"Research links suicide increase in Britain to recession" by Makiko Kitamura | Bloomberg News, August 16, 2012
LONDON — The recession that began in 2008 may have contributed to an increase in suicides in Britain, according to a study that echoes findings from research in the United States and Australia....
I suppose that is one way to get rid of useless eaters.
The findings provide more evidence of an association between job losses and suicides, and suggest that a drop in suicides in 2010 was the result of lower unemployment. Suicide rates in the United States tend to rise during recessions and fall amid economic booms, said a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.
‘‘Unemployment and the unequal economic recovery in England are pressing public health issues,’’ the study’s authors said.
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Related: Sunday Globe Special: British Protest
Oh, the wealthy all got tax cuts, huh?
"British court denies euthanasia plea" Associated Press, August 17, 2012
LONDON — Britain’s High Court rejected Thursday an attempt by a man who has locked-in syndrome to overturn the country’s euthanasia law, refusing to allow doctors to end his life legally.
Tony Nicklinson, 58, had a stroke in 2005 that left him unable to speak or move below his neck.
He requires constant care and communicates mostly by blinking, although his mind has remained unaffected and his condition is not terminal.
In January, Nicklinson had asked the High Court to declare that any doctor who kills him with his consent will not be charged with murder.
The High Court ruled Thursday that challenges from Nicklinson and another man, named only as Martin in court papers, to allow others to help them die without being prosecuted were a matter for Parliament to decide.
Nicklinson said he was devastated and heartbroken and planned to appeal.
‘‘I am saddened that the law wants to condemn me to a life of increasing indignity and misery,’’ he said in a statement.
Martin, 47, also has locked-in syndrome and asked the court to allow professionals to help him die, either by withholding food and water or by helping him go to a clinic in Switzerland to die.
Locked-in syndrome is a rare neurological disorder in which patients are completely paralyzed and able only to blink.
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"Briton who lost court bid for assisted suicide dies of natural causes" by JOHN F. BURNS | NY Times Syndication, August 23, 2012
LONDON — A 58-year-old British man suffering from a condition called locked-in syndrome died Wednesday, six days after the nation’s High Court rejected his request for help in ending his life.
His death is certain to galvanize the contentious debate about assisted suicide in Britain....
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