Pages tagged "assisted dying bill"
NSW narrowly defeats assisted suicide legislation
Nov 29, 2017
We received great news on 16 November, as the euthanasia bill in NSW was narrowly defeated by a razor-thin margin of 20 votes to 19. The MLCs obviously listened to the serious concerns raised by doctors, lawyers and other professionals about the legislation and voted accordingly.
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Top Barrister Calls Out Victorian MPs on Jettisoning Safeguards
Nov 10, 2017
Since the conception of the Victorian Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill, politicians have reassured us that the legislation would contain ‘safeguards’ designed to protect vulnerable Australians from premature termination. However, according to Peter Willis SC, the present copy of the legislation bears no resemblance to the bill initially marketed to Australians.
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Oncologist Speaks Out Against Assisted Suicide
Oct 26, 2017
In a moving article, a cancer doctor recently voiced her concerns about the dangers of offering assisted suicide to patients. Director of the Familial Cancer Centre at Monash Health, Dr Marion Harris describes the difficulties her patients have experienced, and how many of them wanted to give up at some point in their diagnosis, but persevered.
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Why Will the Assisted Suicide Bill Affect All Australians?
Oct 25, 2017
Advocates for euthanasia and assisted suicide are blinded by a misdirected sense of compassion, to the point where they cannot see the underlying implications of Victoria’s Voluntary Assisted Suicide Bill 2017. Instead of considering the logical outcome of such legislation, they propel it along using emotional arguments, playing on people’s understandable fear of death.
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All about relieving suffering? Think again
Sep 23, 2017
In her second reading speech introducing the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2017, Victorian Minister for Health, Jill Hennessy, opened with a declaration that “Far too many Victorians have suffered too much and for too long at the end of their lives”.
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Victorian assisted suicide bill – NOT the most conservative scheme in the world
Sep 22, 2017
The Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2017 was tabled in the Victorian Legislative Assembly on Thursday 21 September 2017. The Bill, it has been repeatedly claimed by Premier Daniel Andrews, would set up a system that was the “most conservative, careful and safest in the world”. Some simple fact checking shows this to be a big fat lie.
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101 Victorian Oncologists (Cancer Specialists) Oppose Assisted Suicide Bill
Sep 21, 2017
A letter from 101 Victorian oncologists, sent to all Victorian MPs, illustrates the strong opposition to the Andrews government’s reckless proposal for assisted suicide and euthanasia.
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Left Wing UK Party opposes assisted suicide
Aug 24, 2015
There's a real and very natural tendency when societies and groups within societies coalesce on one side or the other of a current debate to try to 'pidgeon-hole' the opposition. It can be simply a way of trying to come to 'know thine enemy'or, at worst, it can be about creating a slur upon the 'otherside' for the sake of justifying one's own position. Opposing euthanasia and assisted suicide is no different. 'Religious fundamentalists', 'God-botherers', 'right-to-lifers', 'arch-conservatives', the list of pejoratives is extensive as it is colourful. The raison d'etre should be obvious: if opposition only comes from this small cohort, of perhaps even only a small number within this small cohort, then their concerns are easily dismissed. 'They don't represent everybody and, well, we all know that God bothering conservatives are an antiquarian anomaly in our modern world. We mustn't be held back by the rabid few.'However, of all the social issues of the last half-century, euthanasia and assisted suicide, I would argue is the issue least identifiable in such terms. Worldwide, coalitions of people 'in-the-front-line' of opposition include many who identify as political progressives or athiests, agnostics etc., many with opposing political affilliations and those with none.
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The case of Tom Mortier shows how euthanasia advocates will never stop at the terminally ill
Feb 03, 2015
Godelieve De Troyer was euthanised by Belgium's 'doctor death' for severe depression. Her case must make us think twice about allowing assisted dying in Britain. Dr Kevin Yuill's recent opinion article published in the UK Telegraph reflects on the tragic death of Godelieve De Troyer and the consequent grief and bewilderment of her family, especially her son Tom Mortier. Yuill says:"Tom Mortier never paid much attention to the discussion about voluntary death in his country. "I was like just about anyone else here in Belgium: I didn't care at all," he said. "If people want to die, it's probably their choice. It didn't concern me.""But in April, 2012, ten years after the law changed to allow euthanasia, Mortier, a university lecturer, received a message at work. His 64-year-old mother, Godelieve De Troyer, who suffered from severe depression, had been euthanised the previous day. Would he be able to make the arrangements at the morgue?
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"It is a Bill for the strong at the expense of the weak" Baroness Jane Campbell
Jan 22, 2015
Taken from the Daily Mail report. An excerpt from Baroness Campbell's speech to the House of Lords on Lord Falconer's 'Assisted Dying' Bill.I am fearful not least because the Bill defines terminal illness as an 'inevitably progressive condition which cannot be reversed by treatment'. That could apply to many disabilities, my own included. Not a single organisation of disabled or terminally ill people is actively campaigning for this legislation.
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