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Assisted suicide ‘a stepping stone’

June 16, 2017 by SPCS Leave a Comment

OPINION PIECE by Renee Joubert

I know first-hand how painful it is to watch a loved one deteriorate and die.

However, I feel frustrated by the emphasis the current assisted suicide debate puts on the terminally ill.

Rhetoric about how the terminally ill need assisted dying is only a way to manipulate our emotions and soften up society for the real agenda: legal assisted suicide for everyone. The pro-euthanasia lobby wants suicide to be regarded as normal, acceptable and rational. Their only objection is that “suicide is violent” – not that it’s to be prevented and discouraged in principle. In fact, it should be facilitated for anyone who “wants to die”.

Recently euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke appealed his medical deregistration in response to his involvement in the suicide of a 45-year old depressed but healthy man. Nitschke’s lawyer said in his opening address the case was about “the dangerous idea [of] whether a person who is contemplating rational suicide ought to be required by a medical doctor not to do so”..

He implied that if a person had a good reason to want to die, a doctor should not intervene.

Since suffering is subjective and universal, any suicidal person would have a rationale for wanting to die. Terminal illness is only one of many possibilities.

The slogans with “choose to die”, “die on one’s own terms” and “right to control the timing and manner of one’s death” apply to suicide and by definition, rights apply to everyone.

Last June I asked Maryan Street at a public forum: “If this right applies to everyone, why are there conditions in your bill?”

She replied that suicide was legal, but assisted suicide was illegal, so to change the law there had to be conditions.

The End-of-Life Choice Bill proposes legal assisted suicide for anyone over 18 who has an irreversible physical or mental medical condition and understands that a request will result in death. This would include disability, chronic illness, mental illness, depression and ageing-related conditions. Effectively, any adult could be eligible.

The essence of the assisted dying debate is whether anyone who wants to die should be allowed to kill themselves. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Human Dignity, Other Tagged With: assisted suicide, End-of-Life Choice Bill, euthanasia, Philip Nitschke

Legalising euthanasia would be devastating – Dom. Post Letter to Editor

November 13, 2014 by SPCS Leave a Comment

OPINION (Letter to Editor)

It is extremely naive to imagine that the legislation of euthanasia would affect only the very few, high-profile cases which so readily gain the public’s attention and sympathy (Ensuring the right to die, November 8).

Any such move would have profound and long-lasting effects.

Firstly, it would turn on its head the role of doctors and nurses. Poisons in deliberately lethal doses would be stored in hospital dispensaries. Practitioners who refuse to take part would be on the outer, accused of flouting the law and the rights of their patients.

Secondly, the true victims of such a change would be the elderly and disabled. Faced with the cost of their treatment, many vulnerable patients would bow to pressure from family members who would welcome the opportunity of being freed from the practical and financial burden of caring for them.

Anyone sceptical of this happening should check out the current rate of elder abuse in the country.

Thirdly, legalising the right to assisted dying would severely impact the already difficult work of suicide prevention.

Among the many downhill benchmarks of the notorious “slippery slope” initiated by such legislation, this is likely to be the first and the most devastating.

Dominion Post Letters to the Editor, Thursday, September 13, 2014.

Letter by D Penk, Auckland

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Filed Under: Other Tagged With: euthanasia, right to assisted dying

Euthanasia has a proven ‘slippery slope’ – Opinion by Sue Read

February 19, 2014 by SPCS Leave a Comment

On the 13th February 2014 the Belgian government voted 86-44 to give a law to ‘empower’ children with terminal illnesses and who are in ‘great pain’ to request to end their life with their parent’s agreement along with a psychologist and psychiatrist signing any deal. Despite the Belgian lawmaker’s remarkable decision, Belgian paediatricians rightly opposed the law change.

Belgium passed their first euthanasia law for adults in 2002 – the ‘slippery slope’ proven. New Zealand must keep this in mind for the general election this year and gauge how every potential MP intends to vote on the issue of euthanasia. If an adult law can be passed then surely an amendment can follow to allow the same rights for a child. This should alarm and appal us.

Note: Posted on SPCS blog to promote discussion.

For full article by social commentator Sue Reid, published in the Dominion Post 18/02/14, see:

http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/2014/02/euthanasia-has-a-proven-slippery-slope-sue-reid/

Note: Sue Reid, a writer for the registered charity Family First New Zealand, lost her son when he was seven days old. Her experience helped convince her New Zealand should not follow Belgium in allowing euthanasia for children. 

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Filed Under: Other Tagged With: euthanasia

Prime Minister John Key’s claims that euthanasia already happens in hospitals sparks anger from doctors

August 24, 2012 by SPCS Leave a Comment

We Never practice euthanasia says palliative care official.

Angry doctors are appalled at Prime Minister John Key’s claims that euthanasia already happens in hospitals.

“We never practise euthanasia; euthanasia is the deliberate ending of life, and is illegal and unethical,” Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine chairwoman Sinead Donnelly said.

Mr Key’s comments could seriously damage the trust people had in hospital care of the seriously ill, the Wellington doctor said.

Mr Key signalled his broad support for euthanasia – medical assistance to die – during a stint on Newstalk ZB this week.

“If I had terminal cancer, I had a few weeks to live, I was in tremendous amount of pain – if they just effectively wanted to turn off the switch and legalise that by legalising euthanasia, I’d want that.”

Hospice New Zealand clinical adviser Sandy Macleod said “euthanasia does not occur in our hospitals, full stop”.

Dr Macleod, a palliative care specialist at Christchurch Hospital, said Mr Key’s comments were misguided and incorrect.

“As sickness progresses towards death, the focus of care is on minimising suffering. To minimise suffering, it is not necessary to kill the sufferer.

“Often morphine is blamed for people dying, or sedation is blamed for people dying, but the reality is they die of their disease and neither of those medical treatments hastens their death.”

Capital & Coast District Health Board head of palliative care Jonathan Adler said there was a lack of understanding about end-of-life choices.

Switching off a life support machine and allowing someone to die of natural causes was not euthanasia, Dr Adler said.

“There’s real confusion about what we can and can’t do in New Zealand.

“You can have a lot more control at end of life than people believe at the moment.”

People could refuse medical treatments, such as being resuscitated or given antibiotics.

“They’re not taking something to make their life shorter, they’re just saying, ‘For whatever reason, for me, and how I see life at the moment, I want to be comfortable, I don’t want to have my life prolonged, enough’s enough, just keep me comfortable’.”

An advanced directive states what medical treatment a person wants in a particular situation, and an advanced-care plan details what they want at the end of life, such as dying at home. Both are created in conjunction with family and medical professionals.

Dr Adler called for better discussion about death and dying between doctors and patients, rather than a giant leap to legalising euthanasia.

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When Mr Key was asked last night about his earlier comments, he said: “I don’t think anyone is breaking the law, but in a practical sense I think that [euthanasia] already happens here in New Zealand today.

“Switches get turned off from time to time, don’t they?”

Asked if his comments made hospitals seem untrustworthy, he said: “No, I don’t think so. Their comments in the paper align exactly with what I meant.”

Source: Story by Bronwyn Torrie (HEALTH) – The Dominion Post, Friday, August 24, 2012, p. A5.

Fairfax NZ News

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7538178/PMs-euthanasia-claim-sparks-anger

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Filed Under: Pro-life Tagged With: euthanasia, palliative care official

LEGALISED EUTHANASIA: DO WE NEED IT? – Conference 30 June

June 7, 2012 by SPCS Leave a Comment

ANNOUNCEMENT: YOU ARE WARMLY INVITED TO ATTEND A ONE-DAY CONFERENCE

TOPIC: LEGALISED EUTHANASIA: DO WE NEED IT?

A one-day conference for health professionals, educators, carers and the general public

Date and Time : Saturday 30 June 2012 9 am to 1 pm

Venue: Barrycourt Conference Centre, 10 Gladstone Rd, Parnell, Auckland

Led by Alex Schadenberg. Executive Director and International Chair

Contributors: Dr Huhana Hickey, Russell Vickery, John Kleinsman

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition: For registration details and more information go to:  http://euthanasiadebate.org.nz/

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Filed Under: Announcement Tagged With: euthanasia

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