An important message from 150 WA medical practitioners

An important message from 150 Western Australian medical practitioners to the WA parliament.

150 Oncologists, palliative care specialists, professors of medicine, general practitioners, specialists, associate professors, former AMA presidents and a long-standing former dean of the medical school in Perth, have put their name to a petition, calling on the WA parliament to reject the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2019.

These experts, 20 of whom have worked in regional WA, argue that this radical bill will put the lives and wellbeing of many Western Australian unnecessarily at risk.

The stakes could not be higher.

Open Letter to all Western Australian Members of Parliament from 150 Western Australian medical practitioners opposed to the legalisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia

October 2019

Dear Members of the Parliament of Western Australia

We the undersigned medical practitioners of Western Australia urge you to vote against the passage of any bill that would legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia, which are sometimes referred to as “voluntary assisted dying”.

We do not believe that such legislation is needed in Western Australia and that it would be a regressive not a progressive change, putting the lives and wellbeing of many Western Australians unnecessarily at risk.

Assisting our patients to commit suicide or intentionally killing them by euthanasia is never acceptable. It is not and can never be regarded as medical treatment or medical care.

As the World Medical Assembly resolution states:

Euthanasia, that is the act of deliberately ending the life of a patient, even at the patient’s own request or at the request of close relatives, is unethical. Physician-assisted suicide, like euthanasia, is unethical and must be condemned by the medical profession. Where the assistance of the physician is intentionally and deliberately directed at enabling an individual to end his or her own life, the physician acts unethically. Physicians [should] refrain from participating in euthanasia, even if national law allows it.

This position is supported by nearly all national medical associations, including the Australian Medical Association. Additionally, assisted suicide and euthanasia are opposed by the Australian & New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine and the Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine.

101 Victorian oncologists signed a letter in September 2017 opposing the legalisation of euthanasia and assisted suicide in that state.

With rising suicide rates in Western Australia, we believe that changing the law to permit physicians to assist suicide will wrongly divide Western Australians into two classes - those whose suicides we seek to prevent and those whose suicides we approve and facilitate. As the profession in society tasked with preserving life and using our skills to optimise care to those afflicted by illness, we believe that assisting an individual to take his or her own life for any reason is never warranted and is never an appropriate solution to their illness.

We respect an individual’s right in the community, but autonomy is not an absolute right. It must be balanced against the risks to the community as a whole, especially the vulnerable.

We are greatly concerned that the legalisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia would place unspoken pressures on vulnerable populations in our community such as the elderly, the disabled and the depressed. These Western Australians have a right to an expectation of care - not an option of care. We are very concerned about legislation over time changing societal values and attitudes towards disadvantaged groups in our community. No number of alleged safeguards can ever guarantee that there are no wrongful deaths from assisted suicide and euthanasia, including the deaths of those who are either overtly or subtly pressured into feeling a burden on others such that they would be better off dead.

Those at risk of wrongful death need and deserve our society’s care and protection, so that their individual rights are not abused.

Given the historic and current abuses that have led to royal commissions into the care of the elderly and into the abuse of those with a disability, how can we consider introducing a new, lethal way of potentially abusing these and other vulnerable groups in our society?

Once introduced, however initially restricted, there is a tendency for the access criteria for assisted suicide and euthanasia to expand. In some jurisdictions those with dementia or mental illness, as well as children are now eligible. Involuntary euthanasia also occurs. (See the documentary Fatal Flaws for real-life examples.)

We urge you not to be unduly swayed by anecdotal reports of difficult deaths, often from decades ago. Advances in palliative medicine have been and continue to be significant. Western Australians can and should have confidence that, palliative care can support them and provide holistic care to the individual and their families, in experiencing a peaceful death.

What is needed is the urgent correction of funding deficits in the provision of specialist palliative care and support services for those who are approaching their end of life. This applies throughout Western Australia but especially in regional and remote areas, including indigenous communities. Addressing these significant service gaps, including increasing the workforce and providing carer support services and hospital and community-based palliative care, will be far more helpful for all Western Australians at the end of life compared with the legalisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia.

We urge you to carefully consider our concerns as physicians at the coalface of health care in Western Australia and to exercise your vote responsibly by rejecting such a fundamental change to the law for the good of the whole community, especially the most vulnerable.

Signed: by the below-listed signatories who support this statement as individual health professionals and not as representatives of any hospital or other organisation with which they are associated.

1 Professor Arlene Chan	Medical Oncologist / Professor of Medicine	Perth
2 Dr Andrew Dean	Medical Oncologist	Perth
3. Dr Michael Gannon	Obstetrician, Former Federal AMA President	Perth
4 Dr Mariam Bahemia	General Practitioner (GP)	Perth
5 Dr Kaye Miller	Breast physician	Perth
6 Assoc Prof Marek Havlat	Pathologist	Perth
7 Mr Peter Willsher	Surgeon	Perth
8 Dr Manson Chan	GP	Perth
9 Dr Jespal Gill	Pathologist	Perth
10 Dr Anne Long	Medical Oncologist	Perth
11 Dr Simon Edmunds	Consultant Physician	Perth
12 Professor Ross Baker	Haemato-oncologist / Professor of Medicine	Perth
13 Assoc Professor Joe Cardaci	Consultant Physician	Perth
14 Dr Chris Lomma	Medical Oncologist	Perth
15 Dr Anil Tandon	Palliative Care physician	Perth
16 Dr Shannyn George	Palliative Care Physician	Perth
17 Dr Byron Scott	Advanced trainee palliative care	Perth
18 Assoc Professor Luke Torre	Anaesthetist /ICU specialist	Perth
19 Dr Antoinette Torre	GP	Perth
20 Dr Carolyn Masarei	Palliative care Physician	Bunbury
21 Emeritus Professor Michael Quinlan	Consultant Physician / Professor of Medicine	Perth
22 Dr Alice Phua	Palliative care physician	Perth
23 Dr Michael Bray	Consultant Physician	Perth
24 Dr Hannah Watts	Intern	Perth
25 Dr Tanuja Martin	GP	Perth
26 Dr Michael Chong	GP	Perth
27 Dr David Liaw	GP	Perth
28 Dr Peggy Leung	GP	Perth
29 Dr Ivan Ling	Consultant Physician	Perth
30 Dr Merrilyn Ma	Intern	Perth
31 Dr Darryn Rennie	GP	Bunbury
32 Dr Philip Wu	GP	Mandurah
33 Dr Lachlan Dunjey	GP	Perth
34 Emeritus Professor Colin Binns	GP / Professor of Public Health	Perth
35 Dr Eleanor Sharland	GP	Perth
36 Dr Colin Smyth	GP	Northam
37 Dr Andrew Leech	GP	Perth

38 Dr David Van Der Moezel	GP	Perth
39 Mr Mark Hurworth	Surgeon	Perth
40 Dr Barry Fatovich	GP	Perth
41 Dr Felicity Wild	GP	Perth
42 Dr Dawn Reeler	GP	Exmouth
43 Dr Lydia Peter	GP	Perth
44 Dr Ray Binns	Psychiatrist	Perth
45 Dr Cornelius Burma	GP	Perth
46 Dr Paul Kwei	Anaesthetist	Perth
47 Professor Douglas Bridges	Palliative care physician / Professor of Medicine	Perth
48 Dr Christine Jeffries-Stokes	Consultant Physician	Kalgoorlie
49 Dr Jonathan Tembo	Emergency Medicine specialist	Kalgoorlie
50 Dr Jessica Stillwell	GP	Kalgoorlie
51 Professor Cameron Platell	Surgeon/P rofessor of Surgery	Perth
52 Associate Professor Daphne Tsoi	Medical Oncologist	Perth
53 Dr Susan Shaw	GP	Albany
54 Dr Elayne Fontana	GP	Albany
55 Professor Gabriel Lee	Surgeon /Professor of Surgery	Perth
56 Dr Grace Gong	Consultant physician	Perth
57 Dr Rosslyn de Wet	Haematologist	Perth
58 Dr Celeste Williamson	GP Registrar	Bunbury
59 Dr Jaynie Sambell	Intern	Perth
60 Dr Andre Koizlowski	Consultant Physician	Perth/Bunbury /Margaret River
61 Dr Nathan Combs	GP Registrar	Geraldton
62 Dr Caroline Crabb	Psychiatrist	Perth
63 Professor Guy Van Hazel	Medical Oncologist / Professor of Medicine	Perth
64 Dr Derek Eng	Palliative Care Physician	Perth
65 Dr Kevin Eng	GP	Perth
66 Dr Hoa Pham	GP	Perth
67 Dr Crystal Durell	GP	Perth
68 Professor Anna Nowak	Medical Oncologist / Professor of Medicine	Perth
69 Dr Karl Staer	GP	Esperance
70 Dr Anton Leonard	Anaesthetist /ICU specialist	Perth
71 Dr Annie ( Rehka) Prasad	Consultant Physician	Perth
72 Dr Keng Siang Ung	Consultant Physician	Perth
73 Dr Dorothy Graham	Consultant Physician	Perth
74 Dr Yuli Ten	Consultant Physician	Perth
75 Miss Cecilia Wee	Surgeon	Perth
76 Miss Elayne Ooi	Surgeon	Perth
77 Dr Dorothy Milly Wong Tin Niam	Geriatrician	Perth
78 Dr Rebecca Howman	Haematologist	Perth
79 Dr Murray James-Wallace	GP	Geraldton
80 Associate Professor Greg Perry	Consultant Physician	Perth

81 Associate Professor Colin Tang	Radiation Oncologist	Perth
82 Dr Ashwini Davray	Palliative care specialist	Perth
83 Dr Annette Lim	Medical Oncologist	Perth
84 Dr Stephen Hinton	Consultant physician	Bunbury
85 Associate Professor Hassan Kamalddin	Consultant physician	Perth
86 Dr Joshua Dass	Radiation oncologist	Perth
87 Dr Patrick Cox	Consultant Physician	Bunbury
88 Dr Jonathan Chia	GP	Perth
89 Dr Andrew Hunt	Anaesthetist	Perth
90 Dr Andrew Chong	Consultant Physician	Perth
91 Associate Professor Rosanna Capolingua	GP, Former Federal AMA President	Perth
92 Dr Christopher Toh	Resident medical officer	Perth
93 Dr Andrew Kam	Radiologist	Perth
94 Dr Amanda Lamont	GP	Perth
95 Dr Rachel Currie	Intern	Perth
96 Dr Tim Ong	GP	Perth
97 Associate Professor Douglas Cordell	GP	Perth
98 Dr Kyle Kophamel	Emergency Medicine Specialist	Perth
99 Professor Osvaldo Almeida	Geriatric Psychiatrist / Professor of Geriatric Psychiatry	Perth
100 Dr Priscilla Tan	GP	Perth
101 Dr Bianca van der Nest	GP Registrar	Perth
102 Dr Elias Samaha	GP	Perth
103 Dr Tara Pinto	Psychiatrist	Perth
103 Dr Yogaratnam Jegan	Psychiatry Registrar	Perth
104 Dr Patrick Cheah	GP	Perth
105 Dr Jie Choo	Psychiatry registrar	Perth
106 Dr Firdaus Abd Rahim	Consultant Physician	Perth
107 Dr Julian Cooney	Haematologist	Perth
108 Dr Francesco Piccolo	Consultant Physician	Perth
109 Assoc/ Professor Graham Cullingford	Surgeon	Perth
110 Emeritus Professor Ian Puddey	Consultant Physician/ Professor of Medicine / Former Dean UWA Medical School	Perth
111 Dr Peter Sarkis	Advanced trainee geriatric medicine	Perth
112 Dr Stephen Fenner	Psychiatrist	Perth
113 Dr Stefan Schutte	Psychiatrist	Perth
114 Dr Kate Ingram	Geriatrician	Perth
115 Dr Megan Graieg	GP	Perth
116 Dr Edna Sun	GP	Perth
117 Dr Kelvin Sun	GP	Perth
118 Dr John Hayes	Consultant Physician	Perth / Kalgoorlie/Geraldton
119 Dr Andrew Leech	GP	Perth
120 Dr Samuel Vasikaran	Pathologist	Perth

121 Dr Kevin Chee	Ophthalmologist	Perth
122 Dr Shannon Dantoc	GP	Perth
123 Dr Yee-Ling Kuok	Psychiatrist	Perth
124 Dr Robert McWilliam	GP	Perth
125 Dr Colin Broun	GP	Perth
126 Dr Dawn Reeler	GP	Exmouth
127 Dr Pam Williams	GP	Exmouth
128 Dr Joshua Juniper	GP	Perth
129 Dr Tanya Yuen	GP	Perth
130 Dr Renu John	GP	Perth
131 Dr Jonathan Perez	Psychiatry Registrar	Perth
132 Dr Jason Lim	Ophthalmologist	Perth
133 Dr Malcolm Hodsdon	GP	Kalgoorlie
134 Dr Susan St Clair	GP	Perth
135 Dr Sa Ra Kim	GP	Perth
136 Dr Wendy Yeo	GP	Perth
137 Mr Jose-Cid Fernandez	Surgeon	Perth
138 Dr Lydia Kuilenberg	GP	Perth
139 Dr Lee-Anne Gray	Resident medical officer	Bunbury
140 Dr Paula Moffat	Geriatrician / Palliative care physician	Perth
141 Dr Bernice Lim	GP registrar	Perth
142 Miss Vineeta Singh	Surgeon	Perth
143 Dr Ruth Highman	GP	Geraldton
144 Dr Sarah Booker	GP	Perth
145 Mr Michael Shanahan	Surgeon	Perth
146 Dr Misty Blakeman	Consultant Physician	Perth
147 Dr Beverley Teh	GP	Perth
148 Dr Peter Nguyen	Radiation Oncology trainee	Perth
150 Dr Louise Diaz	Resident medical officer	Perth

Signatories collected by Professor Arlene Chan Medical Oncologist Perth with the assistance from Assoc Professor Marion Harris Medical Oncologist Melbourne.

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