Thanks to Thought And Action blog for the following story:
“As many are now aware the lecture did not take place and this vile proponent of both voluntary and involuntary euthanasia, Professor Len Doyal saw first hand in Cork that he and others like Dr Deirdre Madden will not foist their euthanasia and eugenics agenda in Ireland. Through the Grace of God and by the Grace of God, Doyal was sent packing with his tail between his legs. His lecture was cancelled.
Some might argue let us debate the “issue”. Euthanasia like abortion is not a matter for debate and the Irish people will not tolerate this. Many thanks to the various groups like Youth Defence and Mother & Child Campaign, who came along and organised the protest. Thanks also to those groups and individuals inside who were able to confront him at the podium and get him out. In other countries people would of tolerated this type of speaker and have let the Masons grip their country. The Irish people are a great people.. This was one of the best things that happened in Ireland in a long time.
Many of the Irish newspapers carried the news item. See below.
Congratulations to all involved in Thursdays actions.”
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0409/euthanasia.html
Euthanasia lecture cancelled
A controversial public lecture on euthanasia has been cancelled minutes after it began when a group of over 20 protestors disrupted it.
The guest speaker Prof Len Doyal, an open proponent of both voluntary and non-voluntary euthanasia, had to be escorted from the lecture theatre at Cork University Hospital by security staff.
The lecture entitled ‘Why Euthanaia should be legalised’, formed part of the annual spring series organized by CUH’s Ethics Forum and started at 5pm.
As the 350 attendees were being welcomed, a group of over 20 people stood up and began shouting.
Witnesses say some began saying the rosary and one man accused Prof Doyal of being a murderer.
A decision was taken soon afterwards to cancel the lecture on public safety grounds but it took some time to get the message through to the audience because of the continuing strong vocal opposition by protestors.
Afterwards a spokeswoman for the HSE expressed disappointment that the annual lecture series which is held to stimulate debate was forced to be cancelled.
She stressed that the lecture series is not funded by the HSE but privately by the hospital’s Ethics Forum and that neither the HSE or CUH or the Ethics Forum are in favour of euthanasia.
Earlier, a group of about 20 people protested peacefully at the entrance to the hospital.
The lecture has been a source of controversy for a number of weeks.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/irelan…4244363098.html
A SPEECH by a proponent of euthanasia was called off at Cork University Hospital (CUH) yesterday after protesters voiced their opposition.
Prof Len Doyal, a supporter of euthanasia and emeritus professor of medical ethics at the London School of Medicine and Dentistry and St Bartholomew’s Hospital, was due to address an audience at CUH as part of a lecture series organised by the hospital’s ethics committee.
More than 100 protesters lined the entrance to the hospital and the auditorium as part of a peaceful demonstration against the content of the lecture.
Ethics committee chairman Prof Eamonn Quigley introduced Prof Doyal, but was interrupted by a protester who approached the podium and demanded the lecture be halted, branding the content “murderous”. The lecture was promptly cancelled and Prof Doyal was escorted from the auditorium by hospital security personnel.
Speaking to The Irish Times , last night, Prof Doyal described the experience as “disturbing and distressing”.
He said: “There was no intent on my part to give a lecture and leave, the whole point was that it should be a debate . . . with people free to disagree with me as part of a discussion . . .What is most disturbing is what this means for free speech, which is also upheld in your constitution.”
Health Service Executive (HSE) spokeswoman Christine Eckersley said the lecture was cancelled in the interests of public safety. However, protesters denied there was any threat to public safety.
“The HSE will make us out to be religious zealots but we are not. We are all individual protesters here,” said anti-euthanasia protester Margaret Hurley, from Bishopstown in Cork.
Outside the hospital entrance, protester Moira O’Regan, from Cork, said she was present as a voice for elderly people: “This lecture has nothing to do with providing care for people.”
A spokeswoman for the HSE said: “The hospital fully appreciates that this is a very sensitive topic for many groups and individuals and is aware of the potential for misunderstanding which the title of the lecture may convey, but would again categorically state that CUH does not support euthanasia.”
Rosary-chanting protesters force euthanasia talk to be abandoned
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/ro…ed-1705229.html
QUOTE
A CONTROVERSIAL euthanasia lecture was abandoned amid chaotic scenes last night while a senior British medical ethics expert had a private security escort for his own protection.
Prof Len Doyal was visibly shaken after his lecture on euthanasia couldn’t even commence after he was heckled and jeered by more than 20 angry pro-life protesters who had taken up position in the Cork University Hospital (CUH) lecture theatre.
Protesters, some from the right-wing Youth Defence group, shouted that euthanasia was State-sponsored murder — and dozens began loudly chanting the Rosary.
At one point, a protester shouted abuse directly into Prof Doyal’s face. All efforts to introduce Prof Doyal for his lecture were drowned out by shouts and jeers.
Gardai were called to the scene but, a despite a heavy presence of officers, they did not intervene. Emptying the lecture theatre was ultimately left to hospital security guards.
The lecture was eventually cancelled — with Prof Doyal escorted out by hospital security personnel for his own safety.
As he left, the respected British medical expert challenged the protesters over the right to free speech — with dozens of people who attended the theatre also complaining about their activities.
One eye-witness described the scene as “absolutely unbelievable” and “very highly charged”.
The lecture sparked national controversy when the Bishop of Cork & Ross, Dr John Buckley, slated euthanasia or the voluntary ending of life as wrong, saying: “The Lord alone is the giver of life and He alone has the right to decide when that life should end.”
Ireland South MEP Kathy Sinnott (Independent) expressed outrage that the Health Service Executive (HSE) should have facilitated the CUH lecture.
Demonstrations outside CUH were mounted last night by Youth Defence and the Mother & Child Campaign. The controversy over the CUH lecture even reached the Seanad, with Senator David Norris accusing Senator Jim Walsh of “scaremongering”.
Senator Walsh had said the CUH debate was both scandalous and deplorable.
“I am sure it (the euthanasia debate) will scare every patient in nursing homes throughout the country. It is scandalous and deplorable,” he warned.
Sen Norris said such comments were “a disgrace” and “a shame on the senator.”
Yesterday, such was the volume of queries over the lecture that the HSE had a recorded message on its telephone system — stressing that neither the speaker nor the theme reflected the views or policies of the HSE, the hospital or its ethics forum.
CUH Ethics Forum Chairman, Dr Fergus Walsh, said: “We only wish to promote an active discussion about this controversial subject.”
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/idsnauauey/
QUOTE
ORGANISERS of a controversial HSE euthanasia lecture were forced to leave surrounded by security just seconds into the high-profile debate, after a barrage of verbal threats from protesters accusing them of taking “30 pieces of silver” to endorse “murder”.
The ‘Why euthanasia should be legalised’ public lecture by Prof Len Doyal, an international advocate of the issue and emeritus professor of medical ethics at the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, was due to begin at 5pm yesterday in the main auditorium of Cork University Hospital (CUH).
But just 20 seconds into the opening address by the hospital’s ethics forum chair Prof Eamon Quigley, the lecture — which was not based on any future policy changes — descended into a farce.
To calls of “murder is murder”, “this is how Hitler started”, Hail Mary prayers, and calls that “only God has the right to take a life”, up to 50 protesters repeatedly verbally threatened Prof Quigley and other organisers, forcing the chair of the lecture to call for security seconds into his address.
Three security staff subsequently entered the room in an attempt to quell the abuse. Despite their presence the insults continued for more than 20 minutes, at one stage leading to a personal verbal attack on stem cell advocate Prof Deirdre Madden who was forced to leave her seat in the crowd.
Moments before gardaí arrived, one protester took over the podium to accuse CUH of selling out the “sick and old” people of Ireland.
“I have 30 pieces of silver to give to the ethics committee on behalf of these people. That’s very significant because Judas took 30 pieces of silver. They are selling out the sick and the old, and what I would say is that this ethics committee has no ethics at all. Who would hold a meeting on Holy Thursday in Catholic Ireland to murder people?” he said.
‘Excuse me… You’re talking about the killing of patients. Get out’
http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/ididsnidsn/
QUOTE
YOU walk into a room and search for somewhere to sit. It’s crowded but luckily a single chair is still free, next to what appears to be a respectable grandmother.
She seems to fit perfectly into a Werther’s Original sweets advert family and smiles as you sit down, before slowly reaching to move her dainty handbag out of the way.
And then it begins.
“MURDERER”, she yells at the startled speaker.
“This is how Hitler started, what gives you the right? MURDERER.”
The speaker’s gone white with fear; you’ve gone red with embarrassment and prepare to make your escape to somewhere — anywhere — else in the room.
But its too late, the insults have spread like wildfire.
Grannies who outside shared a nice cup of tea are bashing bibles to the tune of Hail Mary hymns.
Grandads are approaching the podium armed with their version of the Constitution and waving 30 pieces of silver at people they insist have sold out patients by endorsing the killing of the old and the ill.
And young people in their 20s and 30s are shooting down free speech with the accuracy of a sniper. It all seems so unusual on the grounds of a hospital until you’re told the subject matter at the heart of the verbal bloodbath: euthanasia.
Yesterday at Cork University Hospital a controversial discussion on the issue, organised by the HSE as part of the facility’s seventh annual ethics forum spring lecture, descended into an equally controversial shouting match, with dozens of protesters preventing the debate from taking place.
The HSE notices said the lecture would be “interactive”, did not mean a change in policy, and had the sole purpose of creating lively debate on the subject. On those grounds the 20 second discussion was an unqualified success.
Seconds into the opening address by ethics forum chair Prof Eamon Quigley — who was preparing to introduce guest lecture Prof Len Doyal, a supporter of euthanasia and emeritus professor of medical ethics at the London School of Medicine and Dentistry — he was stopped in his tracks. “Excuse me,” a protester interrupted while leaving his seat to confront his adversary at the podium.
“Leave. You know nothing about my constitution. Murder is murder. Murder is murder. You’re talking about the killing of patients. Get out,” he roared.
As security arrived on the scene to the backing song of hymns from protesters, the concerning scenes grew worse, with organisers of the debate and Prof Doyal leaving surrounded by security staff in order to protect their safety.
Perhaps surprised at their sudden success the protesters, grew more confident and turned their attention to other members of the medical elite who had also attended the now-cancelled lecture.
One protester, a middle-aged man, took over the microphone and, clutching 30 pieces of silver, asked any member of CUH to come up and collect their bribe. “Judas took 30 pieces of silver. They are selling out the sick and the old, and what I would say is that this ethics committee has no ethics at all. Who would hold a meeting on Holy Thursday in Catholic Ireland to murder people,” he said.
Those protesting have since been at pains to stress that their actions were “peaceful”.
They were in the sense that nobody was physically assaulted. But ask Prof Deirdre Madden, stem cell advocate and member of the Medical Council of Ireland, and she may disagree, being left with no option but to leave after being subjected to calls of “Madden has no right to take away a life” by people she felt may have had no right to threaten a woman’s safety.
The euthanasia debate had caused controversy ever since it became public knowledge earlier this year, with those opposed to it insisting publicising information about the topic had nobody’s interest at heart.
Ironically, after yesterday’s farce, a discussion on euthanasia in Ireland may be the only issue to have died.
The HSE said the discussion has been cancelled with no rescheduled date in place.
Dear St Joan Of Arc Pray For Us.
This is the last portrait of the Madonna and Child acomplished by Bellini. This subject was his particular favourite as can be seen in the tenderness apparent from the painting.
