Church bid to kill off right to die laws
The head of the Catholic Church in Tasmania has called on parishioners to help lobby against the Dying With Dignity Bill.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Tasmania has reported that Archbishop Adrian Doyle says the Bill will put Catholic hospitals and nursing homes at odds with their ethic codes.
He will make a submission to the parliamentary inquiry examining the bill and he wants other Catholics to do the same.
Archbishop Doyle says any direct intervention to terminate a human life is morally unacceptable and politicians need to realise the importance of the decision they are to make.
“It’s an enormous responsibility for people in parliament to be making laws that will affect the life and life-span and life ending of other people, it’s an enormous responsibility,” he said.
The Church believes the Bill will place Catholic health and aged care institutions at odds with their code of ethical standards, which prohibits euthanasia.
Archbishop Doyle says people who work in hospitals and aged care homes could also be placed in difficult positions.
“As a consequence of what they do, other people might be forced to act in a way that they don’t really feel comfortable with, people involved in the medical profession, so they would be placing obligations on them as well,” he said.
