Kiwi's and Euthanasia

In this blog, I have looked into the New Zealand government and explored the specific political influences, both positive and negative. How political leaders understand euthanasia is reflected by what they say and do to help everyday New Zealanders to understand it too.

Although euthanasia is a universal debate, the ideas, views, and perspectives on this issue are strong in the minds and hearts of the people living in New Zealand. The government has its moments in the spotlight but as a nation, discussions on the topic are humming. Bringing the subject up into conversation creates a mini debate about the pro’s and cons of euthanasia and new ideas are bought up that others have not thought about before. For example, many people see it as a very black and white issue. Either they believe in it, or they do not. However, euthanasia is anything but simple and when ignorant, naive, and uneducated comments are made public, the community of New Zealand stand up and have their say.

New Zealand Prime Minister
Mr. John Key

In August 2012, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Mr. John Key, stated in an interview, “I think there's a lot of euthanasia that effectively happens in our hospitals” (Stuff.co.nz, 2012, para. 4). This comment stirred the country and outraged many people especially medical professionals. Concern arose as to whether the comment would scare the families of terminally ill patients, and members of the public spoke out to defend doctors saying Key was being unprofessional and ignorant. Sinead Donnelly, New Zealand chairwoman of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine said “it appears the Prime Minister has confused the ceasing of curative treatments with ending a person's life. In situations like this people are in fact dying from an advanced disease, not from the withdrawal of the treatment” (Otago Daily Times, 2012, para. 10). As a response, Mr. John Key apologised for making such a careless comment and expressed how he would support legalising euthanasia if the ballot were to be drawn.

In July 2012, Labour MP Maryan Street submitted her ‘End of Life Choice Bill’ into the private members ballot. This Bill supports patients who are terminally ill to have the choice to die with dignity rather than live their last chapter of life in agony. The bill provided specific conditions that need to be met in order for someone to be medically assisted to die. In summary these are:

• “that the person making the request must be mentally competent, as attested by 2 medical practitioners – and that there is no coercion involved
• that the person suffers from a terminal illness which is likely to cause death within 12 months, or from an irreversible physical or mental condition that, in the person’s view, renders his or her life unbearable
• A 7 day reflection period
• Can do an end of life directive, while mentally competent, specifying wishes. Must be renewed every five years
• Medical practitioners can refuse to be involved
• Family members cannot annul the wishes of the applicant (unlike with organ donations)
• An annual review of how the law is being operated” (Euthanasia-Free NZ, 2012, para. 4).

Although this bill is yet to be drawn, out of 1000 New Zealander’s surveyed in 2008, 71% supported the legal right to choose a medically assisted suicide. 20% did not support it and the remainder surveyed said they did not know. Furthermore, the University of Waikato survey asked 125 Waikato doctors, and found 54 of the doctors said they would practice euthanasia if it were made legal” (Legalization of Euthanasia in New Zealand, n.d, para. 3).

These statistics show that alongside the Prime Minister, the majority of the New Zealand population supports the legalization of assisted suicide. However, in 1995, Michael Laws and Cam Champion drafted the Death with Dignity Bill. This was the first time that New Zealand considered making euthanasia legal. There were requirements that needed to be met in order for someone to be euthanized, however confusion developed over the wordiness of the Bill. Basically, the Bill stated that terminally ill patients would be able to be euthanized if they had given prior consent but the simplicity of the explanation of the requirements did not convince the members of parliament. Controversy also arose when Laws explained the Death with Dignity would also apply to disabled children. Unsurprisingly, the Bill was defeated 61 to 29 votes (Life.org.nz, 2011). This outcome was a learning curve for Maryan Street who understood the importance of clear-cut requirements and how vital it is to make sure the voters understand what she is trying to make legal.

So what else is happening in New Zealand now in relation to this never-ending debate of euthanasia? As people who have terminal illness are the most likely to consider euthanasia, the medical professionals who are in charge of caring for them are likely to be the ones caught up taking responsibility for this issue the most. The World Health Organization (2013) says palliative care 

“provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms, affirms life and regards dying as a normal process, intends neither to hasten or postpone death, integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects of patient care, offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death, offers a support system to help the family cope during the patients illness ad in their own bereavement, uses a team approach to address the needs of patients and their families, including bereavement counseling, will enhance quality of life, and may also positively influence the course of the illness” (para. 2).

 

This amazing organization provided to support patients and their families, has been in the media spotlight for ‘supporting euthanasia’. Palliative care often provides the patient with strong medications to manage pain, and the media twisted this, convincing the public palliative care was the government’s way of secretly committing euthanasia (Stuff.co.nz, 2011). In fact, this is far from the truth and because of this negative attention, the government shared their palliative care strategy to increase public knowledge, and give confidence back to those who were under their care.

Patricia Ferguson and her son Sean, who
helped his mother to die without regret

The New Zealand government’s palliative care strategy has been influenced by a much bigger organization. The European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC)  have created the White Paper. “The White Paper covers key elements of palliative care: definition and terminology of palliative care and hospice care, common values and philosophy of palliative care, levels of care, patient groups, needs assessment and requirements for different types of services and settings” (EAPC, 2010, para. 4). In short, it is similar to the Code of Ethics professionals follow in a range of occupations such as early childhood educators, and doctors. The expectations the White Paper outlines for doctors and nurses who provide palliative care have been ‘adopted’ by the New Zealand government. The Ministry of Health are receiving extra funding so they can provide training for professionals who care for those transitioning from life to death. Their goal is that the quality of care will be so high that the number of requests for euthanasia will decrease resulting in a reduction of requests for euthanasia to be legalized (Adler, 2003). The Patricia Ferguson case shared with the world how painful and long a death can be without 24/7 professional care. There is a real need for the education of New Zealanders on the type of care that is offered to those who are terminally ill. This may encourage those who are contemplating euthanasia to take into account the high quality of care they could receive to make their last chapter in life as comfortable and enjoyable as possible.    

  

References

Adler, J. (2003). From New Zealand: On defining perspectives. Palliative Medicine, 17(2) 170-171. doi:10.1191/0269216303pm677op.

EAPC. (2010). EAPC white paper on standards and norms for hospice and palliative care in Europe. Retrieved from http://www.eapcnet.eu/?TabId=735.

Euthanasia-Free NZ. (2012). Maryan Street MP submits euthanasia bill. Retrieved from http://euthanasiadebate.org.nz/maryan-street-mp-submits-euthanasia-bill/.

Legalization of Euthanasia in New Zealand. (n.d). Surveys in New Zealand. Retrieved from http://policyprojects.ac.nz/jasonrenwick/surveys-in-new-zealand/.

Life.org.nz. (2011). The first death with dignity bill. Retrieved from http://www.life.org.nz/euthanasia/abouteuthanasia/nzeuthanasiahistory2/.

Otago Daily Times. (2012). Anger over Key’s euthanasia comments. Retrieved from http://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/222991/anger-over-keys-euthanasia-comments.

Stuff.co.nz. (2012). Euthanasia already happening in hospitals – PM. Retrieved from http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7530298/Euthanasia-already-happening-in-hospitals-PM.

Stuff.co.nz. (2011). Euthanasia is not palliative care. Retrieved from http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/letters-to-the-editor/5932245/Letter-Euthanasia-is-not-palliative-care.

World Health Organisation. (2013). WHO definition of palliative care. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/cancer/palliative/definition/en/.