ABC BACKGROUND BRIEFING — Sunday 17th January 2010

Assisted death (Listen)

The law in Australia may not have caught up with modern medicine, and doctors and the authorities are caught between a rock and a hard place. So argues Dr Rodney Syme, who refers to himself as a Christian Humanist. He says the current situation for people who are terminally ill and in great pain is a scandal.

Welcome to Karuna

Karuna is a Brisbane-based charity that has been established since 1992. The organisation strives to bring comfort, support, care and peace of mind to those who are dying, as well as their carers and families.

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Mother gets life for heroin death

A mother convicted of murdering her disabled son by injecting him with heroin in a "mercy killing" at a care home in Herts has been jailed for life. Frances Inglis, 57, of Dagenham, Essex, denied murdering Thomas Inglis, 22, on 21 November 2008 and an earlier attempt to kill him on 4 September 2007. But a jury at the Old Bailey found her guilty of both charges. She must serve a minimum of nine years.

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