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May 06 An Open Letter to PM Rudd on Voluntary Euthanasia Rudd explains why he
opposes euthanasia My response, Prime Minister, to your comments I have among my few treasured friends a ninety year old lady who just quite simply wants to be allowed to die. She is tired of living. She doesn't like pain so takes 14 tablets a day to prevent this occurring and so prolongs her tired body natural inclination to stop working efficiently. Her husband of sixty years has pre deceased her and she has seen most of her friends go before her. Unable to travel, she is surrounded by a religious community group as neigbours, that do not associate with outsiders. Her family check on their mother on a regular basis but even knowing she is loved, she still wants to be "allowed" to die quickly and peacefully. Every morning she awakes and thinks " heavens, I am still here and alive, why couldn't I have died in my sleep?"...Strong language, Mr Rudd, sitting across the kitchen table with a woman who has intelligently assessed her circumstances and wants to die anyhow! I just know Mr Rudd, that I would like the choice to choose for myself. I am sick and tired of the drawn out excuses that the frail elderly would choose death to prevent becoming a burden to their relatives! This is absolute rubbish! one only has to look at the rows of over medicated, alone people, sitting restlessly in nursing homes to know that for the vast majority of the frail elderly their last years are not spent with their loving family. They are spent alone while their children attend their grandchildren's wants and needs. When I was desperately ill myself, I never felt so alone as sitting in a room full of people who had no comprehension of my absolute pain. I knew I was loved and yet, quite often it wasn't enough at the time to prevent my sense of aloneness in what I must endure. Facing death does this to some people and as a Humanist, Mr Rudd, I don't have the advantage of "faith" to call on for support. I feel very responsible for me! A man I'd known for thirty years, told me in conversation that he had not seen his aged father in over a year and yet he felt he had a "good relationship" with his dad. "He's knows I am a busy man!" A solicitor or a son, he had indicated his choice of priority. Is that what his father would have understood? Will this man spend a week sitting by his father's bed as he dies slowly, reminiscing about his love for the old man? Twice in three years is not really what constitutes a parent worrying about becoming a burden on their children......They've ceased to have a relationship. Older folk become very independent of their children's authority over their lives as is indicated by the many news stories where estrangement are common place in many families and yet the Law assumes "happy families" is the normal. Blood ties yes, but caring, loving, interested, worried - it doesn't matter what family want - or it shouldn't! Legislation should be about how the individual feels about their end of life choices for themselves. Not the mother, husband, brother, sister, daughter or son, but about the individual undergoing major medical changes in their lives, or even maintaining existing medical circumstances which continuously and ongoing, take away their joy of living. Absolutely no one Mr Rudd is overlooking that very inconvenient word "voluntary", but it does need to be spelt out time and time again. We want to die in a manner that suits our needs - not the relatives - but our own needs for us! Why is it so very difficult to get this message through to the politicians? Of course we would love to continue living a happy. healthy life forever, but the reality is that death will not be denied. For so many sick people, to die with appropriate medication to hasten death, is a necessity for their wellbeing and could also by default provide a bonus if it prevents relatives from "suffering emotionally" along with them. I don't care Mr Rudd if my relatives should gain from my death, if it means I've had a good one! Mary Walsh May 6, 2008 April 14 Steve Guest Rally April 16, 1 - 2 pmMedia Release 14th April, 2008: For immediate release
Nearly 3 years after the death of Steve Guest , a journalist and former media adviser to the Cain Government in Victoria, the coroner still has not handed down a finding. Steve Guest suffered intensely from cancer of the oesophagus and on the 774 ABC Jon Faine programme, publicly aired his intention to take his own life. He railed against those who would deny him the right to die his way and condemned those who preferred to see him die an agonisingly slow and painful death. Police have investigated the death for nearly three years. They told Dr Rodney Syme, a medical doctor and prominent Melbourne campaigner for dying with dignity law reform, that he died of an overdose of barbiturates. At a Melbourne rally last year (held to commemorate the second anniversary of Steve’s death), Dr. Syme told hundreds of supporters and the media how he had provided Steve Guest with advice and medication. He urged the Victorian Parliament to get on with enacting legislation to enable doctors like him, to respond to the requests of people like Steve Guest. Dr Syme remains under investigation yet police have not re-interviewed him since that public statement. “I conclude the authorities hope that a glacial pace of investigation might effectively put the issue on ice” Dr Syme said. “But it won’t. No one can escape the fact that legislation significantly lags the will of the people. 82% of Victorians believe in the right of people like Steve to receive medical assistance if they choose to end their own life”. The publicity surrounding Steve Guest’s death ultimately led to a Private Members Bill that is now being introduced into the Victorian Parliament. “It is similar to legislation that has been in operation for 11 years in Oregon without any abuse”, Dr Syme said. It allows, with very strict safeguards, a person suffering intolerably from a terminal illness, the right to request a prescription for medication (that they must ingest themselves) to end their own lives. A 3rd-anniversary rally (themed “Lets Get on With It”) will be held on Wednesday 16th April (1-2 p.m.) on the Victorian Parliament steps. Speakers include:
More
information is available at www.dwdv.org.au,
or phone (03) 9877 7677 The overwhelming majority of Australians believe in the right of
the terminally Dying With Dignity Victoria, Inc. Reg. No:
A0006974B ABN: 80 591 186 892 April 12 Legacy of Love shown pratically with $5 million VE GiftDaryl Passmore and Steve Connolly of the Sunday Courier Mail (Queensland) April 13, 2008 12:00am FORMER Brisbane lord mayor and philanthropist Clem Jones left $5 million in his will to fund a campaign for the legalisation of euthanasia. The legacy was inspired by the experience of watching his beloved wife Sylvia suffer before her death nine years ago. "I saw Sylvia suffer the most dreadful agony from disease and illness that destroyed her physically and mentally and caused her to suffer day after day not only the pain, but also the indignity of being something that could not truly be described as a human being," the will said. "But Sylvia was only one of millions of people who are committed to varying terms of torture by their fellows." Dr Jones, 89, who died in December, never spoke publicly on the right-to-die issue, but the strength of his feelings are clear in the notes on his final wishes, made public yesterday by his lawyer, David Muir: "If we have a definition of living of any sort, it cannot include the existence of people simply artificially kept alive against their will and in circumstances that can only be described as totally inhuman or, indeed, barbaric." Dr Jones instructed that $5 million be used "in whatever way" his executors see fit to help the "fine people" fighting to change the law so patients who choose to end their lives can be given ways and means to do so. "I do not, of course, criticise the splendid endeavours that the medical fraternity make to preserve the quality of human life but when that quality falls to a level where life is one of pain and suffering – or when one's mind can no longer function – those self-same medical practitioners should have the right and the responsibility of releasing persons from that torture, misery and indignity." The couple had been married for 49 years when Mrs Jones, 89, died in 1999. They met when she worked in his surveying office. After Dr Jones was elected mayor in 1961, the two philanthropists dedicated their lives to working for the city and charitable organisations. With 14 years as mayor, he was the city's longest-serving leader and earned the title "Mr Brisbane" through his vision and commitment to modernising Queensland's capital. He led the city through the devastating 1974 flood and was later called in to head the operation to rebuild Darwin in the wake of Cyclone Tracy. He built a personal fortune, through property and shareholdings, worth an estimated $150 million. It includes commercial and industrial properties in Cairns and Rockhampton, a prawn farm in Mackay, the Anchorage on Maloja luxury apartment development in Caloundra, the Shangri-La convention centre at Wynnum, a small shopping centre in Goodna and houses and units across Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The investments will be maintained to generate income, with his will instructing the establishment of a Clem Jones Foundation to distribute $250,000 a year, rising with inflation, to a host of charities, sporting clubs, school bursaries and prizes and other philanthropic initiatives. Suitable projects would include "things which enhance the lifestyle of the less fortunate including the sick, the aged, the disadvantaged or the handicapped." The will leaves $2 million to another cause very close to Dr Jones' heart – an Australian republic. The money will be held in trust for Mr Muir to use to campaign for a republic with a president to be elected by the people. Mr Muir told The Sunday Mail yesterday that Dr Jones was a "passionate believer" in the model and he would do everything in his power to fulfil his wishes. He was pleased to see Prime Minister Kevin Rudd lifting the republic issue up the priority list and the first step would be pushing for a plebiscite at the next general election on whether Australia should sever links with the monarchy. Dr Jones bequeathed $5 million to stem cell research aimed at finding a cure for brain damage and the same amount to research for the prevention or cure of macular degeneration of vision. His longtime support of the Brisbane Strikers soccer club continues with $5 million over 10 years for the development of youth soccer programs and a $1 million interest-free loan to expand the clubhouse at their Meakin Park ground. All loans to the club have also been waived. Dr Jones was particularly passionate about supporting young people, especially disadvantaged youngsters, through sport and left $1 million to the Clem Jones Beenleigh Community Services and Recreational and Welfare Association to build a youth centre. The existing Clem Jones Youth Centre at Carina and Clem Jones Home for the Aged at Bulimba will each receive $1 million – but only if the organisations amalgamate. And there's a further sting in the tail, with Dr Jones stipulating that the use of all money given to the home for the aged must be approved by his executors. "The reason for this is that in my opinion, the home has deviated from the philosophy on which it was established and it is not my wish to contribute further to highly paid administrators and the institutionalisation that such inevitably creates." Ongoing support will continue for dozens of organisations including YMCA Queensland ($100,000 a year), PCYC ($25,000 a year), University of Queensland department of sport $50,000 a year) and Women's Sport Queensland ($10,000). There will be annual scholarships of $25,000 to the University of Queensland and $10,000 to the University of New England, Armidale. A new $10,000-a-year bursary to be known as the Clem and Ted Jones Memorial, in memory of his father, will allow former Ipswich Grammar School students to undertake post-graduate work in pure or applied mathematics at the University of Queensland Ipswich campus. Queensland Cricket Association will be allocated $2000 a year plus a $500 perpetual trophy. Others include Foodbank Queensland and a program which provides free breakfasts for students at 27 schools in the Logan area. Dr Jones' will recognises a number of individuals who played an important part in his life. Delia "Del" Townsend – who worked in Dr Jones office for years, chaired his company The Clem Jones Group and organised much of his charity sponsorship – was left $250,000 plus his shares in Shanlodge Pty, the company which developed the $40 million Anchorage on Maloja development. The will also gives her free rental of a house in Camp Hill for life and any domestic or nursing or medical care she may need in future "in recognition of her devotion and assistance over many difficult years in my office and, above all, her personal kindness to me and Sylvia and to all those who have dwelt in the Clem Jones Home during her years of administration." For her "loyalty, devotion and dedicated service over almost a lifetime", another longtime colleague and friend, Maris Osborne, will receive $100,000, an annuity of $24,000 per year and lifetime free rental of Dr Jones' property at Quay West Apartments in the Brisbane CBD as well as living costs and future medical support. Lung specialist Maurice Heiner, who cared for Mrs Jones during her illness was also mentioned in the will. "Dr Maurice Heiner has been a friend of mine since his childhood days. Sylvia was very fond of him and when she became ill, he looked after her in a most wonderful way, giving her constant medical attention and comfort," wrote Dr Jones. "Since her death, Maurice has been equally kind to me with a friendship that is almost impossible to repay." Dr Jones will offers to build three units on the site of an existing property at Garfield Tce in Surfers Paradise, valued at $3 million-plus. One would be sold, one retained by the foundation and one given to Dr Heiner at construction cost. The will also contains a direction that the executors do what they can to establish a permanent relationship between Brisbane and its sister city Brisbane, California.
Voluntary Euthanasia, I like it!Information received from an email this morning advises us. "There are now 227 'readable' submissions on the Senate web page 142 FOR 85 AGAINST. The person I spoke to in Canberra this morning said they had received more than 2000 submissions" (ROTI Legislation Repeal Bill) It reminded me of something I had forgotten to mention in my submission. When the law makers read submissions from religious bodies in particular claiming to represent an enormous number of people with their rejection of voluntary euthanasia, it is important to question how their views are actually canvassed. The Catholic Women Association when questioned by me, had to admit that their rank and file members had not actually voted on the wording of their submission for the suicide related material's legislation in January 2006. In fact, the President felt totally at ease with claiming they represented others' views simply because she had been voted in as President. There were no workshops providing a balanced representation of how the legislation preventing terminally ill people talking on the telephone with either their doctor or their friends, would impact on their quality of life. I knew it had to be a wrong assumption because no woman in her right mind with ovarian cancer would cut off her options of obtaining permanent relief from what is a particularly ghastly cancer. I understood that many could offer up their pain and suffering for "All for Thee O Lord, all for Thee", but the majority being very human, can only tolerate so much pain before it become unbearable and intolerable. It is important to remember that the 80% of people who support DWDV's (Dying with Dignity Victoria) surveys must by definition make up a large number of individuals who belong to a religious organisation be they Jewish, Christian, Buddhists, Hindu or Muslim. Even those who are convinced their journey in life is just taking them into yet another life elsewhere believe in the goodness of a compassionate world. Why do some humans beings believe that there is a need to suffer in order to "live a holy life".....Why can't we be both "unsuffering" and holy? ......Jesus and Mohammed didn't spend their lives suffering that I've read anywhere. Why would a "Just God" require people to "suffer pain" taking them away from a productive life of good deeds? How does suffering "enrich" the individual's life possibilities? Think about those questions please? There is the Steve Guest Rally being held on the steps of the Victorian Parliament on Wednesday, April 16, 1- 2 pm, its purpose is to encourage legislators to make laws enabling people to die easier if they choose a hastened death. Any Victorians able to stagger in should make the effort......For those unable to, we know we represent you in ours! I am sitting here with 14 stitches in my back from the second round of treatment having had 10 centimetres of tissue surrounding the original melanoma removed on Thursday. I am acutely aware that cancer has invaded my body again. I am acutely aware that I don't know if it has spread elsewhere. I am also acutely aware that I am entering another period of "watchfulness" about my body's reaction to anything at all. Is the aches and pains "normal" aches and pains? Is there something sinister in a sore arm for no apparent reason. My stress levels are up again! Why did I vomit three times yesterday? It didn't happen with the initial treatment three weeks ago....what's changed? why now?.....One thing is for sure, what is, is! and I can't change it. I am in the care of one specialist looking after my melanoma but do I go back and inform my original oncologist who was ready to put me out to pastures "as cured"? Am I cured? No I don't think so! I will take one day at a time......I just thank goodness for the scientist of man. That I have options. Just in closing to the gentleman whose email I did not answer or even acknowledge with a receipt as requested, asking how to obtain the peaceful pill - play your silly games with someone else please - I can't be bothered!.....do your own homework mate, just like the rest of us......Be prepared to accept that the "peaceful pill" has not yet been invented....but a physician assisted needle should you be so lucky is available elsewhere in the world. Any method of dying will be painful.....it is just the degree of pain for which we are prepared to suffer that is the question. April 09 The Rights of the Terminally Ill Legislation revisiited
http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/news/opinion/opinion/more-than-just-a-flag/1219928.html As a matter of
democratic principle and good governance, the Commonwealth should not remove
power from a self-governing jurisdiction to make laws on a topic. |
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