From: Oliver Obst <obsto@uni-muenster.de>
Message-Id: <199610291316.OAA155448@asterix.uni-muenster.de>
Subject: OMNI Newsletter No. 7 (fwd)
To: medibib-l@MEDSUN08.uni-muenster.de
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 14:16:04 +0100 (MEZ)
Zur Info, O.Obst
----------------
The OMNI Newsletter is a monthly publication produced to keep you informed
about additions and developments at the OMNI WWW site and news about the
project.
OUP JOURNALS IN OMNI
Records for nearly 50 life science and medical journals will shortly be
added to the OMNI database automatically, thanks to the Oxford University
Press, who have provided us with descriptions of each title. This greatly
increases the speed with which we are able to add data to OMNI.
Look out for the OUP journals in OMNI at the beginning of November.
FOCUS ON......EUTHANASIA ON THE 'NET
[ FOCUS ON...... is a regular feature of the OMNI Newsletter. Each month, it
addresses a different topic and lists some of the best Internet resources
we know about. If _you_ know of other high quality resources we haven't
listed, let us know - if they satisfy our quality criteria we'll put them
into OMNI. ]
Whichever approach you take to the euthanasia debate, whether you are for
assisted suicide, the right to die, or believe in the sanctity of human
life, there is no shortage of material to back up your argument on the
Internet. The positive and negative aspects of the Internet are on display
- the unparalleled opportunity for debate, alongside the danger that
information presented is misleading, inaccurate, biased and unattributable.
You may, therefore, think that some of the resources here are unsuitable,
and in fact only a few are included in OMNI. We would be interested to hear
your opinions, and suggestions for additions to this list.
Public Policy
Statements from governments or government sponsored committees are
plentiful, and have the advantage of being measured, informed and starting
from a neutral position. Here are two examples:
When Death is Sought - Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in the Medical
Context (New York State Department of Health)
<URL:http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/provider/death.htm>
Report of the Canadian Special Senate Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted
Suicide
<URL:http://www.parl.gc.ca/english/senate/com-e/euth-e/rep-e/lad-tc-e.htm>
Lobbying Groups
The Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Scotland - the pro-euthanasia camp in
its strongest colours.
<URL:http://www.euthanasia.org/>
........and the International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force, dedicated to
arguing against.
<URL:http://www.iaetf.org/>
There are many religious organisations addressing the issue on the Web, too
numerous to list here.
Discussion
For informal discussion the newsgroup talk.euthanasia is the most obvious
place, but discussion also occurs on many *.politics and *.religion groups.
<URL:news:talk.euthanasia>
EFN hosts a mailing list right-to-die which discusses all aspects of
euthanasia (but is biased towards and is aimed at the non-professional).
<URL:http://www.efn.org/~ergo/subscribe.html>
Other sources
Information about euthanasia/assisted suicide can also be found at general
medical ethics sites, and these can offer a more balanced, academic view of
the issue. The Medical College of Wisconsin's Bioethics Online Service is a
good example, use their search engine to retrieve article abstracts, news
stories and court decisions
<URL:http://www.mcw.edu/bioethics/>
OMNI can be found at http://omni.ac.uk/