Click here to read the article. “The End of Life Choice Referendum requires us to vote for or against the 2019 Act coming into force…Many statements, comments and perspectives have been presented and it can be confusing for us to weigh them and come to a yes/no conclusion. ” The main benefit of assisted dying has been described as “complement[ing] the limitations of palliative care when suffering can no longer …Read More
Tag Archives: euthanasia and assisted suicide
STUFF: Euthanasia referendum: ‘The proposed law isn’t watertight’
Opinion Piece by Grant Illingworth QC The New Zealand public will shortly be asked to decide whether to give health workers the authority to assist terminally ill people to die. Many people, including now Sir Michael Cullen, think it’s a good idea to give people who are terminally ill a choice about how to end their lives. As New Zealanders, we like the idea of having a choice. We also …Read More
Dr Sinead Donnelly: Palliative medicine uses morphine with care
Originally published in The New Zealand Herald, 15 December 2017 By Dr Sinead Donnelly In support of his bill that seeks to change the law in New Zealand, David Seymour claims, “It is ok if a doctor intentionally ends your life by giving you too much morphine and claiming that’s a double effect. All that is ok. All that happens without any regulatory safeguards whatsoever.” I am a palliative medicine …Read More
VIEWPOINT: Why the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners needs to have a Position Statement on Euthanasia.
VIEWPOINT: General Practitioners as Professionals: Why the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners needs to have a Position Statement on Euthanasia. Dr Kevin Fitzsimons FRNZCGP General Practitioners are a large and integral part of the Medical Profession. It is likely that on ethical and other contentious issues, General Practitioners will hold a range of opinions as diverse as any other body of educated men and women throughout society. In a …Read More
Dear Canada, Respect for Conscience is Fundamental to Health Care
Rachael Wong is a lawyer from Auckland who is currently working as a legal consultant with the Law Reform Commission in Samoa. She has recently completed a Master of Bioethics and Health Law for which she wrote her dissertation on freedom of conscience in health care. She maintains that a health professional’s exercise of conscience is inseparable from their delivery of health care. Writing for First Things, Wesley J. Smith …Read More
A Good Death is a Gift
Dr Samantha Murton, an NZHPA member and General Practitioner from Wellington, reflects on a recent death in her family. I was busily involved in our own personal experience of a gracious death with my Mother-in-Law. If I could say something now to the Health Select Committee on its Investigation into the Ending of One’s Life, it would be this. Knowing all that I know as a health professional, it was …Read More
You Don’t Discourage Suicide by Assisting Suicide
Caroline Downey is a Kiwi currently based in London. In her submission to the Health Select Committee on the investigation into ending one’s life in New Zealand, she writes “we have to start talking about the problem of suicide in New Zealand – not the need for assisted suicide.” I oppose any legalisation of euthanasia or assisted suicide in New Zealand. On the 19th of October 2015, The Guardian published …Read More
Palliative Care is Everyone’s Business
Dr Lucia Mitchell is a General Practitioner and Palliative Care Doctor who works in Richmond, Nelson, New Zealand. She shares with us her submission to the Health Select Committee on the investigation into ending one’s life in New Zealand. I oppose any legalisation of euthanasia or assisted suicide in New Zealand. Death has in many ways been distanced from our daily lives and has become foreign, unfamiliar and feared. Health …Read More
Doctors Say No to Assisted Suicide
The NZHPA strongly encourages all New Zealand doctors to sign the Open Letter published by the Care Alliance opposing medical involvement in euthanasia and assisted suicide. The Care Alliance’s press release and Open Letter are re-published below: Wednesday, 9 December 2015, 3:47 pm Press Release: Care Alliance Doctors say no to assisted suicide New Zealand doctors are being invited to add their name to an Open Letter rejecting medical involvement …Read More
Some Inspiration for Your Submission
Want to make a submission to the Health Select Committee on the investigation into ending one’s life in New Zealand, but not sure where to start? Carolyn Moynihan, a journalist who supports the work of NZHPA, has written this excellent submission: 8 November 2015 Submission on: The investigation into ending one’s life in NZ To: The Health Select Committee From: Carolyn Moynihan I wish to make the following general comments: …Read More