Superb Post - How do we get the law changed ? The problems seem to be not only the religious but the very legitimate problem of those who suffer from depression who will make use of any changes when they should really be prevented from using any improved laws.

Perhaps a legal insistance that months should pass between application for euthanazia and the event is sufficient especially if psychological counselling is compulsory. The religious must be firmly told that everyone has individual rights and they must not infringe on the rights of others, in the guise of doing good.

Any suggestions on how to change the law and how to rewrite it

Yes its a very sorry state of affairs when we treat our dogs better than we treat our parents all because we are frightened that people will be forcibly put down like they were in Nazi Germany.

We must trust our doctors to be responsible ethical people and usually that trust is well placed.

They offer Advertisements on T.V with graphic images of road smashes, smoking cigarettes, and AIDS and so on, (funny how there is a touch of irony to all this) this is a little out of my field, but the same shocking images of someone in a pathetic state of no return should grab the attention of the public in a very personal way.

As for law, the last will and testament should be a document written decades before the choice of youth in Asia and then left up to practitioners with the support of state and federal governments with no liability attached to any of the above bodies. You could even have it put onto a driver's licence as organ donations are presented.

Again this is out of my field, so hope these guidelines may be of some assistance.

EVO

I like the heading to this thread. When I was a teenager I was invited to a church lecture on euthanasia. I was expecting this lecture to be accompanied by a slide show or video showing the achievements of young people in Asia.

Unfortunately the issue of VOLUNTARY Euthanasia is generally ignored by the public at large and the issue is never ever considered by most until they, or someone close to them is facing an inevitable demise due to whatever cause!

We have so many do gooders, vote grabbers and religious freaks who choose to exercise their own selfish opinions by denying the need for this humanitarian "outer", instead pushing the cause of Palliative Care and similar cost intensive methods of prolonging the inevitable outcome which is quite often accompanied by unrelenting pain and suffering!

Everybody should get a taste of what could be waiting for them toward the terminal part of their lifetime and then we might see a realistic
cosideration of this delicate and emotive subject!

We are abusers of the word "humanity",....we say one thing but mean another!.....we hide away rather than face making a decision that could ease the final voyage away from what is rapidly becoming a very nasty world to live in!

For those who maintain that VE coud be used to reduce the population or exterminate a person for financial gain etc, the use of various legal constraints and conditions could make this a more viable option to what we have now!...after all if "they" want to get rid of us "they" have many methods at their disposal to implement this option right now!

I just realized how I spelt euthanasia! Sorry about that.

EVO

I agree that this is a great article that succinctly captures the cruel reality that our society ultimately is more humane in some ways to animals than it is to people. Given that it's an issue that apparently won't go, I live in hope that reason and mercy will prevail over superstition before it's my time to shuffle off the mortal coil.

Steel Mann - I distinctly remember an almost identical experience at a high school scripture class when I was a kid: the good reverend came in and announced that the day's lesson was about euthanasia, which I interpreted as 'youth in asia'. Unfortunately, the false promise that I briefly held was quickly dispelled when he launched into his usual tirade about the sanctity of life and God's mysterious ways.

I am living the nightmare right now.

My mother's life has become untenable and still she lives...

Fractelle, I am so sorry!

You need to list all of her friends and relatives who are still in contact with her, try to assess their views on this topic and their will/ability to stir up trouble. Check that your mother isn't in a faith based hospital/hostel/nursing home. Shop around for a doctor with beliefs similar to your own.

Make sure there are clear enforceable no revive, no force feed instructions and pray for pneumonia.

billie:
You have hit the nail on the head with the solution for "Fractelles" mother!.... "Hope for Pneumonia!" That says it all and examplifies the deep dark frustration that faces all us humanitarians in our efforts to seek solace for our loved ones who are faced with the "final countdown", ( If only the idiots out there, who oppose this issue, would realise that we all have to travel this road eventually, and for some that final road can be strewn with very, very painful, long drawn-out obstacles that stave off the final breath that brings the demise and freedom from pain and suffering!)

I appreciate your reasoning "billie" but I would NOT wish Pneumonia on anyone as a "final release".....I have been down that road and I could not condone that amount of pain and suffering,if there was ANY alternative, to bring about a clean peaceful severance!

I would suggest that anyone who has seen the movie "Soylent Green" would appreciate the way in which Edward G Robinson decided to avail himself of the "Termination Process" that was available to him,.....a drink of an gentle "Green Dream" solution, accompanied by beautiful music and scenery, activated until the heartbeat ceased, and then.......well that is another issue again,..Sci-Fi at it`s best!

Billie! "That was cold mate"! very cold. I hope people like you are not in charge when I go!. That would have to be the worst comment I have ever heard.
How about the fact, that all families gather for one final get- together, conscious or not, and have the send-off, like they requested. "with honer and dignity".
(Everyone leaves with the lasting memory of you alive and warm.)
(Everyone walks away feeling good/sad ,and all parties are happy.)
( This how I would want to be remembered especially for my children's emotional and long term well being)
If your conscious, all the last words can be said, and closure is completed. You know! The words you cant say once you have died through the night alone.

What is wrong with that?

I can't think of one distasteful thought about that whole picture.

P/S I'm the one throwing the party!So what are you complaining about!

EVO

Fractelle, I'm so sorry that your mother is in such a position. You have written eloquently before about her plight and your and your sister's grief.

John, great article. It is so very sad that few are willing to honestly look at how the law is actually applied in the Netherlands and what happens now that there are clear guidelines. Australians could only wish that there was such clarity here.

Here death and dying is shrouded in secrecy and semantics and very much up to the individual doctor, who may or may not have your personal moral compass as a guide determining how much suffering is to be tolerated by you.

Fractelle, many doctors are quite comfortable with the notion of 'alleviating pain' with as a 'side-effect' the 'possibiity' of 'shortening life'. I've seen 'pain relief' administered when the patient was not in any great pain, but had other issues (breathing difficulties) and death came within the day.

I wish your family great strength. Some of our city centres have wonderful palliative care units, though, like here on the Gold Coast, are too often seen as expendable and easy to close down to make way for more politically expendient beds.

Palliative Care and access to voluntary euthanasia are areas that require much attention and open debate as our population ages over a much longer period than ever before.

I have a problem in people expecting others to do the killing in euthanasia.
I am also not satisfied that there can be sufficient safeguards to stop misuse of a system of legal killing.
I believe that the decision to intentionally take your own life in the event of terminal and painful illness can be an issue that is between a person and their god.
But besides the moral issue of taking anothers life, there is still the possibility for pressure by family members or benificiaries to encourage the shorter alternative.
Another issue is that life itself is terminal, so does mental pain get included, and if so at what age would the cut off be? An 18 year old in extreme mental pain. or an 80 year old that just wants out (but demands that someone else should do it for them).
I think the issue is sensitive but I do remember a well know Victorian pollie that said that euthanasia would help solve the nursing home demand.

The author and the respondents are confusing the issue with emotion. Everyone at the moment has the right to life . You do not need euthanasia - You can take your own life any time you want. Euthanasia is the same as a murder contract. You are asking someone else to kill you.

Usually when I read an article about euthanasia I feel despair, sadness, irritation and impatience: why does it take so long to change this law- it’s so simple, so important, why wait any longer, people are suffering…

By the end of John Töns’ compassionate article I felt quite angry also.
Angry because I’m reminded of the influence religion still has on people’s personal choices and freedom.
Angry because people without hope, without a positive outlook on life, and who do not want to suffer any longer are FORCED to continue to suffer just because of other people’s faith.
The religious, again, are allowed to impose beliefs onto people they don’t even know.

Fractelle,
Yvonne and others have already spoken kind words. I too would like to wish you and your family the necessary strength and hope your mother’s suffering can be eased and if she desires, shortened.

Foxydude,
Not everyone can take their own life at any time they want. Some people, like the bedridden or the paralysed, are physically incapable to take their life. So they need help.
Also, suicide is a very lonely and scary thing to do. It means you will have to die alone, too. If you involve anyone you’ll make them a criminal.
Besides, not all suicides are successful. You might well end up worse off after surviving a suicide.

Euthanasia, in contrast, is guaranteed to be a soft, painless death. You don’t have to be alone. A woman in her thirties I know, suffering from terminal cancer, has had euthanasia a few months ago. Her family was able to sit at her bed. Her little daughter was able to be with he when she died.

This discussion is so full of hypocrisy, so mealy-mouthed:

* there is suicide, where a person takes his or her own life, for whatever reason;

* and there is murder, where a person takes the life of another.

There is no such thing as euthanasia. It is one or the other, and we all know it. Assisted suicide is, if all goes 'well', suicide, and we all should have that right, over our own lives. Of course, if someone wants to take their own life and they in great pain, then we make it easier, possible, for them to do it - but they do it, and they do it to themselves, nobody else should be involved. All those wonkers and frauds who say 'yes, but what about the situations where they can't act?' Yes, what about them ? Then nobody acts, simple and heart-rending as that may be: you cannot take somebody else's life, the only life they will ever have. We don't come back as a beetle or a wombat or a gibbon. End of life and that's it. The worms get us. All the suffering in the world does not justify someone else taking a person's life. Nothing does. Of course, we can understand when a person in such a situation may take their own life, and of course there are grey-area situations, but there cannot be any sanction of one person taking the life of another. It is murder, pure and simple.

As an atheist, I believe that we have only one life, one finite life, here on earth and nowhere else, and that's it, so the owner of that life has the right to live it to the fullest, and only the person himself or herself has the right to take it, nobody else, on whatever pretext. No, nobody else has the right to take a life, no matter what the excuse.

Frankly, if I were Grand Dictator, I would jail half of you bustards.

Joe

It is so encouraging that all the comments seem to support the basic principles, which we all desire, that everyone should have the right to terminate their own lives. Even though there seem to be considerable misconceptions.

Joe Loudmouth (perhaps appropriately) has laid it out clearly. The problem is, as so often, that the law as promoted by the main stream religions makes the carrying out of the act difficult and unpleasant and totally illegal for any assistants to help in any way. This surely is wrong

The law should be changed to give everyone the right to end their own lives without difficulty and with dignity at a time of their own choosing. Doctors first of all must offer advice on all alternatives and if the patients decision is finally for suicide/euthanasia the doctors need only to be involved in setting up the nuts and bolts of the process. Not the act This may involve providing the same drug that the vets use to euthanase our animals or even setting up a more complicated process via a computer for patients who are incapable of even swallowing a draft. Under no circumstances should the doctor be asked to perform the act personally. This was the system set up under the N.T. law by Dr Nitschke and used successfully when it was legal. The “religious” extremists immediately set about making this illegal and currently doctors and I believe anyone can be prosecuted for “assisting” the patient in any way.

Senator Bob Brown is introducing a Private Members bill to the Senate to change this and legalize again the N.T. legislation. Please write to your Senators to make sure they support his initiative

To Yvonne, Celivia and all others who have offered their concerns - thank you.

What my mother wants is to die peacefully at a time of her own choosing.

What she doesn't want is to die choking as her lungs finally fail.

What she does want is to talk to her family and friends and say everything she feels needs to be said.

But she doesn't have that choice. She cannot take a little pill when she is ready, because that is not available here.

She cannot plan only wait.

My sister and I cannot plan, only wait.

Sure doctors can up the pain medication, but not only is that placing the doctors with all the responsibility, it is not something that can be done with all my mother's family at her side. It is a lonely death.

My old cat got a better deal, I was able to sit beside him with his head cupped in my hand while the vet euthanised him.

What value is a life if we condemn our elderly to such a lack of dignity and compassion?

Fractelle,
Yes, this is probably the only situation when animals are treated more humane than humans.

Loudmouth,
Look up the terms, “euthanasia” and “murder”.

Clearly, not only the religious think that their beliefs should trump the needs/beliefs/wishes of others.
If YOU ever come to suffer an unbearable illness and don’t want to be euthanised, then simply don’t request euthanasia.

Assisted suicide is actually one of the options but is not suitable for everyone.

My aunt, a few months back, had her request for euthanasia approved. Her doctor discussed the euthanatica with her and her husband and gave her several options.
After that talk, she was able to feel more relaxed about death and as a result she could cope better with her pain, and died a natural dead.

For many patients, just knowing that a soft death is only a phone call away, removes their fear of suffering.
That’s why many patients who received approval for euthanasia never use it. It’s an enormous relief to know that help is there if the suffering all gets too much to cope with.

Here’s a link to the Dutch euthanasia brochure (in English) where you can read the rules. Not sure whether the Australian rules would be similar.
http://www.minvws.nl/en/folders/ibe/euthanasia_the_netherlands_new_rules.asp
Click the link at the bottom for the euthanasia pdf brochure.

“Most requests for euthanasia come from patients who are suffering unbearably with no prospect of improvement and see death as the only way out. They do not request euthanasia because of inadequate terminal care or palliative care (i.e. care to relieve suffering). It is almost always possible to provide terminal patients with a high standard of care, even if there is no cure for their condition. In nearly all cases, the patient’s suffering is physical. More than eighty percent of these requests for euthanasia come from cancer patients in the final stages of their illness.”

“Two-thirds of the requests for euthanasia that are put to doctors are refused. Often, treatment still offers some hope of improvement or there are ways of relieving a patient’s suffering, such as effective pain control.”

Loudmouth:

You are nothing but a godless, gutless, insensative, unfeeling wasted space!

How dare you make the statement that you did, when a lady who has a mother obviously dying, seeks compassion and solace for herself and her mother, and you spout forth your one-eyed, self-centered, ignorant and childish venom!

You may survive long enough to one day reconsider the folly of your words, and if you are faced with a similar fate, I hope that you are treated with the compassion and understanding that you so rightly deserve!.....may your GOD have mercy upon you

Fractelle:

I would suggest that you simply ignore "Loudmouth`s" response to this very emotive issue, an issue that deserves humanitarian consideration!

I feel (I hope!) that "Loudmouth" is an exception to the rule, ( if not we are in deep, deep trouble!) and consequently he should be more pitied than laughed at! He would be well-suited to running around burning crosses and wearing pillow-cases,.....so maybe he could consider heading across the ocean to join others of his kind!

I offer you my apologies on his behalf and trust that some realistic solution to your Mother`s situation is forthcoming, and the sooner the better for all of us, as eventually most of us may well face this situation in one way or another!

Its because of negativity like some of the above, is exactly the reason why its always in the "TOO HARD BASKET"

Its simply a choice that should not concern anyone but the individual.
(By the way, I'm not dieing! nor am I sick in anyway)

The commonsense just rings out in all its simplicity. But I also keep forgetting that the dollar parts right through the middle of it.
The emotion button is the key point to this whole thing.

Again! Its a case of, you just have to be there! its it!

And the number one point of all time is, the government just don't want to get their hands dirty, with blood on them.

Then its true then! We are owned by big brother! and keep telling us about freedom!

WHAT A LIE!

EVO

EVO this issue is not necessary to put in the 'too hard basket'. Legislation allowing voluntary euthanasia does not mean that it becomes compulsory to avail yourself of this at any time. It does not force any person, or doctor for that matter, to participate.

Even if there where family members pressuring a dying relative this will come to surface when the person has to go through the rigorous procedure with at least 2 separate, independent from each other medical practitioners.

As Celivia pointed out, only a very small number of people actually avail themselves of this. Knowing that there is some personal control over one's own dying allows that person to fully live the remainder of their time.

Something that is often forgotten is that many of us do not die 'natural deaths' anymore. That goes for anybody who takes heart medication or anti hypertension medication, just to mention only 2 reasons. Our deaths are becoming more protracted and more unpleasant as we become more clever at prolonging quality of life through medication.

Suffering, pain or dignity is a wholly personal experience. Some accept what comes stoically, some even joyfully. But not all of us can. There is nobody who can determine for you what is acceptable or reasonable for you at the end of your life. For any of us to blightly hand this over to any doctor, as we do here in Australia, is a abrogation of our personal responsibility to live our life congruent with our own personal philosophy. It is a responsibility none of us should ever freely hand over.

Make no mistake. You can not discuss the manner of your death freely with your doctor. Very often, at the end it is the medical personel who determine when you have had enough. Not you.

Loudmouth, if only you were a dictator, it would mean peace would reign on this Earth. No more wars, no more killing, we'd accept whatever rule came to us, we'd accept peacefully whatever was done. As you said, there is never an excuse to kill. Killing is always wrong.

(One person dies every five hours in Australia from suicide. Add that up over five years and tell me they all went in-peace. If people want to die, let them! If the grounds are fair enough, and all the screening has been done, go for it!)

Hello yvonne. Because of all the red tape, there is no way this issue will ever see the light of day. Because of the religious influences, to coin a phrase, I have a polly in my back pocket, and many more ridiculous road blocks and lets not forget, people see yuk on one side and yes that's the humane thing on the other.

Does the word hypocrite ring a bell? Only the minority will ever use it, so why all the fluffed up feathers about it?

(Yes humanity will still have to look a little deeper.)

EVO

For those for whom their own "final solution" is "available now" should they be that way inclined, let us not lose sight of the fact that for many of them (1 every 5 hours), the method that they choose in a lot of cases is, to say the least distressing eg: hanging, gassing, overdosing, jumping from high places, deliberately driving into an obstacle moving or fixed, and blowing out the brains with a fire-arm, just to name a few of the incongruous ways to self-exterminate!

Any one of these methods is distressing for all concerned and can be relatively "messy" for those involved in clean-up!

The "final solution" should be available by way of the Nembutal (Green Dream) pill, prescribed by prescription ( without penalty ) by participating MD`s. Thus a lot of the unnecesary trauma for participants, their relatives and associated medical personnel would be reduced to a minimum!

Also let us NOT forget the attempts that fail, often with tragic consequences for the "survivors" of these botched attempts, resulting in them surviving as physical vegetables, or at best severely injured
and requiring ongoing medical care!