Showing posts with label Euthanasia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Euthanasia. Show all posts
Sunday, December 13, 2020
Cause for concern?
Following Victoria's lead, Queensland and Western Australia plan to legalise euthanasia. Well regarded lawyer, Paul Santamaria, son of the prominent Catholic social activist, Bob Santamaria, has raised concerns that safeguards in the draft legislation will be inadequate to protect the elderly and other vulnerable people will not be worth the paper they're printed on. Put simply, a chronically ill senior citizen may feel pressured to prematurely end their life after their doctor mentions that euthanasia is available to them. It makes one anticipate old age with some trepidation.
Thursday, June 20, 2019
The expendable?
As of this week, voluntary euthanasia, or as it is also euphemistically known, voluntary assisted dying, became legal in the state of Victoria. It is expected that there will be strong demand for this scheme, with 150 people per year taking advantage of it. If the state government is to be believed, this scheme is tightly regulated, so that it is limited to terminally ill Victorian adults in intolerable pain and with less than six months to live, or 12 months for neurodegenerative diseases, and who meet 68 safeguards.This is supposed to prevent situations like those in other jurisdictions, such as Belgium, where children have been euthanized, and at least one Belgian citizen, who was otherwise in excellent health but suffering from depression, chose to prematurely end her life, to give but two well documented examples. There is also evidence of people ending their lives prematurely under pressure from relatives who wanted to avoid the disruption to their lives that their illness caused.
I am saddened that euthanasia is now legal in Victoria, because of the potential for incidents like those that have occurred in Belgium to also occur in Victoria. It was reported that a group of medical practitioners raised these concerns with the Victorian government, but they were ignored.
Additionally, it sends a message to already vulnerable people that they are a burden to society. That is certainly the sentiment expressed by Henry Marsh, a well known euthanasia advocate, in this meme. Marsh is blunt, but as we will surely find out in the next few years, I doubt he would be alone in having this attitude.
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Vulnerability
Victoria is the first state in Australia to legalize voluntary euthanasia. A previous Victorian Labor government legalized late term abortion. This means that Victoria now has state sanctioned killing from the womb to the grave.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-29/euthanasia-passes-parliament-in-victoria/9205472
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-29/euthanasia-passes-parliament-in-victoria/9205472
Thursday, April 04, 2013
Greens tell Christians to butt out of euthanasia debate
Talk about mixed messages. This comes from an email I received from the Australian Prayer Network. Former Greens leader Bob Brown once asserted in an interview that the Greens are a Christian party, and some Christians are sympathetic to the Greens' ideals. It's hard to reconcile his assertion with this news report from New South Wales, where a Greens MP in the New South Wales state Parliament insinuates that people with religious views are a hindrance to the Greens agenda:
"The New South Wales Greens have again highlighted their anti-Christian worldview by claiming that people with religious views are blocking voluntary euthanasia laws and making the lives of vulnerable people even more wretched and should butt out. "It's time they recognised they are in the minority and got out of the way," Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said. Her comments came as she launched a photo book and an online video promoting voluntary euthanasia as part of her campaign for a Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill, expected to come before parliament later this year.
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell will allow a conscience vote if the laws are debated. "I've indicated that if it should come up, members of the Liberal Party will have a conscience vote," he told reporters. Mr O'Farrell declined to outline his own views, saying it would come down to the laws introduced. "These are complex matters. You wait to see the legislation, you wait to see what's being proposed, and then you make a decision," he said. The latest Greens campaign features a video of Loredana Alessio-Mulhall, who is in the advanced stages of multiple sclerosis and wants law reform so she can die at a time of her choosing.
Ms Faehrmann said in a statement. "Loredana is given every assistance to live an increasingly undignified life, yet society is turning its back on her when all she is asking for is the right to die with dignity." Ms Faehrmann said Ms Alessio-Mulhall could not take her own life because she had lost the use of her limbs. And if a loved one assists her to die they could be tried for manslaughter or murder. State and federal parliaments (made up of a majority of members with non-religious views) have refused at least four attempts to legalise euthanasia in recent years."
Since then, Victorian Beverley Broadbent has reignited the euthanasia debate by taking her own life, and in response to this, the Council on the Ageing and Cate Faehrmann's federal Greens colleague, Senator Richard di Natale, have also called for federal euthanasia laws to be enacted.
Of course all political parties actively court the support of the Christian constituency, and try to get them onside. However, to my knowledge, this is the first time that a Greens politician has pushed them away. The lesson here is to take any overtures from the Greens with a pinch of salt, or from any political party, for that matter.
"The New South Wales Greens have again highlighted their anti-Christian worldview by claiming that people with religious views are blocking voluntary euthanasia laws and making the lives of vulnerable people even more wretched and should butt out. "It's time they recognised they are in the minority and got out of the way," Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said. Her comments came as she launched a photo book and an online video promoting voluntary euthanasia as part of her campaign for a Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill, expected to come before parliament later this year.
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell will allow a conscience vote if the laws are debated. "I've indicated that if it should come up, members of the Liberal Party will have a conscience vote," he told reporters. Mr O'Farrell declined to outline his own views, saying it would come down to the laws introduced. "These are complex matters. You wait to see the legislation, you wait to see what's being proposed, and then you make a decision," he said. The latest Greens campaign features a video of Loredana Alessio-Mulhall, who is in the advanced stages of multiple sclerosis and wants law reform so she can die at a time of her choosing.
Ms Faehrmann said in a statement. "Loredana is given every assistance to live an increasingly undignified life, yet society is turning its back on her when all she is asking for is the right to die with dignity." Ms Faehrmann said Ms Alessio-Mulhall could not take her own life because she had lost the use of her limbs. And if a loved one assists her to die they could be tried for manslaughter or murder. State and federal parliaments (made up of a majority of members with non-religious views) have refused at least four attempts to legalise euthanasia in recent years."
Since then, Victorian Beverley Broadbent has reignited the euthanasia debate by taking her own life, and in response to this, the Council on the Ageing and Cate Faehrmann's federal Greens colleague, Senator Richard di Natale, have also called for federal euthanasia laws to be enacted.
Of course all political parties actively court the support of the Christian constituency, and try to get them onside. However, to my knowledge, this is the first time that a Greens politician has pushed them away. The lesson here is to take any overtures from the Greens with a pinch of salt, or from any political party, for that matter.
Friday, September 25, 2009
In a word, disturbing
Lately there's been some disturbing developments in the seemingly endless euthanasia debate. Apparently a Christian group in South Australia called Christians Supporting Choice for Voluntary Euthanasia has been formed for the express purpose of supporting euthanasia. Social commentator Bill Muehlenberg has been following this issue closely for a number of years, as have I, and brought this development to our attention.
He graciously posted my comment on his blog:
In the Netherlands, I remember reading that there have been cases where chronically or terminally ill people have been euthanased simply because their relatives did not want the inconvenience and disruption that having them in hospital for a prolonged period would cause to their lives. I speak from personal experience when I say that it would be truly appalling if this ever happened here.
While I may not necessarily agree with everything that Muehlenberg writes, on this issue I think he's absolutely right. He has articulated a constructive, Biblical and compassionate response to this highly emotive issue. I pray the day never comes when an Australian state or territory successfully introduces euthanasia laws.
He graciously posted my comment on his blog:
In the Netherlands, I remember reading that there have been cases where chronically or terminally ill people have been euthanased simply because their relatives did not want the inconvenience and disruption that having them in hospital for a prolonged period would cause to their lives. I speak from personal experience when I say that it would be truly appalling if this ever happened here.
While I may not necessarily agree with everything that Muehlenberg writes, on this issue I think he's absolutely right. He has articulated a constructive, Biblical and compassionate response to this highly emotive issue. I pray the day never comes when an Australian state or territory successfully introduces euthanasia laws.
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