The organization, Dignitas continues to assert the right of people to make their own decisions about when they should die. Legal cases in Germany and in England are confronting the long held prejudice against human beings taking control of the timing of their deaths.
The Victorian Government has established a Ministerial Advisory Panel to continue the consultation process in preparation for introducing assisting legislation later this year. The panel is engaging key stakeholders with relevant expertise through forums and in-depth interviews to inform our advice to government on the development and implementation of voluntary…
Frances Coombes, President of SAVES (South Australian Voluntary Euthanasia Society), spoke to the DWDACT November 2016 General Meeting about the process of making changes to legislation to allow people to access assistance to die. She presented a brief history of the drive for law reform in SA, and on giving advice on effective means of promoting such reform – persistence, engaging with the public, respectful dialogue and involvement in the political process.
Several of the world’s foremost researchers in medical end-of-life matters have released a detailed and comprehensive review of the practice of assisted dying in lawful jurisdictions around the world. Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, it does not support slippery slope hypotheses.
Watching pancreatic cancer kill her dad last year, Tara Cheyne saw the cleverest man she knew go from a bright spark to a dull husk.
He was the kind of dad took her to the library twice a week and learnt how to tie her hair in a ponytail when her mum moved up the corporate ladder.
It is now ten years since I joined what was then called the ACT branch of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of NSW. I joined at a crisis point for the organization because there was a strong possibility that it would fold. It was revived with a new committee. I am the only person still on the committee from that time. We have had a continuous turnover of people primarily due to health problems. One implication of this is that it is very easy for governments to ignore us because we are old, we are sick, we have sick relatives we look after and we don’t have consistent energy to argue our case
The Victorian Government has accepted a cross-party committee’s recommendation to legalise assisted dying and looks set to hold a conscience vote on the issue next year.
Dear Bob Carr
I write following comments reportedly by you, claiming that legalising voluntary euthanasia could make it harder for doctors to help suffering patients to die. Also that, quote “Can we guard against the prospect of the approving physician of being so nervous of litigation they might be more reluctant, not less reluctant.”
Religion always has a way of taking the least loving side when it comes to controversial issues.
Love between two people? If they’re gay, pastors will throw a hissy fit. Women seeking an abortion after being raped? Some Christians will argue they shouldn’t be allowed to have that option.
The committee has been preparing for the election on 15 October and for the next General meeting.
Recently two significant events have occurred in the push to reform the law about how we die. Canada has finally passed a law that implements to a restricted degree the nine person judgement by the Canadian Supreme Court that dying Canadians human rights were infringed by the Crimes Act law that makes the act of assisting people to die a crime. At the World Federation Right to Die Conference in Amsterdam many of the Canadians who attended the conference were unhappy with the restrictions proposed by the law and wished that Canada had just followed the legal judgement by developing regulations for doctors. Nevertheless however limited it is dying Canadians are able to access the law to get assistance to die.
In an era of growing medical sophistication combined with longer life expectancies, many people are concerned that they should not be forced to linger on in old age or in states of advanced physical or mental de-crepitude which conflict with strongly held ideas of self and personal identity
