Barriers likely for assisted dying changes
More conservative Parliament may stymie calls for more access
Calls to broaden New Zealand’s assisted dying laws are growing but any attempt to relax them will face significant hurdles — partly because of the change of government.
Assisted dying has now been available for more than two years and nearly 500 people have since died this way.
The End of Life Choice Act includes three-yearly reviews, the first of which will come up in November.
Act Party leader David Seymour, who led the law change, said the feedback on the Assisted Dying Service had been overwhelmingly positive.
But he hoped the review would recommend less restrictive criteria for an assisted death. In particular, he wants to remove a requirement that a patient has only six months to live.
Seymour’s original bill would have allowed people with a “grievous and irremediable condition” to get access to assisted dying. He agreed to add the six-month clause to secure political support to pass the legislation.
There is a growing chorus of voices in New Zealand who want increased access to assisted dying.
A group of five doctors who are involved in the assisted dying regime said the law was “failing” New Zealanders by making access very difficult for some patients with unbearable suffering, in particular those with neuro-degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis.
The doctors also wanted the law changed to allow doctors to initiate discussion of assisted dying with patients (which is currently illegal) and for dementia patients to be able to sign advance directives for assisted dying before they lose competency.
A petition has been filed with Parliament to remove the six-month requirement.
It was drafted by Social Justice Aotearoa CEO Jackie Foster, who is a friend of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome sufferer Nicole Martin.
Martin told the Herald this week that she applied to die with “dignity” under the end-of-life legislation but didn’t meet the criterion of having a doctor certify that her illness was terminal.
Despite meeting four out of the five criteria for assisted dying at age 50, she is unable to prove a six-month life expectancy, leaving her feeling trapped.
In the first year of assisted dying, 65 per cent of the patients who were deemed ineligible failed to meet the six-month test (they may have also failed other criteria). In the second year, 73 per cent of patients did not meet this test.
The Assisted Dying Registrar, Kristin Good, noted in her first annual report that one of the most persistent themes of feedback were requests to broaden the law.
So when the legislation is reviewed later this year, Parliament is likely to come under pressure to amend it.
Seymour, however, is uncertain about the appetite for change.
“There are people within the current Cabinet who voted against the End of Life Choice Act as it stands now, let alone potentially expanding it,” he said.
“I think it’s probably a more conservative Parliament,” he added. “The last Parliament had 75 Labour and Green MPs who tend to lean towards social liberalism.”
Seymour said if changes are recommended, an Act MP is likely to draft a member’s bill to enact them.
Act has secured an agreement with National that any subsequent changes to the law will be dealt with by a conscience vote. That means MPs are free to vote according to their conscience rather than along party lines.
But the member’s bill process means any reform would be at the mercy of the member’s bill ballot. It can take years for a bill to be pulled from the biscuit tin.
Seymour said there was a possible workaround. If an MP can gather 61 non-executive votes for a member’s bill they can skip the ballot system.
“This could work and I think you might find we end up with a good pathway that gets it done faster than usual.”