Euthanasia law reforms a matter of personal choice

The subject of euthanasia is highly emotive, and hotly debated around the world. In New South Wales Greens MP, Cate Faehrmann, says the State’s legislation is out of step with what Australian’s want. She will submit her Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill 2010 to NSW Parliament next year.

At a recent forum I hosted at NSW Parliament, an unprecedented line up of high profile Australians threw their support behind voluntary euthanasia law reform and the rights of the terminally ill.

Speakers included the former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory Marshall Perron, former NSW Direction of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdrey, media personalities Richard Ackland, Mike Bowers and Jane Caro, as well as the head of the national alliance of Dying with Dignity organisations, Neil Francis.

This stellar line up is unsurprising, especially when you consider that public support for voluntary euthanasia legislation is at around 85 per cent. Why then, you ask, has there been no reform in this area? It is difficult to think of other illegal things with such high levels of approval.

Unfortunately, many of our politicians are seriously out of touch on this issue. Part of the answer lies in the misinformation that is spread by opponents of dying with dignity legislation, and the moralising of those who are unsure.

Horror stories about voluntary euthanasia legislation in other jurisdictions are revealed as either straight out fabrications, or gross exaggeration. And schemes in Oregon, the Netherlands, Belgium and elsewhere have proven extremely successful. In the end, most opposition boils down to differing personal beliefs about right and wrong, not objective evidence.

The Greens’ Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill would allow terminally ill patients, of sound mind and whose pain and suffering has become unbearable, to voluntarily request and receive assistance from a doctor to end their own lives.

The bill is all about personal choice. Huge advancements in palliative care have meant that at the end of life most can be comfortable. But unfortunately, around five per cent of terminally ill patients suffer excruciating pain that cannot be alleviated. Surely these people should be provided the choice to die with dignity and end their suffering if that is their wish.

It’s no secret that voluntary euthanasia is already in practice. With the help of sympathetic families and doctors, patients regularly hasten death in order to reduce suffering, putting those they care about and medical professionals at danger of prosecution. It is far better to regulate with stringent safeguards than to leave this practice open to abuse.

Ultimately, voluntary euthanasia is about empowering the terminally ill to make decisions about their end of life. These are personal decisions – personal choices at an intensely difficult and sacred time. That personal choice should not be impinged upon by those with differing religious and ethical beliefs.

Cate Faehrmann is one of five Greens MPs in the NSW Upper House, taking her seat in September 2010. Prior to this Cate was the Executive Director of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW. Cate was one of the founding directors of GetUp!, was on the board of the Environmental Defenders’ Office and sat on the NSW Government’s Natural Resources Advisory Council. One of her initiatives, Walk Against Warming, became Australia’s biggest community day of action on climate change.