Letters to the editor: Congrats on getting into Harvard

Samuel Taylor, 17, was accepted at Harvard University. Photo / Andrew Warner

Congratulations to the young lad from Mount Maunganui College (News, January 15) who has been accepted to Harvard University.

It just goes to demonstrate that you don't have to attend a high-decile school or pay big fees to make it happen.

Again, the same lad was determined to sit his recent Kiwi NCEA exams with great success, all of which gives him open options.

His attitude contrasts with the student who didn't sit NCEA because they had secured employment.

In a world where occupations chop and change this student now has limited options, in my view.

(Abridged)

Dr A G Stewart
Pyes Pā

'Vulnerable elderly' targeted

With a referendum on the End of Life Choice Act 2019 taking place at the next general election, those who oppose this are getting to work.

Engendering doubt and fear is the name of the game and what better target than the "vulnerable elderly".

It's important to note that being elderly and/or disabled on its own does not make you eligible to apply under this Act for an assisted death. There are six eligibility criteria to meet, the main one being having a terminal illness with six months or less to live.

Neither does the argument about misdiagnosis work, as two of the other criteria are you need to be in unbearable suffering and in an irreversible state of decline.

I think by the time you reach this point, the diagnosis is obvious. Another popular argument against this Act is the possibility of coercion, however, the person has to convince two doctors that they fully comprehend what they are asking for and what the outcome of this is (death).

(Abridged)

Esther Richards
Tauranga

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