Until euthanasia and assisted suicide were added to our lexicon, intentionally killing another human was condemned. Now it is deemed “considerate,” in warped, biased media portrayals. Continue reading

It doesn’t stop with “the terminally ill”. Assisted suicide and euthanasia become legal excuses for murder. Sound drastic? That’s exactly what happened in Canada.  Continue reading

Liz Carr is a UK actor, comedian and disability rights activist perhaps best known as forensic examiner Clarissa Mullery in the BBC’s Silent Witness. She is pro-choice, an atheist and a vocal opponent of the legalisation of assisted suicide. She explains her views in her show Assisted Suicide: The Musical which she brought to this year’s Melbourne Comedy Festival. She has visited all the countries where Assisted Suicide and euthanasia are legal for a BBC World Service documentary ‘When Assisted Death is Legal’ and is part of the international network of disabled people who oppose such laws, Not Dead Yet. Continue reading

Guest post by Richard Egan: One significant argument being made for supporting the Andrews Labor Government plan to legalise assisted suicide is being based on evidence given by Coroner John Olle to the End of Life Choices inquiry, stating that there is a cohort of about 50 people per year who have experienced an irreversible deterioration in physical health due to disease or injury and who commit suicide by variety of means, some of them violent. Continue reading

The Open Letter from Christian Leaders to Premier Daniel Andrews this week drew criticism from ‘the usual suspects’. Published in the Herald Sun newspaper, its rival, The Age used the opportunity to denigrate and attempt to dismiss the concerns that the letter raised. Continue reading

By Paul Russell: A tale of two Op-Eds. Polling noted today in The Australian shows a significant level of distrust in our political classes to get the issue of euthanasia and assisted suicide right. “13 per cent of respondents believed the state government should be able to decide the issue, while 55 per cent backed a people’s referendum and 32 per cent singled out the federal government.” Continue reading

By Paul Russell: Reading the Victorian Panel report is a bit like watching an old B Grade Horror movie. The Final Report of the Ministerial Advisory Panel on ‘Assisted Dying’ set up by Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews late in 2016, handed down its final report and recommendations today. The media messaging by the government and the Panel Chair, Dr Brian Owler, focussed almost exclusively on selling their work to the Victorian people. A sugar coated bitter pill. Health Minister Jill Hennessy described the model put forward for the new law as, “the safest in the world”. Dr Owler told The Guardian that, the panel’s final report outlined 66 recommendations and safeguards, and that the model was “the most conservative model for voluntary assisted dying in the world”. Continue reading

By Paul Russell: Last week three people died together in what is being called a 'triple suicide pact' in a resort island at Queensland's Gold Coast. Please, don't get me wrong: there's nothing to celebrate here in the deaths by suicide of Margaret, Heather and Wynette Cummins. The three women, a mother, and her two daughters were members of the ubiquitous Exit International headed by former doctor, Philip Nitschke. Evidence quickly emerged in the media that they had all utilized the same Exit suicide method.   Continue reading

by Paul Russell: Dr. Boudewijn Chabot is a retired Dutch psychiatrist and psychotherapist. In 1993 he was charged with having assisted in the suicide of a healthy 50-year-old Dutch woman, Hilly Bosscher, in 1991. Bosscher had lost two sons in the previous five years; six months apart. One had committed suicide; the other had died of cancer. Both were in their early twenties. Her grief did not abate; she wanted to die and to 'to lie in between the graves of her two sons'. The Independent reported at the time that: Continue reading

by Paul Russell: A draft assisted suicide and euthanasia bill is currently being circulated for comment and consultation in New South Wales. The consultation is being conducted by the 'NSW Parliamentary Working Group on Assisted Dying'. Although this sounds rather official, essentially the members of this group are simply a common interest group of MPs within the parliament.Not only is this 'working group' not an official organ of the parliament, but the consultation itself holds no official status either. You've probably guessed; the members who will oversee the consultation are also the members of the working group! Continue reading