Ken Orr: Time to stop End of Life Choice Bill in its tracks

Ken Orr

MP David Seymour MP, the leader of Act, is seeking support from parliamentarians to have his contentious End of Life Choice Bill passed at its first reading. It would then be sent to a select committee which would invite submissions from the community.

Right to Life is opposed to this bill as is the World Medical Association, the New Zealand Medical Association, the Australian & New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation and Palliative Care Nurses, all of whom wish to uphold their ethics to cure and not to kill.

We believe that in the interest of the community the bill should be defeated. It should share the same fate as the two previous attempts to pass legislation that would change the Crimes Act to allow doctors to terminate the lives of their patients or assist in their suicide.

The first was Michael Laws' Death with Dignity Bill in 1995 that was defeated 61 to 29.The second Death with Dignity Bill in 2003 was defeated 60 to 58. A third private member's bill dealing with euthanasia, from the Hon Maryan Street, was withdrawn from the ballot in 2014. Labour MP Ian Lees-Galloway is waiting to return the End of Life Choices Bill to the ballot.

Assisting in suicide or terminating the life of a patient with a lethal injection are serious crimes under the Crimes Act. These laws are there for the protection of the most vulnerable members of our community, the aged, the disabled and the seriously ill; we remove them at our peril.

Why too would we wish to undermine the ethics of the medical profession which prohibits doctors taking the lives of their patients?

We believe Parliament does not have authority to legislate to empower the strong to kill the weak. Should this bill be passed, it would be a very dangerous precedent because a future Parliament could withdraw the protection of the law from another group of vulnerable people such as those with dementia and Alzheimers.

Advocates for euthanasia claim public opinion polls reveal 70 per cent support for euthanasia in the community. Right to Life challenges this contention.

On June 15, 2015, a petition on assisted suicide and euthanasia was presented to Parliament by Ms Street and 8974 others. It was referred to the health select committee for consideration and the hearing of submissions.

The committee received an unprecedented 21,277 submissions and heard more than 1200 oral submissions. A careful analysis of all the written submissions revealed that 16,411 - 77 per cent - were opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Oral submissions were also overwhelming opposed. We believe the health select committee and the community have engaged in this conversation for more than two years. The written and oral submissions constitute the most authentic expression of public opinion on the issue of euthanasia.

The health committee's report is expected to reflect the strong opposition of those who made submissions. To send this bill to a select committee would be a waste of Parliament's time and the taxpayer's money.

The Government has a suicide prevention strategy to reduce suicides. Right to Life asks how members of Parliament can seriously support the Government's suicide prevention strategy and at the same time support the End of Life Choice Bill which, if passed, will have the Government paying doctors to terminate the lives of their patients or assist in their suicide.

There is no need for patients to die to kill the pain. New Zealand has world-class palliative care which is ranked third in the OECD. We believe the community should be aware that this bill is a Trojan horse that will ultimately result in the termination of the lives of many who do not choose to have a doctor administer a lethal injection.

We release it into our community at our peril. The strategy of the advocates for euthanasia is to engage public sympathy by presenting cases like Lecretia Seales who was fearful of enduring a painful death.

Right to Life requests that Parliament act in the interest of the common good and defeat this bill at its first reading.

Ken Orr is a spokesman for Right to Life. Views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz.