Hospices will not euthanise

The medical specialists tasked with guiding us to death are unwilling to administer euthanasia.

Senior palliative care specialists gathered yesterday to warn against the End Of Life Choice Bill, currently being considered by a parliamentary select committee.

All rejected legalised euthanasia, fearing patients might be coerced into death, and they considered doctors and nurses illequipped to evaluate a person’s readiness to die.

Hibiscus Hospice palliative medicine specialist Professor Rod MacLeod said patients were prone to changing their minds.

New Zealand’s palliative care – which ranks third in the world – was well designed for people with terminal cancer and neuromuscular disorders, he said.

‘‘There’s a large cohort of people who are dying of heart failure, respiratory disease, dementia – in particular – who don’t ever get referred to palliative care serices.’’

These people were most vulnerable to coercion from family to end their life, which was impossible to identify, he said.

Organisations present at yesterday’s meeting, including Hospice New Zealand, Palliative Care Nurses New Zealand and Australia New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine, have submitted against the End Of Life Choice Bill.

ACT MP David Seymour, who introduced the bill, said palliative care organisations globally had opposed legalised euthanasia. ‘‘There certainly will be doctors who are conscientious objectors.’’

He said concerns of undetected coercion pushing patients to euthanasia were unproven in countries with legalised assisted death.