By Liz Townsend
Nitschke Continues to "Perfect" Death Machine
Euthanasia activist Philip Nitschke presented his most recent suicide machine November 17 at a Sydney press conference.
Calling it the "CO Genie," named after the chemical formula for deadly carbon monoxide, the machine uses household items such as a jam jar combined with carbon monoxide to kill a person for about 52 Australian dollars ($37 US), according to Agence France-Presse.
"It's a simple device and they are getting simpler," Nitschke said at the press conference, news agency AAP reported. "We've got 200 people booked in for workshops across Australia where people want to come along and build this device."
Nitschke has made a career of trying to avoid police prosecution for euthanasia, attempting to use legal items in combinations that cause death. With the help of pro-euthanasia groups, he then holds workshops to teach suicidal people how to kill themselves.
"We will endeavour to ensure that the only people who come and take part in these workshops are people that have a good reason to, and this will be elderly Australians," Nitschke said, according to AAP. "But will the technology slip out? Look, it's not rocket science. Anyone who has done high school chemistry can build one of these machines."
Legal Challenge to Abortion for Cleft Palate Advances in British Court
Church of England curate Joanna Jepson has mounted a legal challenge to the abortion of a 24-week-old unborn baby who had a cleft lip and palate. The British High Court announced December 1 that her case against the police for failure to prosecute would be allowed to proceed in court.
"I am very thankful that the court has decided today to allow my case to go to trial," Jepson said, according to Press Association (PA) News. "I hope we shall succeed at trial and recognise once again the value and dignity of our common humanity, disabled or able-bodied, no matter what we look like."
British law states that abortions after 24 weeks can only take place for a "serious handicap," according to the BBC.
"From what I know of the case - - that it was a case of cleft lip and palate - - I would argue this was not what parliament intended and was therefore unlawful," Richard Nicholson, editor of the Bulletin of Medical Ethics, told Reuters.
Jepson, 27, was born with the same condition as the aborted baby. She had two surgeries in her teenage years to correct an "upper jaw which protruded extensively over the lower one," according to Reuters.
The abortion in question occurred in 2001 in Herefordshire. Jepson discovered it by studying National Abortion Statistics published in September, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
She then asked the West Mercia Police to investigate the abortion, but her request was refused. The legal action is against chief constable Paul West. "The inaction of the police sadly betrays the true value of this baby's life," Jepson told PA News.
Jepson's petition was approved by Lord Justice Rose and Mr. Justice Jackson. The justices warned that her case needed to overcome "substantial hurdles" if it was to be successful. "Notwithstanding that," Mr. Justice Jackson said, according to PA News, "I am persuaded, having listened to the statements of counsel, that this case does raise serious issues of law and issues of public importance which cannot be properly or fully argued in the context of a permission application."
Pro-life groups applauded Jepson's legal action. "That a child could be killed simply because of a condition which can often be almost completely repaired by modern surgery shows how callous we are becoming as a society - - and how merciless the abortion industry now is," Nuala Scarisbrick, national administrator of the pro-life charity LIFE, said in a press release.
British abortion law, Scarisbrick added, "is being openly flouted by abortion doctors, and it's good that someone like that vicar has had the courage to say so."
Nurse Gets No Jail Time Despite Pleading Guilty to Killing Patient
Despite admitting she gave 86-year-old patient Julia Dawson a massive drug overdose, nurse Daillyn Pavia will spend no time in prison for Dawson's death. Prosecutors in St. Louis, Missouri, agreed to a plea bargain December 1 in which Pavia pled guilty to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter and received five years' probation, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Pavia, 32, was a nurse at St. Louis University Hospital when Dawson was admitted in May 2001. Dawson had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, and was taken off life support on May 5. Pavia then entered her room and "injected her with 15 times the maximum dose of morphine and with Propofol, a sedative for which no prescription had been ordered," the Post-Dispatch reported.
The overdose caused Dawson's death within minutes. Officials focused on Pavia after an autopsy showed evidence of the drugs and Pavia spoke about the incident with other hospital staff, according to the Post-Dispatch.
Prosecutors charged Pavia with first-degree murder. However, they felt that it would be difficult to win the case since Dawson was elderly and expected to die soon, the Post-Dispatch reported.
Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce told the Post-Dispatch that her goal was "to give Pavia a felony record and to keep her out of nursing." Pavia agreed not to work as a nurse during her probation, but she can seek a nursing job after the five-year period is over, according to the Associated Press.
Pro-lifers argued that reducing the charges because the victim was elderly and sick creates the perception that killing such people is acceptable. "We must be pro-active in the fight to protect vulnerable people from those who, instead of offering them help and counseling, will so very readily agree that they are better off dead," said Burke J. Balch, J.D., director of NRLC's Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics. "This case reinforces the pro-life view that we need civil remedies, not just criminal penalties, if we are effectively to deter euthanasia."
Civil remedies statutes permit private parties, not just public prosecutors, to sue those who engage in euthanasia. Courts enforcing civil remedies can assess civil damages and issue injunctions against such conduct; if the injunction is violated, courts have broad power to impose penalties for contempt of court.
For more information on civil remedies to prevent assisted suicide, see the NRLC factsheet at www.nrlc.org/euthanasia/asisuid4.html.
Abortionist Finkel Convicted on 22 Sexual Abuse Counts
After a three-month trial and 14 days of deliberations, a Phoenix, Arizona, jury found abortionist Brian Finkel guilty of 22 counts of sexually abusing female patients who came to his clinic for abortions and gynecological care.
The December 2 verdict carries a possible jail term of up to 75 years. Sentencing is scheduled for January 2.
"A doctor who had abused the trust of his patients by sexually abusing them will no longer do that again," Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley said after the verdict was announced, according to the Arizona Republic.
Finkel was originally charged with 67 counts of abuse against 35 women. More than 30 women testified at the trial that Finkel committed various acts against them, such as accusations that he "groped them and inappropriately touched their breasts and genitals during exams," according to the Associated Press (AP).
The jury acquitted Finkel of 34 of the charges and failed to reach a verdict on four others, the Republic reported.
"We're thrilled even though some of the counts came back as not guilty," Janet Jorgensen, one of the accusers, told the Republic. "We're just thrilled it's over with and he's going to jail."
Finkel's attorney said he plans to file an appeal on the grounds that the charges should have been tried separately. The state's strategy "was to overwhelm the public and jury with the sheer number of counts," Richard Gierloff told the AP.