“Truly patient-centred care always asks the question ‘why’ in response to suffering. This essential process of exploration and understanding breaks down fear and builds up hope.” Contrary to advancing better healthcare, Seymour’s Bill short cuts the process of care. It disregards any genuine focus on patient needs, and simply amplifies a person’s fear of dying… Read more »
by Hawke’s Bay Today, 19 May 2018 We don’t talk enough about dying and we need to change that. We think it would help if people knew a bit more about the actual process of dying and what to expect We suspect a lot of the current debate is fueled by fear of the unknown, and… Read more »
by Nicki Harper, Hawke’s Bay Today, 19 May 2018 “What everybody is trying to do deal with, like me, is that while it’s true there are some people who have difficult deaths is legislation the right mechanism to help those people?” said Yule. In an effort to gather as much information as he could, he said… Read more »
by Henry Cooke, Stuff, 22 May 2018 Tawa doctor and chair of the Health Professionals Alliance Catherine Hallagan submitted strongly against the bill. “It is a bad bill that cannot be fixed,” Hallagan said. She said doctors and other health professionals did not want the law. No safeguards built into the law would be sufficient to make… Read more »
by Isaac Davison, The New Zealand Herald, 21 May 2018 Public hearings begin today on the End of Life Choice Bill, and so far 35,000 submissions have been received. The committee was initially given nine months to hear the submissions, an extension on the usual six months. It has now pushed the deadline back another three… Read more »
by Emma Jolliff, Newshub, 27 April 2018 Anyone who claims assisted dying already happens in New Zealand is peddling fake news, a palliative care expert says. A panel of specialists says the End of Life Bill going through Parliament is dangerous and the burden on doctors to assist a patient to die is too great. Click… Read more »
by Jonathan Hatfield, The New Zealand Herald, 27 March 2018 Assisted dying is a vague term and could mean no more than the important service of rearranging the pillows for a dying person. The End of Life Choice Bill talks of assisted dying but with no indication of how this is to happen until the last… Read more »
20 March 2018 “The current landmark court case in Canada again reinforces the fact that laws legalising euthanasia cannot provide safeguards that work,” says Dr Peter Thirkell, Care Alliance Secretary. Roger Foley has cerebellar ataxia, a terminal and incurable severe brain disorder that limits movement and leaves him unable to perform basic tasks independently. He… Read more »
by Natalie Akoorie, The New Zealand Herald, 7 March 2018 She pointed out that the bill in its current form does not address whether a doctor is allowed to raise euthanasia with a patient. And that a doctor is not permitted to dissuade a patient from euthanasia if they are eligible. “What happens if I, as… Read more »
by Dr Peter Thirkell, Newshub, 9 March 2017 Mr Seymour says that it is the quality of argument that matters, implying that the submissions in opposition are poorly argued, but not the pro-euthanasia ones. His presumption is staggering. Submissions to the Health Select Committee in 2016 were 80% opposed to euthanasia. They included people from all walks… Read more »