Palmer proposes law change to allow assisted dying

Former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer has come up with a proposed law change that would allow doctors, in limited situations, to help terminally ill patients to die.

It would require seven conditions to be met and would involve the Family Court as a means of verifying the conditions.

“My own view is that it is desirable to proceed with caution in this area and not to go further than the circumstances warrant.”

Palmer set out his proposal at Parliament last night in a lecture in memory of Lecretia Seales, whose husband, Matt Vickers, launched a book, Lecretia’s Choice.

Palmer once worked with Seales, who died of brain can- cer last year. She took an unsuccessful case to the High Court in a bid to let her doctors help her to die.

Palmer said his proposed law change was confined to the situation in which she found herself. “The law needs to be changed to allow her wish to be granted,” he said.

It was not a step that lessened the sanctity to be accorded to life, he said.

“Death is inevitable. By making this suggested exception to the general principle we would be respecting life. And such a measure would not be a slippery slope toward some ambiguous twilight zone.”

The conditions of Palmer’s suggested Crimes Act amendment include: the person is at least 18; the person is a permanent resident of New Zealand;

the person has consented in writing before two independent witnesses;

two medical practitioners have certified that the person has a grievous and incurable medical condition;

the medical condition is causing enduring suffering that is intolerable;

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