It isn't every day that I get to vote on a completed piece of legislation and help decide whether or not it will come into effect. In fact, this election is the first time in my life. So I figured the event justified some thought and research. In no particular order, below are a few of the things I considered, or discovered.
Early on, some clarification of terminology was in order. Assisted suicide is when a doctor prescribes life-ending drugs, and the applicant takes them independently. Euthanasia is when a doctor administers the lethal drugs. Assisted dying is the umbrella term that includes both assisted suicide and euthanasia. While most overseas assisted dying laws allow for either one or the other, the End of Life Choice Act includes both.
I thought assisted suicide sounded awful enough on its own, and then I found out that sometimes there are complications. People vomit up the tablets. Go to sleep for a while only to wake up again really confused.
We're regularly reminded "but there are safeguards!!" And led to believe they're foolproof. But if we look at the actual wording, what do we find? One doctor has to "do their best." What! That is subjective and immeasurable. How can you possibly expect to test or challenge that? I don't even like hearing people speak that phrase to children; it's disgusting in a legal document. Even the Nazis included stricter safeguards when they first introduced euthanasia.
I was surprised to hear that there are many educated people who oppose this Act, despite being in support of euthanasia in theory. Their concerns are with this specific piece of legislation. That seems to me to be an important point we should take note of.
Elder abuse is already a massive problem here in New Zealand. Logically this would only make that worse.
Will doctors always do exactly what this law stipulates, and always respect their patient's wishes? Will this provide choice for some and protection for everyone? I personally know people who gave medical professionals specific requests about their care, only to have those blatantly ignored and the opposite thing done. I also know someone who was offered drugs to treat symptoms, but even on request was refused any further testing. No diagnosis has ever been provided. I have no reason to believe this law will be immune from similar problems.
Passing this legislation undermines all suicide prevention attempts. It sends the message that some people are less valuable and unworthy of life. There's no way of getting around that.
The more I research and consider, the more sickened I am by this piece of poorly-written legislation. These are just a few of the many reasons I'm voting NO to the End of Life Choice Act.
Further Reading:
Lawyers for Vulnerable New Zealanders makes some great points and has a whole PDF of flaws available for download.
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