Separating fact from fiction about euthanasia in Belgium

As a Belgian social scientist working on the topic of end-of-life care and decision making for the last ten years, a lot of my research has concerned the practice of euthanasia, which my country legalised in 2002 for incurable patients with severe suffering.

Though there are issues around euthanasia in Belgium, the view from the outside is often heavily biased toward problematising our euthanasia law and practice. Let’s consider some of the most prominent concerns and whether they’re justified.

‘They now put down children in Belgium’

Journalist Caroline Overington said on the ABC’s Q&A program on Monday that

Belgium introduced a law which allows for assisted suicide, and now that law has been extended to children, so they now put down children in Belgium.

Yes, in 2014 the Belgian euthanasia law was expanded to include competent minors.

At first, that may sound outrageous. But it helps to know the underlying rationale...

Would he deceive you?

As a scientist, I expect the Trump presidency to have a curious familiarity.
Why? Because the relentless stream of falsehoods and character attacks of Trump’s campaign mainstreamed disinformation tactics that biologists, immunologists and climate scientists have come to know and despise.
Trump has embraced pseudoscience and its accompanying conspiracy theories. He’s tweeted that climate change is a hoax and vaccines cause autism.





Trump has met with Andrew Wakefield, whose fraudulent 1998 study...

With billions of wireless devices shipped across the globe every year, it is safe to assume that most of us carry at least one wireless gadget with us much of the time.

The number of wearables to be shipped this year alone is expected to exceed 100 million. Interestingly, one-third of wearables next year will be rather inconspicuous, with smart contact lenses and connected jewellery also hitting the market.

The growing demand for more traditional gadgets such as smartphones and tablets is also set to continue. The increasing popularity of wireless home automation products and smart appliances means there will be more wireless gadgets around your home.

Our cars are getting smarter too, with built-in wireless technologies delivering the latest connected driving and infotainment experience.

All in the signals

Wireless communications including the omnipresent Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies are underpinned by radio transmissions....

Electricity price increases affect nearly everyone and are a sensitive political issue

Electricity bills are set to rise further for households, according to a report from the Australian Energy Markets Commission (AEMC).

The report, released this week to coincide with the December meeting of the COAG Energy Council, forecasts that electricity bills will increase by an average of A$78 by 2018 in the five eastern states and the ACT. Together these comprise the National Electricity Market (NEM).

The AEMC has prepared these three-year reports each year since 2010. But no report has received as much publicity as this one. This is largely because the latest report comes hard on the heels of the announcement that Victoria’s Hazelwood power station is to close – the largest power station closure ever in Australia.

It also follows the release of a specially commissioned report by Chief Scientist Alan Finkel that opens with the words: “The physical...

In the picture above, Professor Eske Willerslev talks to Aboriginal elders in the Kalgoorlie area in southwestern Australia.

Understanding the history of Aboriginal Australians, their origins and how their population changed over some 50,000-plus years has always been an enormous challenge.

Many Aboriginal people have their own origin stories. Gudjugudju, a Gimuy Yidinji Elder from the rainforest people around Cairns, says:

The story which has been passed down from generations tells of three migrations that have occurred over many thousands of years, one of us coming to this ancient land first, then another at a period after the last Ice age which saw the formation of the Great Barrier Reef, the other is of a migration out of Cairns that went back through the Cape into the Torres Strait to PNG and further.

Equally, scientific narratives of Aboriginal origins have presented different accounts. But these have been difficult to es...

images©pationpics.com...

The rise of the selfie can lead to a great deal of negative comparison and self-doubt.

Social media is a wonderful way to connect with others, share experiences and opinions and express ideas. But it can have a dark side for body image, which requires a critical and thoughtful approach to counteract.

People who have body image concerns feel worried, distressed and unhappy about their appearance, weight or shape. They may be concerned about being too large, too small, not curvy enough, or not muscular enough.

Body dissatisfaction of this kind causes a great deal of distress and can lead to severe psychological and physical problems. Consequently, body dissatisfaction has been identified as a serious public health problem.

Viewing pictures in magazines and on TV that show thin, attractive women or muscular, lean men has been shown to lead to body dissatisfaction. New research is looking at effects of use of social media such as Instagram,...

Last weekend I tried my best to provide something of a eulogy for Mayang Prasetyo and was quite overwhelmed and thank the organisers and community of both the vigil and the ceremonial gathered together to hear about something of the Mayang I knew from one other human. As a representative of her many friends.

I feel honoured to have met Mayang in her collective friend setting and to celebrate her 22nd birthday with her language school friends. Totravel a bit with Mayang. To have met the best life coach ever and amazingbeing in a larger dimensional sense. To be challenged and see beyond any pre-judgement. We shared understandings many may regard as esoteric. Mayang believed there a lots of level andspirit energies moving, transmitted and received. With some ancestors from Sumatran shamanic traditions,

Mayang was doing an intensive language course in Central Java. One night on a trip back to her home I bore witness to the phone calls Mayang received in the aftermath...

"Misa Criolla, (is) widely regarded as a stunning artistic achievement, combined Spanish text with indigenous instruments and rhythms." (Adam Bernstein - Washington Post)

"A Dynamic spiritual performance of the Catholic Mass based on the rhythms & traditions of Hispanic America." (Album Cover)


Album Cover

This is album number one hundred and four in the series of retro-reviews of both vinyl and Cd albums in my collection.

The series is called "Cream of The Crate " and each review represents an album that I believe is of significant musical value, either because of it's rarity, because it represents the best of a style or styles of music or because there is something unique about the group or the music. The first fifty reviews were vinyl only, and the second fifty reviews were CD's only. Links to these reviews can...

Last week, a man who murdered his wife while she slept and blamed his actions in part on the effects of a sleeping pill he was taking, was given an extra two years jail time – taking his sentence to 21 years.

The killer, Brian Browning, had pleaded not guilty, relying on the evidence of a doctor who said that doxylamine (the sleeping pill) “could cause a person to do things that were otherwise completely out of character”.

This argument was not accepted by the Victorian trial court and Browning was convicted. On appeal, the court acknowledged the accused’s judgment and emotional controls were disturbed by his “decompensated psychological state,” but concluded several aggravating factors were involved that made the case a complicated and serious one.

As rates of prescription medication use continue to increase, the issue of crime committed under the influence of prescription drugs has been receiving some high profile media attention.
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It is challenging to work out how the new National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) works. As an an allied health professional who is also the Head of Music Therapy, I attempt to anticipate and influence policy changes, conduct research that challenges and tests new directions and teach how music therapy practice needs to evolve in response.

Music therapy is different from music entertainment. It is a research-based practice and profession where music is used to actively support people to improve their health and overall well-being. Music therapists are musicians trained at university to understand how music can affect behaviours and how people feel and think.

Theoretically, music therapy is a support funded under the NDIS, that includes funding for “therapeutic supports including behaviour support”. A spokesman from the National Disability Insurance Agency – the organisation implementing and overseeing the scheme – told us:

Under the scheme, music therapy

...