this week’s session.

The fate of the bill is in the hands of just two MPs, Liberal’s Bruce Atkinson and Simon Ramsay, who have demanded extensive amendments before they would consider voting for the bill.

Under the first set of amendments to be considered, patients must be a Victorian resident for at least a year, the coroner will be notified and assisted dying will be mentioned on the death certificate. The government has also said it will tighten the entry requirement for patients from 12 months to 6 months maximum life-expectancy.

A bill to legalise euthanasia in New South Wales was defeated in the Legislative Council by one vote on Thursday evening

Several of our stories this week deal with end-of-life issues. For a bit of a change, how about an historical diversion?

“And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.” You might recognise this quote from the Bible. It is often used to illustrate the pain of infertility, which hurts no less 4,000 years later.

Jacob was a wandering pastoralist. But Turkish archaeologists announced this month that they had uncovered evidence of urban infertility in Kültepe, an Assyrian site in the centre of modern Turkey. It is a clay tablet with cuneiform script with a prenuptial agreement – also 4,000 years old. It may be the first pre-nup in recorded history.

If, after two years, the bride has still not borne a child, the tablet says, the wife will allow her husband to use a female slave as a surrogate mother to produce an heir. The slave would be freed after giving birth to a son.

Many ethical issues in the Reproductive Revolution have precedents, but it’s amazing to see that today’s surrogate mothers were anticipated by Assyrian slave girls four millennia ago.