{"id":14388,"date":"2013-10-16T15:58:07","date_gmt":"2013-10-16T04:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=14388"},"modified":"2013-10-16T15:58:07","modified_gmt":"2013-10-16T04:58:07","slug":"euthanasia-lives-worth-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2013\/10\/16\/euthanasia-lives-worth-living\/","title":{"rendered":"Euthanasia: Lives Worth Living"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Craig Wallace, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Lives-Worth-Living\/740511099297739\">Lives Worth Living<\/a><\/p>\n<p>14 October 2013<\/p>\n<p>Members of the House of Assembly<\/p>\n<p>Parliament of Tasmania<\/p>\n<p>Dear Members<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">\u00a0<b>Re: Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2013<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>We are writing regarding this Bill which is currently before the Parliament.<\/p>\n<p><i>Lives Worth Living<\/i> (LWL) is a network of senior disability rights advocates who have concerns about euthanasia and eugenics.\u00a0 We are not a religious group or a pro-life lobby group.\u00a0 Our views on the Bill emerge from a secular rights basis.<\/p>\n<p>We are all people with disabilities.\u00a0 Some of our disabilities are life long and well advanced and would be included in the Bill.<\/p>\n<p>We acknowledge that the disability community does not have a single view on euthanasia. \u00a0There are some members who are concerned about legalised suicide for people with disabilities given the potential for abuse and perverse outcomes and others who do not have a view or support a right to choice and believe in the right to make end of life decisions for people with an illness like inoperable Cancer.<\/p>\n<p>However there is a widely held view that legislation must have safeguards and closely attend to the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities which has been ratified by Australia.<\/p>\n<p>In view of the above, the current Bill concerns us on a number of levels:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Bill does not mention the UN Convention\u00a0on the Rights of People with Disabilities which has been ratified by\u00a0Australia.\u00a0 Article 10 of the Bill,\u00a0which people with disabilities strongly lobbied for, provides that States\u00a0Parties reaffirm that every human being has the inherent right to life and\u00a0shall take all necessary measures to ensure its effective enjoyment by\u00a0persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others.\u00a0It is of concern that the opening\u00a0sections of the Bill do not mention the Convention at all and stress \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 equality of outcome for people with disability.<\/li>\n<li>This Bill is not confined to terminal illness\u00a0and we believe opens the door to the euthanasia of people with\u00a0disabilities.\u00a0 In section 11 there\u00a0is deep blurring between medical conditions and disability which is made\u00a0more obtuse rather than clarified within the Bill:\n<ul>\n<li>The Bill says that eligibility includes \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 persons with a \u201c\u201dprogressive medical condition that is causing persistent \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and not relievable suffering, for a person diagnosed with the medical condition, that is intolerable for the person \u2013 and that is in the advanced stages with no reasonable prospect of a permanent improvement\u00a0 in the person\u2019s medical condition\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>In section 2 the Bill seeks to qualify this by saying that \u201cFor the avoidance of doubt, a person does not have an eligible medical condition solely because of the age of the person, any disability of the person or any psychological illness of the person\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>Rather than avoiding doubt, this clouds matters &#8211;\n<ul>\n<li>Most disabilities are permanent and not able to be cured.<\/li>\n<li>Many disabilities are progressive or have stages<\/li>\n<li>Many people who acquire disabilities believe them to be intolerable only to change our minds over time<\/li>\n<li>This appears to effectively open the door to\u00a0the Bill encompassing some disabilities which could be unacceptable to a\u00a0person at a point in time but then become bearable at a later point in\u00a0time given the right supports.\u00a0Many disabilities such as a high level spinal injury, multiple\u00a0sclerosis, muscular dystrophy or motor neurone disease might fall into\u00a0this category.\u00a0 In the absence of\u00a0supports for people with these disabilities this Bill is open to perverse\u00a0outcomes and exploitation of vulnerable people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>LWL is concerned that the bill creates a\u00a0double standard in the treatment and interventions around ending one\u2019s\u00a0life based on disability.\u00a0Euthanasia is assisted suicide and as we read it the Bill fails to mandate\u00a0suicide prevention and other counselling which may identify other issues\u00a0in people\u2019s lives which weigh in their decisions. Where counselling is\u00a0addressed it is an option for the primary practitioner, not mandated.<\/li>\n<li>The act does not invite the person to\u00a0indicate whether a lack of disability or other supports might be impacting\u00a0on their decision,\u00a0 LWL believes\u00a0that the current broke and broken disability support system around\u00a0Australia, including in Tasmania, may create a raft of pressures in\u00a0people\u2019s lives which may impact on decisions.\u00a0 Arguably, it would enable a similar\u00a0outcome to the deaths of the two twins in Belgium who took their own lives\u00a0on the basis that becoming deaf\/blind could be unendurable.<\/li>\n<li>LWL has experience of many people with dual\u00a0disability, including long term vulnerable people whose supports have\u00a0broken down.\u00a0 The Bill deals with depression\u00a0but does not mention other forms of psychosocial disability which may\u00a0impact on a person\u2019s decision making.\u00a0The way in which cognitive, intellectual or dual disability would\u00a0interact with consent is unclear.<\/li>\n<li>We have some concerns about arrangements for\u00a0consent under the Bill, especially for people with communication\u00a0barriers.\u00a0 It is possible to imagine a situation where a person with\u00a0a disability has no say at all or where a family member who is familiar\u00a0with that person\u2019s way of communicating is seen as the primary source of\u00a0consent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>LWL supports the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the difference it will make to the lives of people with disability.\u00a0 We believe the proper support, not suicide, is the decent path to better lives with dignity for people with disability.\u00a0 The NDIS hasn\u2019t been fully introduced.\u00a0 In the absence of these supports, we believe that people with disability may be subjected to a raft of subtle emotional, financial and personal pressures to end our lives.<\/p>\n<p>Disability is high in Tasmania and it troubles us that Tasmanians with disability may be at higher risk of these perverse outcomes from a euthanasia bill which goes broader than terminal illness.\u00a0 Just under one in four Tasmanians (23%) reported a disability in 2009. This was higher than the national average of 19 per cent.<\/p>\n<p>LWL also believes that there is a need for more considered national work on a range of issues at the health\/disability interface and to harmonise these to avoid the risk of different human rights outcomes based on where people live.<\/p>\n<p>This work should include the adoption of a National Position on Eugenics and Biotechnology by all Australian First Ministers covering issues which act on Article 10 of the UN Convention including: Assisted Suicide on the grounds of disability, Genetic Screening, Involuntary sterilisation and certain surgical procedures.<\/p>\n<p>LWL believes that the Bill as it stands raises serious issues and risks for people with disability and we hope it is defeated in the Parliament of Tasmania. We are also releasing this letter publicly to contribute to community debate.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for considering this letter and you can also contact Craig Wallace directly on 0413 135 731.<\/p>\n<p>Signed<\/p>\n<address>Joan Hume OAM,\u00a0 John Moxon,\u00a0 Craig Wallace<\/address>\n<p><i>Lives Worth Living\u00a0<\/i>14 October 2013<\/p>\n<p>*See also, <a href=\"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2013\/10\/09\/depression-disability-safe-euthanasia\/\">Depression, disability and &#8216;safe&#8217; euthanasia<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Craig Wallace, Lives Worth Living 14 October 2013 Members of the House of Assembly Parliament of Tasmania Dear Members \u00a0Re: Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2013 We are writing regarding this Bill which is currently before the Parliament. Lives Worth Living &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2013\/10\/16\/euthanasia-lives-worth-living\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14388"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14388"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14395,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14388\/revisions\/14395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}