Trans-Tasman debate over euthanasia continues
by Xavier Symons | 17 Sep 2016 |
Victorian health minister Jill Hennessy
Victoria has moved one step closer to legalising euthanasia, with health minister Jill Hennessy announcing that the State government will be legalising future medical directives.Ms Hennessy announced the legislative changes in a press conference on Wednesday, saying that advance care directives would make patient choices clear to their medical practitioners.
"This is about ensuring that we've got clarity around the law but most importantly it's about changing the culture and the conversations and the practice," she said.
In the same conference, Ms Hennessy said she had "no ethical objection" to voluntary euthanasia, and said that the government would consider its response to the recent Victorian Inquiry into End of Life Choices by the end of the year.
Several government ministers have expressed their support for voluntary euthanasia following Ms Hennessy's comments on Tuesday.
Meanwhile across the Tasman, The New Zealand Medical Association has expressed its opposition to euthanasia, stating that the risks of error and abuse were too high.
"This is an irreversible decision in which the consequences are final", New Zealand Medical Association Chair Dr Stephen Child told a New Zealand parliamentary committee this week.
"Decisions however are often influenced by circumstance, by fear of what the future might hold, by concern for loved ones and by societal expectations, which can cause direct and indirect coercion in decision-making."
Today is a landmark, of sorts. It marks the first time that a child has been euthanised under contemporary euthanasia laws. Of course, euthanising infants is relatively common, but not children who are old enough to be asked if they really want to die. The death occurred last week in the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium, although it was announced today by Belgium's euthanasia supremo, Wim Distelmans. His words were very sober and solemn, as befits the occasion, but I suspect that he and his colleagues are quietly happy to see the boundaries of euthanasia spread even further.
Ultimately this is a triumph for out-and-out nihilism, not just Belgium's inventive euthanasia lobby. Nihilism is a philosophical fad which seems to catching on. Below we feature a report on three American bioethicists who argue the case for population control to fight climate change and a defense of infanticide by a Finnish bioethicist. I've also just discovered a new book by South African philosopher David Benatar. In it he argues that procreation is morally wrong because life's a bitch and then you die (I am over-simplifying, of course.) He concludes his book with these cheerful thoughts:
Every birth is a future death. Between the birth and the death there is bound to be plenty of unpleasantness ... Inflicting serious harm—or even the risk of it—on one person, without his or her consent, in order to benefit others, is presumptively wrong.
If I'm right, euthanising a child is not an terminus for Belgian euthanasia, but just a bus stop en route to pure nihilism. What its supporters are trying to eliminate is not just pain, but life itself. What do you think?
Michael Cook
Editor
BioEdge
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It may be too optimistic about the future, but it is a good overview of a complex field.BioEdge
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