The International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide has changed its name to the Patients Rights Council to better reflect its mission. From the Council’s statement:
Those familiar with the work of the International Task Force know that we’re committed to providing documented research and information on euthanasia and doctor-prescribed suicide, practices that abandon patients when they are most vulnerable. But the actual scope of our work is even broader than that. It encompasses all end-of-life issues – from the withholding of food and fluids from vulnerable patients to the denial of wanted, life-saving treatment deemed futile by health care providers; from the creation and dissemination of our state-specific durable power of attorney for health care (the Protective Medical Decisions Document to publication of the book Power over Pain: How to Get the Pain Control You Need.
What all of this has in common is our strong commitment to protecting patients’ rights. That’s why, starting in January 2011, the name, International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, changed to the Patients Rights Council.
I have assisted the work of the Task Force—now the Council—as a lawyer and communications consultant since 1993 or 94. I can’t tell you how impressed I am with the commitment of Council head Rita Marker (who inspired me to this work) and the Council’s officers and staff to the cause of protecting the vulnerable and promoting ethical medical practice. But my, my: How time does fly.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
