Doctors ready to break assisted-death law

By MARTIN JOHNSTON

Nearly a third of GPs in a survey believed euthanasia might be justified in certain circumstances.

Almost all of the 120 Auckland GPs in the survey correctly said it was illegal to perform euthanasia or help patients commit suicide.

But 18 per cent wrongly thought it was legal to supply information on how to commit suicide and 25 per cent were unsure on the legality of supplying drugs to do it.

The figures were produced by Auckland University psychology lecturer Dr Kay Mitchell, who last week revealed survey results that in one year 39 GPs had performed euthanasia or helped a patient commit suicide.

She expects these practices are more widespread than revealed in her survey because its questions were restricted to the last patient death the GP had been involved with in the preceding 12 months.

The figures she gave to the Herald yesterday were based on responses in 2000 to a hypothetical euthanasia/doctor-assisted suicide scenario from 120 Auckland GPs, 595 Grey Power members and 205 psychology students.

The patient in the scenario has a terminal illness and constant pain not alleviated by drugs. The patient asks a doctor for information on how to end life and to prescribe drugs to do it; the doctor complies. Some time later the patient deteriorates, is unable to take the drugs alone and seeks help from the doctor, who holds the drinking cup containing them. Finally, the patient has difficulty swallowing and asks for a lethal injection, which the doctor administers.

Dr Mitchell said she was surprised that 30 per cent of the GPs judged it would be justified for the doctor to give the lethal injection.

But she was not surprised at the responses from the other groups. More than 76 per cent of the Grey Power respondents and around 60 per cent of the students judged all of the doctor's actions to be justified.

"This suggests that older people may be more pragmatic and liberal about end-of-life decision-making."

She said her findings about lay people lined up with earlier research.

"Polls in New Zealand for the last 20 years have indicated that more than 70 per cent of New Zealanders would like the option of physician-assisted death for a terminally ill patient with intractable pain."

Parliament is scheduled today to debate the Death with Dignity Bill that would legalise doctor-assisted suicide for terminally or incurably ill people.

The Medical Association is opposed to the bill, fearing it could lead to pressure for doctor-assisted suicide to be legalised for a widening range of people. It and the World Medical Association hold euthanasia unethical. Hospice New Zealand, which represents the country's 37 hospices, has opposed the bill in a letter to MPs.

"We believe most people would not choose euthanasia if they knew what quality hospice palliative care was and ... that the option existed for them," said the organisation's chief executive, Ann Martin.

The Government did not provide or pay for enough high-quality palliative care, she said.

The survey

* 120 GPs replied to the survey that described a hypothetical euthanasia scenario in which a doctor gives a lethal injection to a patient who requested it.

* 30 per cent said the doctor was justified.

* The same view was expressed by 76 per cent of a group of Grey Power members and 62 per cent of a group of psychology students.