Thursday, March 20, 2008

Activists Suck Life Dry

Chantal Sebire was dying. She had an inoperable tumor that had nearly blinded her, and taken her sense of taste and smell. Appropriate palliative care was available to her. She wanted more.
Chantal Sebire before after
Euthanasia is available in Holland and a few other places in Europe. It allows that the one killed not to expect any who profited to be charged. Chantal could have found her way there, and done as she pleased. Or she could have stayed in France, taken enough drugs to leave her insensible for the rest of her short life. Instead, recognizing that the new French President was conservative, activists encouraged her to publicly plead for the French Law to be changed to allow euthanasia.
Chantal Sebire isolated
She was isolated, and in pain. She deserved more dignity than those activists gave her. She died yesterday. It has not yet been told as to how she died. However, the French President had denied her plea, and so her job, for the activists was done.
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Also, Hugo Claus was euthanased in Belgium.

VETERAN Belgian author Hugo Claus, considered one of the most important contemporary Dutch language authors, has died by euthanasia aged 78, his publisher announced.

The author of the 1983 novel The Sorrow of Belgium had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease when he died today in hospital in Antwerp, northern Belgium.

It was known that the Bruges native had requested euthanasia, which is authorised in Belgium and the Netherlands.

His Dutch publishing house, De Bezige Bij (The Busy Bee), said in the name of the writer's family that he had chosen the exact time of his death.

"He stipulated the moment of his death and asked for euthanasia," it said, without giving details.

"Hugo Claus leaves an impressive body of work," the publisher said.

"He was endowed with an inimitable imagination and unbounded confidence. He worked equally well in poetry and theatre as in prose and received numerous literary prizes including the Dutch order of letters in 1986."

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Writer Hugo Claus dies by euthanasia
from news.com.au
VETERAN Belgian author Hugo Claus, considered one of the most important contemporary Dutch language authors, has died by euthanasia aged 78, his publisher announced.

The author of the 1983 novel The Sorrow of Belgium had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease when he died today in hospital in Antwerp, northern Belgium.

It was known that the Bruges native had requested euthanasia, which is authorised in Belgium and the Netherlands.

His Dutch publishing house, De Bezige Bij (The Busy Bee), said in the name of the writer's family that he had chosen the exact time of his death.

"He stipulated the moment of his death and asked for euthanasia," it said, without giving details.

"Hugo Claus leaves an impressive body of work," the publisher said.

"He was endowed with an inimitable imagination and unbounded confidence. He worked equally well in poetry and theatre as in prose and received numerous literary prizes including the Dutch order of letters in 1986."

With a reputation as a non-conformist, the multi-talented Claus was also a poet, painter, playwright and film director.

The provocative Sorrow of Belgium was an unsentimental look at Belgium and its collaborators during World War II when the country was invaded by Nazi Germany.

His name was often linked to the Nobel Literature prize though he had given up hope of ever winning.

Anonymous said...

Cancer victim Chantal Sebire found dead at home
from news.com.au
THE French woman who made headlines across the world due to her battle with a horrifying facial cancer has been found dead at her home today.

Chantal Sebire was left so distresingly disfigured by the rare esthesioneuroblastoma (ENB) - an uncommon malignant neoplasm of the nasal vault - that she appealed for the legal right to end her own life.

Earlier this week a court in Dijon, eastern France, rejected Sebire's request to be "accompanied to her death with dignity".

The practice of euthanasia is not authorised by French law as it is in other European countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands or Switzerland.

The court decided Monday to side with the prosecution which argued that current legislation does not allow the doctor of the 52-year-old former schoolteacher to prescribe lethal drugs.

In her appeal to the court, Sebire had said she did not want to endure further pain and subject herself to an irreversible worsening of her condition. She asked the court to allow her doctor to help her end her life.

Sebire's body was found at her home in the eastern town of Plombieres-les-Dijon in the Bourgogne region.

The cause of her death was not immediately known, Dijon prosecutor Jean-Pierre Allachi said.

A mother of three, Sebire attracted a strong outpouring of sympathy when she appealed in a television interview last month for the right to "depart peacefully".

Before-and-after pictures of the woman, her face severely deformed, have been featured in the press along with her account of frightened children who ran away at the sight of her.

Sebire learnt in 2002 that she had developed an esthesioneuroblastoma, an uncommon malignant tumour in the nasal cavity, which she said had led to "atrocious" suffering.

"In 2000, I lost the sense of smell and taste... and I lost my sight in October 2007," she said in the television interview.

"One would not allow an animal to go through what I have endured," she said before urging President Nicolas Sarkozy to intervene and grant her request.

Commenting on the case, Justice Minister Rachida Dati said last week that "doctors were not there to prescribe lethal drugs."

Legislation adopted in 2005 allows families to request that life-support equipment for a terminally-ill patient be switched off, but does not allow a doctor to take action to end a patient's life.

Sarkozy asked his chief adviser on health issues to contact Sebire and seek a second opinion on her condition.

Sebire had said she would not appeal the decision rendered Monday and that she would find life-terminating drugs through other means.

"I now know how to get my hands on what I need and if I don't get it in France, I will get it elsewhere," she said.

Only 200 cases of the disease have been recorded worldwide in two decades.

Sebire's death came on the same day as 78-year-old Belgian author Hugo Claus's death by euthanasia while suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are the only European Unions that currently allow euthanasia.