Letters: Doctors just want to do the best thing for their patients

Illustration / Peter Bromhead

The Care Alliance advertisement entitled "1500 doctors say no" (HoS, November 10) would have been better titled "Most doctors shun propaganda".

Care Alliance is a group of medical practitioners funded entirely by religious organisations. For at least three years, to my knowledge, they have been circulating a request to medical practices throughout NZ asking doctors to sign a pledge to reject assisted dying. The 1500 who signed up are but a fraction of the number of medical practitioners in the country — registered at well over 20,000.

Doctors don't want to be dragged into a religious debate. They just want to do the best thing for their patients.

At the last anonymous survey conducted, 37 per cent of doctors supported the concept of assisted dying and 24 per cent would be personally prepared to deliver the service if the End of Life Choice bill passes into law.

Ann David, Waikanae

Aged care a growing problem

It is interesting that the Care Alliance can only scrape up about 8 per cent of doctors to say "no to euthanasia". This percentage is even less than the general public who say no to medically assisted dying (about 20 per cent in repeated polls), and contrasts with the 70 per cent who say yes. One recent study showed that 38 per cent of doctors were in favour and further 11 per cent were not sure.

In a recent study, 43 per cent of patients admitted to aged care facilities were found to die within a year, 24 per cent within three months. The end of life care in general was found to be poor and lacking palliative care expertise. The Care Alliance could perhaps work to fix that major growing problem.

Dr Jack Havill, Hamilton

Respect patient's final wish

The 1500 doctors believe assisting a patient to die crosses a line. It is a line that needs to be crossed. It is a line that allows a terminally ill patient to choose the right time for their own death. Doctors should have trust and respect for their patient's final wish.

Andrew Tichbon, Green Bay

Root of the problem

Whose bird-brained idea was it, to mass-fell, mature, exotic trees in spring, right in the middle of the bird-breeding season? At a time when the warming world needs more trees, not fewer, these bureaucrats should at least use some common sense, if they have any. The dead of winter, when exotics are bare, would make more sense, surely? The tree roots are binding the hillside, and that will cease, if a mass-felling occurs. Exotics should be removed on an as-needed basis, when the newly planted natives start to mature.

"If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it," is a common-sense idea sadly lacking in today's PC world.

Righting the wrongs of our colonial past, should not be used as an excuse for unelected, arbitrary, bureaucratic stupidity and arrogance.

John Watkins, Remuera

A dangerous idea

Kudos to Paul Little for having the courage to call out the current experiment with armed police patrol vehicles (HoS, November 10).

This is a daft and dangerous idea that, under the guise of an operational decision, marks a policy step change towards the militarisation and Americanisation of our police that apparently no politician or media authority dare challenge.

One consequence of the Christchurch mosque massacre was a long overdue tightening of our firearm regulations. It is surely sending mixed signals to ask citizens to hand in or register their guns and be more careful, while at the same time our police are seemingly moving in the opposite direction.

Peter Davis, Kingsland

Cartoon no joke

Do cartoonists ever consider that while ridiculing politicians, they may indeed be ridiculing and disenchanting their own readers? Bromhead last week strayed from humour to insult. Media is quick to focus upon injustice, racism, sexism and other such topics, and so they should. Tis good to be aware that, oft times, while noticing the speck in another's eye, the log in our own goes unnoticed.

Ken Stout, Waiheke Island