Waikato man Raymond Gough has been told he's too frail for lifesaving heart bypass surgery and nothing more can be done for him. Photo / Supplied
Waikato man Raymond Gough has been told he's too frail for lifesaving heart bypass surgery and nothing more can be done for him. Photo / Supplied
An elderly man who has only days to live has spoken of his support for the End of Life Choice Bill and how he wishes it was already law.
Cambridge man Raymond Gough, 90, was told by doctors at Waikato Hospital more than a week ago there was nothing morethey could do for him, after deciding he would be too frail for lifesaving heart bypass surgery.
Daughter Julie Marshall says her father is distraught at the news.
Gough told the Herald from his hospital bed that every Kiwi should have the right to choose to end their life.
"I believe that when a person has reached the stage where nothing further can be done to improve their situation whatsoever, they should have the option ... when they've reached a terminal stage, when nothing further can be done for them, they should have the right to opt out, to say no, they don't want to be here any longer.
"It's terrible waking each day knowing you've got another day ahead of you. I just believe that New Zealanders should have that right to terminate things when there's nothing for them."
Asked why, Gough said it was the "discomfort and futility knowing that you're being kept alive when you don't want to be".
Raymond Gough, pictured right holding daughter Julie, was a fitter/turner on the Waikato railways for 40 years. Photo / Supplied
He fully supported Act Party leader David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill which last month passed its second reading in Parliament by 70 votes to 50.
The bill legalises voluntary euthanasia by allowing adults with less than six months to live or those with a "grievous and irremediable medical condition" to request a lethal dose of medication.
In May, Gough was treated for pneumonia. However, the treatment of the condition provoked a heart attack as the two conditions were in conflict, Marshall said.
He was re-admitted to hospital twice but on the second occasion, June 29, he was told that due to his frailty he wouldn't survive the surgery.
Marshall didn't expect her father to last the week.
Asked when her father would have opted for euthanasia, Marshall said he would have done it once he'd been told there were no other options to keep him alive.
"My Dad wanted to live. He'd been fighting to maintain his independence and maintain some quality of life, but once he reached the point where it was impossible to maintain any quality of life, that's when he would have chosen not to continue.
"He's just in this state of limbo, between one world and another. There's no off switch, he can't turn the light on and be part of life."
Raymond Gough says he's been waiting to die for more than a week, but wishes he could have ended his life sooner. Photo / File
She said her father felt it was more the "mental torture" of being in his state, "of having nothing to look forward to and being uncomfortable", that made him want to call it quits.
Gough, a fitter and turner on the railways for 40 years, was a "very practical man who lived a very physical life".
"It's torture seeing Dad in distress.
"I see him crying every day and that's a tough experience for family.
"They can use morphine to take away the physical pain but morphine doesn't take away the emotional pain."
Gough said every day alive was hard.
"As you can imagine I wake up every morning and I think it's another day that I've got to put in.
"It's just the sheer dreadful delay all the time."
But Seymour said even if the bill were in force, he wasn't sure Gough would qualify.
There was a proposed six-step eligibility process to go through first which covered everything from age to mental capability.
However, a key factor was whether the person was in an "advanced state of irreversible decline and capability".
For that to be determined two doctors would sign off the request.
"He has to believe that his suffering cannot be alleviated in any other way. He also has to be somebody who is of sound mind; he understands the nature of assisted dying and the consequences of it."
About a third of the people who were deemed eligible then often changed their minds, Seymour said.
"I just want to stress to people that it's not as straightforward as simply deciding you want to go and going."
The National Party MP for Tamaki, Simon O'Connor, said he sympathised with Gough but disagreed that ending his life was the way to go.
"Firstly I think it's quite sad. It's definitely a cry for help and more care and assistance from family and the community is needed. I simply don't think his suiciding or being assisted to die is the right way forward."
His fundamental objection to the bill was public safety, O'Connor said, because he felt there was no way anyone could guarantee the person was making their decision without some sort of coercion, often from family members.
