Pages tagged "New Zealand"
Conscience rights need urgent clarification
May 13, 2020
New Zealanders will soon go to the polls to decide whether to allow the legalisation of euthanasia in that country.
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Could confusion about “assisted dying” be behind high public support?
Dec 26, 2017
As New Zealand moves to vote on whether they should legalise assisted dying, a poll has revealed that most do not even understand what is meant by the term. The Curia research poll surveyed people about their views on “assisted dying,” and found that the more strongly that individuals supported it, the more likely they are to be confused about what it actually means.
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Assisted suicide: dangerous, uncontrollable and unnecessary.
Mar 07, 2017
Peter Saunders, UK Chair of Care Not Killing recently gave evidence before the New Zealand Parliamentary Health Select Committee on assisted suicide. Thank you for this opportunity to give evidence to the select committee.I represent Care Not Killing which is a UK alliance of about 40 organisations spanning healthcare, law, disability rights, education and faith groups which in turn represent several hundred thousand people. We were established in 2005 and seek to promote better palliative care and ensure that existing laws against euthanasia and assisted suicide are not weakened or repealed.
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Euthanasia - 'The risk is too great and the consequences are final.' NZ Medical Assoc.
Sep 20, 2016
by Alex SchadenbergInternational Chair - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition The New Zealand government Health Select Committee is currently gathering evidence as it considers the issues of euthanasia and assisted suicide.According to Newshub the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA), representing 5500 medical professionals, stated that it opposes changing the law to allow euthanasia.
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For disabled people the idea of assisted suicide couldn't be bigger.
Aug 29, 2016
Robyn Hunt from Not Dead Yet NZ responds to MP, David Seymour by explaining why people with disabilities strongly oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide, in her article published on August 24 in The Spinoff. Hunt writes: I assure David Seymour that assisted suicide is a really big and complicated deal. It is no coincidence that disabled people all over the world oppose it. Our opposition arises from a (largely invisible) dark and troubled history, negative attitudes and behaviours towards disabled people and current human rights abuses. Disabled people see assisted suicide as dangerous because of their already marginalised status. Some disabled people are particularly vulnerable.Disabled and other people who oppose assisted suicide are not religious fanatics. Not Dead Yet Aotearoa was founded on disability rights not religious convictions. Assisted suicide supporters attempting to diminish the opposition by ignoring some and making sweeping statements about others is not helpful.Part of our unease relates to evidence that lives of disabled people are valued less than those of others. There is a history of euthanasia and eugenics, which have gone hand in hand for disabled people. The most notable, yet largely unknown T4 programme initiated by the Nazi Third Reich was the forerunner to the better known holocaust of Jews, gays, gypsies and others who did not meet the Aryan ideal. Around half a million people with of all kinds of impairments were killed. Some were tortured with "experimentation" before death. The first child to be euthanised was killed at the request of his parents. They were labelled "useless eaters". Many disabled people today still feel the residual power of that label as they struggle with cuts to services, parsimonious supports and subtle pressures to find work.
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Should euthanasia researchers declare their interests?
Oct 27, 2015
BY CAROLYN MOYNIHAN first published on MercatorNet When it comes to a moral issue like euthanasia, those who participate in the debate are going to be on one side or the other. It is improbable that medical experts, ethicists, researchers, lawyers and politicians who play a part, either by choice or duty, do not begin with a position on the matter - even if it subsequently changes.In the normal course of events we find out. But not always, not even where it could make a material difference to the democratic process.
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I once supported euthanasia; now I've changed my mind: NZ Nurse tells...
Aug 03, 2015
First published on The Leading Edge Blog of Brendan Malone. Ed: we have confirmed with Brendan that he knows the nurse personally even though this post was published anonymously.I'm a registered nurse, of admittedly only a short career of seven years. I worked for three years in the hospital wing of a rest home as I studied, and since graduation I have worked in various hospitals around the country.
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The shifting debate in New Zealand
Jun 11, 2015
In the wake of the Lecretia Seales court case Paul RussellOn the 5th of June Justice Collins handed down his judgement in the High Court of New Zealand in a case brought by New Zealand woman, Lecretia Seales. Seales had asked the court for a decision on on whether it would be an offence under the Crimes Act for her doctor to be able to help her die, and whether a ban on assisted dying contravened her human rights under the New Zealand Bill of Rights.
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