Lecretia’s wish not for suicide

Contrary to Ms Penk’s claims, my wife’s death was not peaceful nor pain-free. The last few hours were tough, and if we could have spared her from them, we would have.

The study Ms Penk cites concluded that legalisation of physician-assisted dying resulted in no change in suicide rates. The only way the authors could present an increase was to conflate numbers of people using physicianassisted dying with those committing suicide and call them the same thing.

They are not the same, and nor do the jurisdictions reviewed in the study consider them to be.

Suicide rates in New Zealand are a tragedy, but we shouldn’t remedy that by forcing terminally ill people to die in ways they don’t want to. Confusing suicide with the desperate choices of the terminally ill stigmatises decent human beings at the worst times of their lives.

Lecretia viewed suicide as a waste. She didn’t consider what she wanted to be suicide, and nor do most reasonable people. She merely wanted to be respected as having a right to choose how she died.

She had no choice but to go public. She knew she would be labelled a coward, suicidal, and worse by some, but she did it anyway. She was brave to do it.

I thank the Herald for acknowledging that.

Matt Vickers, Wellington.

In return, why cannot they allow people who do not share that belief, to have the release they crave with assisted dying when their time comes?

Your selection of Lecretia Seales as New Zealander of the Year was inspired. No one could have died more courageously and in doing so highlighted the plight of the 74 per cent of people who want the comfort and reassurance of knowing at the end of life they have a choice about the manner of their going.

Dame Jenny Gibbs, Orakei. a plot to oust the never-ending food programmes we seem to be blighted with?

Tony Lawson, One Tree Point.