It will be twenty years ago this week since the Northern Territory\u00a0passed the world\u2019s first law on voluntary\u00a0euthanasia.<\/p>\n
The Rights of the Terminally Ill Act<\/em> (ROTI) was a carefully-drafted piece\u00a0of legislation that allowed a terminally ill person\u00a0of sound mind to ask a\u00a0doctor for help to die. The law expressly excluded children.<\/p>\n While the ROTI law only lasted nine months until it was overturned\u00a0by a conscience vote in Federal Parliament,\u00a0its legacy lives on in today\u2019s\u00a0debate about right to die legislation.<\/p>\n The flurry of enthusiasm in recent days by Victorian politicians\u00a0means that a voluntary euthanasia law in this\u00a0state is a sure thing. It is only\u00a0a matter of time.<\/p>\n With this in mind, and given the news from Belgium of the euthanasia\u00a0death of a terminally-ill 17-year-old \u2013 ie a\u00a0minor\/ child, it seems a good\u00a0time to be asking ourselves what type of law we want Spring\u00a0St to\u00a0pass.<\/p>\n In proposing the NT law back in 1995, then Chief Minister Marshall\u00a0Perron said that he did not want a law with\u00a0safeguards so strict that the\u00a0process of qualifying was a tortuous one.<\/p>\n Sadly, Perron\u2019s fears were realised. At least according to Dr Philip\u00a0Nitschke. Philip speaks often of the hoops that\u00a0his four dying patients had to\u00a0jump through in the process of qualifying to use the law. He says the ordeal\u00a0almost\u00a0killed them.<\/p>\n Do we want the same for Victoria?<\/p>\n Do we want to force dying people to spend their final days, using\u00a0the little strength they have left dealing with red\u00a0tape?<\/p>\n Where does the\u00a0balance lie? Can we do better?<\/p>\n It was not only safeguard overload that marked the NT\u2019s attempt at a\u00a0law, the ROTI Act<\/em> also excluded young\u00a0people. Back then, the plight of\u00a0teenagers was firmly in the \u2018too hard\u2019 basket.<\/p>\n This is despite the fact that young people get terminal diseases\u00a0like cancer, and despite the fact that palliative\u00a0care can often only go so far\u00a0in relieving the awful symptoms that serious illness can bring.<\/p>\n It is not only Woody Allen who fears the way he will die, rather than\u00a0death itself, the academic literature says the\u00a0same thing.<\/p>\n The news of the recent euthanasia of the teenager in Belgium has re-ignited\u00a0the right to die debate globally.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Belgium Federal Euthanasia Commission has\u00a0been reported saying that the terminally ill young person asked for\u00a0euthanasia because\u00a0they were in \u2018unbearable physical pain\u2019.<\/p>\n What is there to argue about.<\/p>\n Do we \u2013 as a society \u2013 insist the young person must suffer on,\u00a0simply because they are under 18 years of age?<\/p>\n Or do we do the right thing and allow them some relief in their\u00a0final weeks, days or hours?<\/p>\n When confronted with the facts of the situation in Belgium, I would\u00a0argue this is a no brainer.<\/p>\n We wouldn\u2019t torture our pets. We should not torture our terminally ill\u00a0children.<\/p>\n When it comes to kids and\u00a0euthanasia, the largesse of Belgium and Holland\u2019s laws should not be\u00a0underestimated.<\/p>\n These countries have not shied away from this pointy end of the\u00a0right to die debate. Their humanity should be\u00a0celebrated. And let\u2019s not stop\u00a0here.<\/p>\n What about the psychiatrically ill? This was another group excluded by the NT law.<\/p>\n Yet these people too can request euthanasia in Belgium and Holland.<\/p>\n Indeed, at the euthanasia conference that I am convening this week\u00a0at the State Library, controversial Belgium\u00a0psychiatrist Dr Lieve Thienpont is\u00a0one of the keynote speakers.<\/p>\n Dr Thienpont\u2019s work in Flanders in Belgium is almost exclusively in\u00a0the area of euthanasia for the psychiatrically\u00a0ill.<\/p>\n In Melbourne she will be talking about euthanasia for children,\u00a0non-terminally ill older people (those who say\u00a0they have had a good innings but\u00a0now is the time to go) and the mentally ill.<\/p>\n While so-called pro-lifers will no doubt picket her appearance, I\u00a0have found Lieve\u00a0 to be a calm and gentle\u00a0woman who has been prepared to stick her neck\u00a0out on behalf of the most\u00a0vulnerable in our community.<\/p>\n Those who other euthanasia laws turn their back on.<\/p>\n In this regard, Dr Thienpont has battled it out amidst the\u00a0sensationalist headlines.<\/p>\n Even if you do not agree with euthanasia, the insights which someone\u00a0of her standing and vast experience\u00a0deserve a fair hearing before we allow\u00a0debate to turn to arguments of slippery slopes and eugenics.<\/p>\n For the likes of Dr Thienpont, suffering is suffering regardless of\u00a0age and irrespective of whether one has an un-treatable physical\u00a0or mental illness.<\/p>\n If treatment, let alone cure, is not an option then why should we\u00a0insist such people live on?<\/p>\n These are the difficult, but not iresolvable, questions that the\u00a0Victorian Parliament is going to have to face if they\u00a0are to bring in\u00a0euthanasia legislation.<\/p>\n There are plenty of nay-sayers who will tell them it\u2019s all too hard\u00a0and to leave well alone.\u00a0 \u00a0But\u00a0the Belgium experience suggests that euthanasia\u00a0legislation can be broad and it\u00a0can work well if preventing needless suffering is its aim.<\/p>\n Fiona Stewart, PhD LLB<\/strong><\/p>\n To cite this article, please include reference to the author, the title, the date of publication & the citation link below:<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.peacefulpillhandbook.com\/?p=2412<\/em><\/a><\/p>\nCitation Requirements<\/h3>\n