Overwhelming support for voluntary euthanasia

Support for voluntary euthanasia in New South Wales (NSW) is running at 83%, with only 10% of people implacably opposed, according to a Newspoll commissioned by advocates Dying with Dignity NSW.

The result, reported by Julie Robotham in The Sydney Morning Herald, puts the state on par with the rest of Australia in acceptance of doctor-assisted dying for people suffering intractably with no chance of recovery, shows the level of support unchanged since the last survey two years ago.

Greens MP, Cate Faehrmann, will introduce a private member’s bill seeking to legalise euthanasia during the next Parliament. She said its availability as a last resort could be a comfort even to people who ultimately did not seek it.

“Many people have spoken of the peace of mind of having it there,” said Ms Faehrmann, referring to jurisdictions where the practice is legal.

The NSW Health Minister, Carmel Tebbutt, told the Herald’s election health forum on Wednesday, she supported legal euthanasia. Her Coalition counterpart, Jillian Skinner, said she opposed it.

The president of Palliative Care NSW, Peter Cleasby, said voluntary euthanasia did not answer most dying people’s needs.

“The heavy lifting in end of life care will always have to be done by palliative care services,” he said.

Legislation based on degree of illness could alienate people who believed they had a legitimate claim to euthanasia, Mr Cleasby said.

“We have said to the NSW Greens that anywhere they draw the line there will be people on the other side of it who will say, ‘What about me?'”

Euthanasia clinics ‘likely’
Plans for Australia’s first euthanasia clinic are likely to go ahead, Exit International director, Dr Philip Nitschke, has said.

“There is a need for a service to provide end of life expertise for those considering using the new legislation. This is a specialist area where few doctors have expertise,” Dr Nitschke said in a statement reported by the AAP News service.

The proposal for the clinic, which will be built in either Hobart or Adelaide, has been developed in anticipation of voluntary euthanasia legislation expected to pass through the state parliaments later this year, he said.

“The support for the modified McKim Bill by the (Tasmanian) Premier Lara Giddings, for example, is very likely to lead to Australia’s first state-based euthanasia legislation.”

The clinics will begin operating as soon as venues can be found, Dr Nitschke said.

“It is unlikely that those seeking an assisted suicide following the Australian legislation will end this lives in the clinic.

“Rather they will receive the information and necessary drugs but end their lives in their own homes.”