We must work to prevent all suicides. Thursday the 10th of September is International Suicide Prevention day. This year the theme is 'Reaching Out and Saving Lives'.The following day, the 11th, and the UK House of Commons will debate the latest push for assisted suicide via the Rob Marris MP Private Member's Bill. Did no-one notice irony?Australia, like other western countries I suspect, has a glaring problem of inconsistency when it comes to suicide prevention. We get a helluva lot right and invest well in prevention lead by competent and committed agencies, but we have, thus far, failed to deal with the 'elephant in the room' that is euthanasia and assisted suicide.By ignoring the reality that suicide generally understood is intrinsically related to euthanasia and assisted suicide by the common desire for death, we send a decidedly mixed message to the community at large - and especially to vulnerable people - that whether or not a life is worth saving is dependent on factors other than the intrinsic and inviolable value of life itself. That such subjective factors comprise a view or views about others that is in essence discriminatory seems to have been largely ignored.So, what are these subjective factors that factors in the difference in attitude between the putative person on the ledge and someone facing a difficult prognosis?Both are facing a crisis. Both will have 'rationalised' their circumstances to the point where they see no other option. Continue reading

Two recent articles on euthanasia and assisted suicide in the Australian press serve to highlight the dilemma of the form of any legislation that might be proposed as well as the reality of what crossing the Rubicon of the prohibition on killing or assisting in suicide will mean for a society like ours. Senator David Leyonhjelm (Assisted Suicide. OnLine Opinion, 8 Sept) poses the classical libertarian view (that: 'permission from government should not be required') while The Age writer, Julia Medew records the view of one of the doctors she interviews as seeking legislative control (Don't-tell doctors supporting secret euthanasia deaths The Age, 7 Sept).Medew's premise is the classic shibboleth of 'it's happening now, so let's legalise it'. Continue reading