Australia's Victoria State to allow incurably ill ones to be euthanized

The Australian state of Victoria has started to put together a program that will allow incurably ill people to legally be euthanized.

The bill narrowly passed late last year after months of intense debate. But many supporters of euthanasia are concerned that Australia’s first such law is too narrow, and will exclude many people living with intolerable pain.

Catherine Ringwood, a retired nurse, has the kind of insight into end of life care that most people never see.

"I remember very vividly one patient, one man that I looked after who I used to come on in the morning and every morning he would ask me, could you help me die? What’s the answer to that from a nurse working in palliative care? I couldn’t assist him to die because it was against the law," said Ringwood.

Now, at the age of 67, Ringwood is battling incurable leukemia and breast cancer. Despite being a longtime euthanasia supporter, she’s unhappy with the state of Victoria’s recently passed bill to legalize voluntary assisted dying. She thinks the bill doesn’t take into account people who have had chronic pain all of their life. "These people are living with a chronic disorder. They are worn out. They are sick of it. They want to go."

The controversial bill narrowly passed through the state’s parliament, after more than a year and a half of inquiries, and the vocal support of Victorian premier Daniel Andrews. The premier said his own views have evolved over the last year, when he was losing his dad to cancer. Dr. Rodney Syme, the vice president of Dying with Dignity Victoria, said the health minister’s mother had an appalling form of multiple sclerosis, so both of them were immersed, if you like, in practical suffering and so that has a huge effect on the way people view these issues.

In a study reportedly conducted by the Australian Medical Association, nearly three quarters of the doctors surveyed said they believe that palliative care cannot treat all types of pain.

The law will give terminally ill patients with a life expectancy of less than six months the ability to choose when they die. And it excludes people with dementia and other diseases that impair their ability to make sound decisions. Despite its narrow focus, the bill faced very vocal opposition from religious and conservative groups.

Margaret Tighe, president of Right to Life Australia, explained the reason she opposes the bill simply because it is legalizing killing. It makes her feel very concerned to the lives that are going to be lost as the result of this bill.

Doctor Rodney Syme also has a unique view of end of life care. His support for voluntary assisted dying began decades ago when he said there was nothing he could do to treat a patient’s constant and unbearable pain.

"It had a profound effect on me and I thought why if I were in that situation would I be able to achieve relief for that suffering but my patient cannot," he said.

Since then, Syme has counselled about 2,000 people. In some cases, he risked his career and challenged the legal system by giving them the option to end their own lives.

"I give medication to people and then it is their decision. It is never my intention that a person would end their life. I want to make it, yes, possible that they could do that but it doesn’t mean to say that they will."

In a study reportedly conducted by the Australian Medical Association, nearly three quarters of the doctors surveyed said they believe that palliative care cannot treat all types of pain, but less than half said they’d actually be willing to help a patient with assisted dying.

"Many of them are very distressed about this, because they are people who are working hard, really caring for people, and trying to improve their situation, working to develop new strategies, new research, and then this comes along, legislation that says if these people want to have their lives ended they can, you can kill them," said Tighe.

Ringwood doesn’t know if she would qualify under the law because of the life expectancy provision of less than six months.

"There are so many people who are going to be excluded from this, it doesn’t address the real issue of who owns your own life."

Victoria’s voluntary assisted dying law is set to take effect next year.

(CGTN)