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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-10-14 Daily Xml
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VOLUNTARY EUTHANASIA

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (15:53): I rise today to speak about the very important rally organised by the South Australian Voluntary Euthanasia Association that is to be held tomorrow out the front of Parliament House. It is also to commemorate the contribution and the passing of Shirley Nolan, who was one of the advocates for voluntary euthanasia and is someone who showed great courage in demonstrating the need for voluntary euthanasia legislation in this state.

Just this week, I have received a number of letters, and I will abbreviate the names to initials. RAG has written to me and states:

I write concerning a need for change to euthanasia laws. When hanging onto life means unbearable suffering and there is no hope of recovery, it should be the right of the sufferer to be assisted in dying by the medical profession. It is possible to enact legislation for a doctor to assist a patient to die voluntarily and also include stringent safeguards against abuse of such legislation. Please reply.

Another letter that I received, with the initials MH, states:

I wish to record in the strongest possible terms my support for legalising voluntary euthanasia. I am old now and very well, but after visiting friends, some with Alzheimer's, in nursing homes, living for years with no quality of life is not what I want. It is my life and I should have the right to say when I have had enough.

Then there is a PS:

When the voluntary euthanasia bill is introduced to parliament I urge all politicians to support it.

The third letter I have received (and I imagine other members of the house have as well) is signed under the initials V.N. and A.R. It reads:

We wish to record in the strongest possible terms our support for legalising voluntary euthanasia. Voluntary euthanasia is an act of caring; it is wrong to describe it as killing, as opponents of voluntary euthanasia do. It is not only the possibility of pain, though that is bad enough, if it cannot be relieved. What concerns us is lingering on, when all hope of a reasonable quality of life is gone.

We should all have the choice of asking for help to die if we are terminally ill and suffering intolerably. A doctor should be allowed to help us without fear of breaking the law. Also we object to the present law prohibiting voluntary euthanasia because it imposes the beliefs of others upon us. Particularly as this proposed legislation is supported by 81 per cent of South Australians (Newspoll 2007).

It is possible to enact legislation with stringent safeguards against abuse and it is your responsibility as a law-maker to do so. We know that doctors help many people die, and they do not always get their consent. This is because it cannot be discussed. It will be much better to have it regulated so that it can be brought into the open.

We trust that you will bear in mind the points raised above and that when [legislation for the voluntary euthanasia bill is introduced into this house] you will support it.

I have also received another letter that, again, many members of this house would have also received (I say 'again' because, as members would be aware, this debate has gone on for many years and there have been a number of attempts to bring in progressive legislation with regard to voluntary euthanasia). This letter is from a medical practitioner (initials A.G.) who has quite often campaigned in the area of voluntary euthanasia based on his experience. I would like to read part of his letter to the house. It states:

I am a medical practitioner working in the field of gynaecological malignancy. I am, therefore, very aware of the plight of the terminally ill. We do not have many successes in treatment but inevitably I see women who have undergone extensive surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy but who present again with recurrent or ongoing cancer. Palliative care is offered to them. These women have no hope of survival. They...develop a range of medical problems before succumbing to their disease.

It goes on to say:

Many women bear the pain of these conditions—

Time expired.

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