HOW do you define euthanasia?
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I’d always imagined euthanasia should be an option for those whose illness has been so gruelling and long that they are out of medical options and in such great pain that being “allowed” the option of assisted suicide was appropriate. But am I right?
Or should euthanasia be open to anyone who considers their quality of life is so low that they should be allowed to end it, legally and painlessly?
Who decides the value of life and, more specifically, who decides when a life is of so little value that it can legally be ended?
The issue is complex, fraught with legal minefields and likely to cause heartache for a great many people.
Yet, as a community, we need to start thinking about how we define euthanasia and whether it should be an option open to our citizens.
As this newspaper reported this week, a state government cross-party working group is reportedly finalising draft legislation to allow terminally ill adults to legally end their own lives, and this proposed bill could be released for public consultation as early as next month.
The Daily Advertiser has reported that details of the bill are being kept under wraps, but Fairfax Media has confirmed it will not apply to those under 18 years old and only to the terminally ill.
Two doctors would have to agree and the person would need to be of sound mind and capable of giving consent.
The NSW premier and the leader of the Opposition are on record saying that they will be voting against such a bill.
In the past, there have been more than 30 Voluntary Assisted Dying bills tabled in various states, and all have been voted down. Why?
Wagga woman Lisa Vidler, whose mother has motor neurone disease argues that people should have the right to die if they are suffering from painful, terminal conditions.
“I’ve always supported voluntary euthanasia, even before Mum got sick,” Ms Vidler said told The DA.
“If it was me I know I’d want the choice. Watching what she’s going through, seeing what it’s like, I wonder if I could go through it.”
Ms Vidler told The DA three years after being diagnosed with MND, her 65-year-old mother is confined to a nursing home, unable to speak or take care of herself.
The only way she can communicate with the world is with a computer that translates her eye movements into text.
“For me, (the worst part) is the loss of dignity,” Ms Vidler said.
“She has to rely on people to do everything for her, she can’t scratch her nose, no real means of communicating if she's in pain.
“Politicians need to listen to people, as long as they make it watertight in court and it’s left up to the individual.”
If, as Ms Vidler says, euthanasia is a decision which should be left up to the individual, then the time has come for the community to make some hard decisions.
We need to decide how we feel about current definition of life, death and the right to die. How far do we go and who is going to decide what constitutes “terminally ill”.
It’s a tough, often plain unpalatable subject, but the reality is that we cannot ignore the subject and we are going to have to turn some emotional highly personal beliefs into a list of sub-headings for a draft bill.
The wish to die with dignity is a reality for real people, right now.