Assisted Suicide

Christians do support legal assisted dying.

This may come as a surprise to most readers, but it is true.  What’s more, 74 per cent of people who claim to have a religion strongly support the right of doctors to provide a lethal dose, according to a 2007 Newspoll. Newspoll - a reputable public opinion polling company, as distinct from newspaper polls that can give skewed results. Exclude religion and we find a massive 91 per cent are in favour of medically assisted dying.

Included in this support are four out of five Anglicans and three out of four Catholics.

Continue reading "The Christian lobby versus Christian compassion" »

With the battle over legalised euthanasia touch and go in South Australia and Tasmania, the president of the Australian Nursing Federation, Coral Levett, has taken the extraordinary step of personally endorsing it.

Not that she has done much thinking for herself. Writing in last month’s Australian Nursing Journal, Ms Levett recycled a Powerpoint presentation given last year by the vice-president of NSW Dying With Dignity, Sara Edelman. Most of the paragraphs in her editorial reproduced the slides almost word for word. (To be fair, she does acknowledge Edelman’s “assistance”.)

In one of the few original bits, Ms Levett says, “I urge all nurses and midwives to actively participate in the VE [voluntary euthanasia] debate”. But after reading her screed, there is only possible side nurses could take: Unconditional support.

Continue reading "Nurses not neutral on lethal needle" »

Exit International director, euthanasia advocate Dr Philip Nitschke has begun scouting locations for Australia’s first ‘euthanasia clinic’. His Adelaide visit comes as the South Australian Parliament prepared to debate new laws decriminalising assisted suicie. The Punch asked Dr Nitschke about his euthanasia clinic plans.

Q) What would a euthanasia clinic offer?

A) A euthanasia clinic offers the provision of coordinated services for those wishing a peaceful death. Not only providing the necessary lethal barbiturates, but also required counseling for the patient and their family, and the chance to ensure that palliative options have been properly explored and any underlying psychiatric issues uncovered.

Continue reading "Q&A: Plans for Australia’s first euthanasia clinic" »

Jim Carrey. Ricky Gervais. Adam Sandler. Steve Martin. All well-known funny men. Well, move over, guys. Philip Nitschke, the world’s best-known euthanasia activist, is considering a career change.

Life must have been pretty dreary for Nitschke lately. He has spent the last fortnight or so touring the British Isles in the dead of winter, touting his message of suicide on demand. It must be a bit demoralising to give a passionate lecture to a sea – a pond actually – of blue rinsed and bald heads in chilly local halls week after week.

But things are looking up. Dr Nitschke is contemplating a career as a stand-up comedian. No, this is not, repeat, not a joke. He told the newspaper Wales on Sunday, “There is a proposal to do some sort of stage stand-up comedy. It will be comedy associated with the issues of death and dying directed more at entertainment, that’s what we are looking at.”

Continue reading "Dr Death makes suicide a laughing matter" »

While the National Conference of the Labor Party has been protecting the sanctity of other people’s marriages (a topic for another day, perhaps), the House of Lords in the UK has been grappling with the complexities of helping one’s loved one board the plane to Switzerland. The case is called R (on the application of Purdy) v Director of Public Prosecutions.

Under the Suicide Act 1961, suicide is not illegal in England. However, the piece of legislation makes it a criminal offence to assist another to take their own life.

But assisted suicide is not an offence in Switzerland.

Continue reading "How will Australia deal with assisted suicide?" »