Fears vulnerable may face pressure to die
‘‘We should allow people to die in dignity without pain.’’ Megan, 19, whose aunt died from cancer
A Manawatu¯ union organiser says proposed euthanasia legislation could force older, sick or mentally ill people into feeling pressured to end their lives.
Dion Martin, of Palmerston North, says the controversial End of Life Choice Bill, with its provision for ‘‘assisted dying’’, is really about ‘‘dressed-up suicide’’.
Martin has worked as a union organiser for 29 years and has witnessed vulnerable workers being pressured into doing things they didn’t like.
‘‘I think it can create a scenario where vulnerable people such as the elderly, the sick, those living with disability or mental health issues, yes, even young people who are currently having suicidal thoughts and feeling the anxiety of being isolated and have become very depressed – I believe they could feel coerced, under duress, feel under pressure to end their lives far, far too soon.’’
He said the bill ‘‘opens a Pandora’s box’’.
‘‘If you normalise the so-called assisted dying, you create a whole lot of situations where it’s OK to take a life.’’
Martin had experience with his elderly mother, who thought she was a burden on the family and felt she was better off dead.
The justice select committee was in Palmerston North yesterday as part of its tour around New Zealand hearing submissions on the bill, which seeks to give people with a terminal illness the option of requesting assisted dying.
National MPS Ian Mckelvie and Chris Bishop, as well as Labour MP Virginia Andersen, were on the panel hearing both sides of the argument in Palmerston North.
Nineteen-year-old Megan, who did not want her surname used, was in favour of the bill, having seen her aunt suffer and die from cancer.
The aunt was sedated in her last few months and in a vegetative state, she said.
‘‘Pets get put down when they are sick and they are suffering, so what is the difference?’’ Megan said. ‘‘We should allow people to die in dignity without pain.’’
She said it was important in a democratic society that people have their own views.
Ramsey Southward asked the select committee about whether the bill was about killing or death.
‘‘To take life away from anyone is a crime.’’
He had taken his sick cat to the vet, where it was put down, and didn’t want that happening to humans.
‘‘All I envisage is holding my wife in my arms while a doctor is sticking a needle in her arm.’’