Sanctimonious, self-righteous

EUTHANASIA

ALL this hypocritical hoo-ha about euthanasia. Nobody, church or government, has any right to tell me when and how to die. When my time comes I’d rather go in a civilised way, choosing my time peacefully among friends and family, but sanctimonious, self-righteous b.....ds leave me no such choice. How dare they!

Weak, gutless

FOR the third time the dying with dignity Bill has failed to be passed in parliament, thanks to a gutless, weak and inefficient Liberal Government. What an absolute disgrace. Walk a mile in our shoes as we care for and watch a loved one die. Hang your heads in shame. Enjoy your last days in office, Liberals. By next election you will be history, followed shortly afterwards by your federal colleagues. euthanasia is a proposition that as life is God-given it must also be God-taken. I am quite happy for such folk to follow their own consciences in this matter and reject euthanasia utterly. If that is their conviction, so be it.

However, for the rest of us, please allow us to use our rationality and decide not to allow the agony and suffering that often attends terminal illness to destroy the memory of us in the minds of our loved ones. If we’re dying anyway, what does it matter if we live an extra month or two to appease the consciences of religiously minded folk? The idea it is beyond the wit of man to devise a set of protections to prevent people from hastening granny’s end so they can get their hands on her loot or that it would be used to dispatch people with disabilities is absurd.

The most obvious contradiction of their arguments is that it is not illegal to commit suicide. People can, and do, for a wide range of reasons. Naturally, we would hope young, lovelorn people would receive counselling to put their emotional loss in perspective. There are plenty more fish in the sea and to terminate one’s existence over a failed relationship is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Terminal illness is a different matter. At the age of 65, I would be content to try any treatment Western medicine can come up with if I were faced with such a situation. However, I would be relieved to know that if such treatment proved ineffective an alternative could be placed on my bedside table for when I felt I’d had enough. Perhaps I’d never use it and let nature take its course. The comfort it would provide would be enormous.

The people I feel most sorry for are those with severe intellectual impairment, A new way to have your say themercury.com.au readers have a new way to have their say. It’s free to use, just register and have your say. For more details and to register, visit the website. either as a result of lifelong disability or acquired dementia as they cannot be deemed mentally competent to make the decision to end their own lives. Perhaps for those once mentally competent an advance directive will suffice. Others are between a rock and a hard place. This should not prevent us from legislating for the mentally competent to determine the manner and time of their own death.

As expected

I THANK the forward-thinking members who voted for the Euthanasia Bill. I am deeply saddened at the lack of compassion shown by members who did not support the Bill. The result was as expected. After all it is Tasmania, well known for its lack of progressive thinking.

Do your duty

READER Pat Gartlan’s (Letters, May 24) comparison of elder abuse with “legalised medical killing” (her terminology) is a bit of a stretch. I do not condone elder abuse, but I do support voluntary euthanasia. Both issues are significant. Both being complex. It is about the choices people make. Their rights being paramount. Hence, the need for respect, compassion and dignity. Nevertheless a person’s capacity is central to this process. Herein the need for legal and medical involvement. It is the duty of the our state politicians to provide a workable legislation.

That king coal

NEWS filtering out suggesting the Turnbull Government has done a swiftie and eased off the protected-species listing and habitat protection zone around the proposed Adani mine indicates how obsessed the PM is with coal and Adani. He is breaking federal and state environmental laws for this vainglorious goal of coal.

High as kites

WATCHING Federal Parliament recently, I’m convinced that all our elected representatives should be drug-tested before entering the chamber. Ridiculous comments made and sleeping on the job isn’t what these highly paid individuals are employed to do. Try it in the private sector and see how long you’ll last.

Shoot first

READING about the terror attack in Manchester and recalling similar attacks elsewhere, they all appear to have one thing in common: the perpetrators were either on a terror watch list or known to police as radicals. If this is so, why were they not “taken out” before they could do anything? Shoot first and ask questions later.

Big gaps

I HEARD one of the pollies say they have passed legislation to curb entitlements. Only enough wiggle room to drive a convoy of Mack trucks 10 abreast through the gaps. If they were serious, you would hear them squeal from the other side of the world. So much for the clamp down.