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MP: 90% against assisted dying

3/11/2017

7 Comments

 
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MP Melina Bath says that of the 2000 people who have contacted her on the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill, just 200 were in favour. ​

By Melina Bath
National MP for Eastern Victoria Region

BY LAST Friday around 2000 people within my electorate of Eastern Victoria had made their point of view on the Voluntary Assisted Dying bill known to me. Of those, 200 were in favour and about 1800 against.

I have been honoured to read and to listen to constituents' personal stories. Even though this is an emotionally charged debate, the majority have been very respectful. Some have provided intimate details of the loss of their loved ones, and I have lived every word of their story and the grief they hold as a result. That is why it is so hard not to be in total agreement with all the sentiments expressed.

Some of my concerns are around the eligibility criteria and the supposed safeguards. The Legislative Council committee recommended that suffering must be enduring and unbearable. The advisory panel substantially watered this down to: … suffering that cannot be relieved in a manner the patient deems tolerable …

and stated that suffering can be mental anguish and social suffering. That is, it need not be physical pain. The panel report quotes: “the panel affirms that suffering should be judged by the person”.

I am alarmed that suffering is to be assessed solely by the patient, and may have psychological, social and spiritual aspects as much as physical symptoms such as pain.

People who have a life-threatening illness often feel like a burden to their family and community. They often apologise for the inconvenience they are imposing. There is real potential for someone to feel pressure and to seek a way out.

Coercion is a very subtle thing. It cannot be measured, but it can be felt. It is our job to pass legislation that protects the most vulnerable people: the aged, the disabled and the ill. It is almost impossible to establish coercion and elder abuse. Often the patient is dead, and even if there is a case for coercion to be made the evidence is lost.

In terms of the disease being incurable, a person could make themselves eligible for assisted suicide by refusing treatment for a manageable disease. People will say this is highly unlikely, but there is the potential, and we must try to protect the vulnerable, the aged, the disabled and the ill.

The bill can authorise assisted dying on a wide range of diseases with much lower severity and incapacitation than motor neurone disease (MND) or Huntington's disease.

The Legal and Social Issues Committee end-of-life choices report noted that there were major gaps in the quality and provision of palliative care in Victoria and, of particular relevance to my constituents, that the services are not easily accessible for people in country Victoria.

The number of people in Central Gippsland's palliative care programs has doubled in the last five years. District nursing staff do a fantastic job, but they are truly overstretched. Issues around accessing continuity of doctor service and accessibility to pain relief medications on weekends have been raised with me. Latrobe Community Health Service staff highlighted the need for after-hours availability of doctors to facilitate dying at home and the potential for an additional professional such as a second nurse practitioner.

I also have concerns in relation to the 12-month time frame for Victorians to request assisted dying. Determining how long a person has to live is not an exact science. The Oregon model is based on six months, not 12 months. This is a point that has been raised over and over again with me.
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I am concerned about the uncertainty of the drugs that will be used. We are being asked to take a giant leap of faith in simply handing over control to an implemented task force to research and devise a concoction of drugs. We have no information about the efficacy of the drug, the toxicity, the administration or how it will be trialled, because even the government does not know what it will be.

The model relies on self-reporting and self-administration, and I have concerns about this. There are definite dangers to what could happen to any person who is in that home and can find the key. One scenario that concerns me is the potential for district nurses to be forced into administering the lethal drug against their will.

We all have life experience. Twenty-five years ago I lost my father to cancer. He was a very fit man, he could run up hills, he was a farmer of 50 years and he was about 60 or 61 and was still a ball of muscle. For some reason he was not diagnosed for months and months, until finally the doctor sent him off for a gastroscopy for a suspected ulcer. That specialist said to him, 'Get to Cabrini this afternoon'. He said, 'I can't, I have to go home and milk the cows'. He went home and milked the cows for the very last time that night, went to Cabrini the next day and was opened up. The cancer was everywhere – he was told he had three months to live.
​
He packed up his home of about 55 years, sold the farm, moved Mum into Leongatha where she would be safe and cared for, gave the horse away, et cetera. He had chemotherapy, and then later on in Freemasons he had radiation therapy, and we were with him all the way. Toward the end he went back to Leongatha and went home, and in truth it was a horrendous time. My mother still cries if we bring it up.

Palliative care has improved since that point, but there is still a long, long way to go.

At no stage did he ask, “Please, help me to die”. He wanted to stay and grapple as much life as he could. Whether that has coloured me or not, I certainly understand that there are other people whose fathers may say, “I need to go. Let me find a way to go”. Palliative care still has many, many — particularly in the country — ways to improve.

I believe that there are too many situations in relation to the safeguards. The autonomy of the individual must be measured against the irretrievable alteration of society. There is no going back once Victoria has committed to this path, and I am concerned that the safeguards cannot perform their intent. I will be opposing the bill, and I will consider amendments as they come through.
​
MPs in the Upper House last night voted 22-18 in favour of a second reading of the bill.  Debate on amendments will start on November 14 when MPs are next in Parliament, with several MPs seeking a reduction in the life expectancy time limit from 12 to six months.

This one’s for Ray: Bass MP Brian Paynter on why he supports the legislation.
​
Life and death: MP for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing on her support for voluntary assisted dying.
7 Comments
Libby Lambert
4/11/2017 07:54:15 am

Here's number 201 for the 'yes' vote to the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill. I ask you to nurse your mother until she dies of colon cancer and watch the agony she had to endure, and then you tell me, that the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill isn't a good thing. Frankly I don't recollect you being voted in so you could play God with other people’s lives ? Voting no to this bill is tantamount to endorsing state approved torture. At the very least, you could abstain from voting. Please show some compassion !!!

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Maggie L
4/11/2017 09:06:28 am

Thank you for your fair comment on this legislation. Our opinions are always coloured by our own experiences. My own opinion as a retired Palliative Care nurse is that Paliative care should be available to everyone and offered as the first option as fear is one of the biggest obstacles people face when confronted with the fact that death is will be the consequence of their diagnosis. All options regarding treatment and palliation should be expalined at the outset.
One of the biggest areas of concern for me is the Aged Care sector where very vulnerable people are often left with far than adequate care in their final days.
If this legislation is place fron and centre then funding for adequate and increased Palliative care services may not eventuate for the majority that you talk about and that would be a tragedy.

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Geoff Ellis
4/11/2017 09:41:32 am

Count me in as #202 for YES to VAD.

I agree - "The autonomy of the individual must be measured against the irretrievable alteration of society." - surely the measuring scales validate YES.

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Sandra M
4/11/2017 10:15:07 am

And here is number 203 to YES. Both my parents are still alivee. Father at 93 and mother at 91. Father will never want to die, Mother has benn wanting to go for a number of year. She does not fit the category for assisted dying. She does not have an incurable illness except old age, she is not in pain. But she cannot walk and cannot see any purpose to life. She is simply tired of living. We have told her she has a purpose, it is just different to what it used to be. She is our matriarch. She cannot accept this. Yes her memory is going but she is still has the cognitive ability to make her choice. So much so, she is trying to starve herself to death. What do I do - force feed her? I believe every persons natural inclination is to live. So when a choice like this is made, it is genuine and should be respected.

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Catherine Watson
5/11/2017 08:13:05 am

Sandra, what a dreadful situation for all of you. My mother made me promise to do away with her if she ever had to go into a nursing home. There are worse things than death; there is such a thing as a living death, when there is no hope of improvement, only endurance.
The current legislation isn't going to do much for people in your mother's situation but at least it's a start.
One day I hope we will all have the right to say "It's been lovely but I want to go now."
In the meantime, my thoughts are with you.

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Peter
4/11/2017 06:01:13 pm

Coming from a farming background, I was brought up with the ethic of not letting animals suffer. In fact, it is illegal to do so. Mercifully dispatching a suffering animal was part of life. However, by law, we must let our loved ones suffer unnecessarily at life's end as we cannot assist people to ease their passing.

Thankfully, many in the medical profession share the old farmers ethics and help patients end their life with dignity. It is estimated that 30% of deaths in hospitals are facilitated by the medical profession. I hope when my time comes, I will have a compassionate and caring doctor to help me on my way rather than let me suffer.

For those that worry about the implications of VAD, let's make a deal: I won't interfere with the way you depart this world and you leave me alone to make my own decisions about how I shed my mortal coil.

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F W Schooneveldt
5/11/2017 10:36:10 am

Melinda,
The Netherlands legalised voluntary euthanasia in 2001.
I know from first hand experience that the legislation works in helping people die with peace, dignity and with a lot less pain and suffering. In a humane society we need to stop pain and suffering and respect the right of people to choose to die at a time of their choice.
I urge you to support the bill.
Cheers

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