HOW many Submissions?

I hear that the Select Committee on Health may have no other topics of business for some time.  We are told that the staff have been sorting no less than 15,000 submissions received by 1st February. They are reported to be somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of work involved. The issue of "voluntary euthanasia" for some terminal elderly is alive and well and our people have been having their say.

It will be really unfortunate if the sheer amount of paperwork gets in the way of a good discussion. And it will be fascinating to see the analysis of the submissions. Given that quite a few people will have just written statements such as "I am against any form of doctor assisted death" (surely that is not so much a submission as a vote, of course) there must still be a large number of citizens who have given serious thought to the issue.

But how many points are there to make on this matter? Isn't it probable that we've heard there is to hear on both sides of the issue, that we have heard all the arguments, that we have access to all the necessary facts? If my request to be heard in a personal submission is accepted, I can't imagine anything I can say that won't have been said by dozens if not hundreds of others. In a way, I won't be upset to be declined an appearance.

What the country needs now is for Parliament to make some kind of decision that reflects - to an appropriate extent - the declared views of the majority of the population. The Committee can help this process by a thorough analysis of the submissions and the issues and, perhaps, a reasonably prompt and decisive report to Parliament.

Please let us have the choice!

All week we've been watching Stuff.co.nz to see if my story, as prepared by Katie Kenny, has come up in their comprehensive coverage of the euthanasia debate. With submission closing date only two or three days away we were keen to see if my piece would be there.
Well, of course, their video and photographs were done only two days ago, so we were expecting a bit much. And then yesterday, when the piece went live, we were having an extended country drive out to South Kaipara Head.
But we can see it now, and apart from the photos (don't we all hate our own photos?) I am pretty satisfied with the way Katie wrote up my words. And their little video came out pretty well except for my flapping hands being in shot.
My own video has gone over 500 views in the few days it's been up...  For a pretty serious subject, that's encouraging. But I will have to think about changing the ending of it after 1st Feb...

Hotting up!

The voluntary euthanasia debate is alive and well this week.

With only a couple of days before submissions close, there's plenty of material in the news media.
There are many attempts at presenting the different sides of the central argument. And plenty of personal experiences being shared. We cannot avoid being aware that a fairly important issue is being opened up for public scrutiny.

But for all the diligent work by researchers and reporters, there's nothing very new out there. When I first started writing my submission some months ago, I was only too aware that the arguments on both sides were already well laid out. Since then, nothing much has changed. But it may be more evident than ever that for most of us, the issues centre around beliefs or faith or personal values rather than any objective measures of things such as "quality of life" or "good death" and so on.

A surprise for me is that my own modest video contribution has been viewed several hundred times. I didn't set out to discuss the situation as if I could convince people of the logic of my position. I just wanted to share my feelings about the situation I might find myself in some time in the future. And I'm grateful for all who shared it with others to give it such wide coverage.  And to those who have let me know that they have made a submission as a result of watching my story.

In a few days I will have to change it or take it down, as it quite specifically encourages people to get submissions in by next Monday 1st Feb. And I'd really like my next venture into YouTube to have a much less serious note... There are some funny stories, even around these most depressing of subjects, and we have to keep sharing them, too...




 

What are the Odds?

I note that the InterChurch Bioethics Committee has finished its submission and confirmed that it will not support any change in the law to permit some form of assisted dying. That's a disappointment but hardly surprising; they signalled this view some months ago. One is tempted to guess that the fairly wide range of denominational representation and the emphasis on medicos and traditional theologians may have blunted their approach to the issue.

However, I guess I'd hoped for a more conciliatory participation in a debate rather than a closing of the door to on a changing world.

70-80% of the population have polled for change, but with Parliament and the Churches both determined that nothing will change, and the Committee chairman an avowed opponent of any change, the odds seem to be stacked against the cause.

Just the same, let's keep those submissions rolling in. Last day is 1st Feb. Here's a way to do it:

To:  Parliamentary Health Select Committee currently investigating the Maryan Street Petition (and 8974 others) on Medically Assisted Dying for the terminally ill or those with an irreversible condition making life unbearable.

   ·        Your name and any relevant details about yourself

·        Contact addresses etc

·        The nature of your submission:  for or against etc

·        Any relevant personal experience

·        What you want the committee to decide

·        If it’s more than a page or two, they’d appreciate a summary at the beginning or the end.

·        State if you wish to appear before the Committee

You can do it on-line, or email it to select.committees@parliament.govt.nz or print out two copies and post it to
Committee Secretariat, Health, Parliament Buildings, Wellington

Getting Personal

Having been invited to contribute a piece on my concern about Physician Assisted Dying to the public news media in the last week before submissions closed, I took my courage in both hands, dug out my old tape-based video camera and put this little video up at https://youtu.be/Q4PRZQgeVMg

It's been viewed quite a few times and has been shared around several networks already. But what matters to me is that several people have emailed me saying they will now do a submission. I'm grateful that this personal approach has helped to focus the issues for some friends.

Thirteen Days to Go...

As part of preparing my submission on Physician Assisted Dying, I have spoken to quite a few people. (Not too many around here, I guess. I am in a residential village of some 350 people, some of whom might find any discussion a little sensitive....)

However, those I have talked to are almost unanimously enthusiastic about some relaxation of our present laws around assisted suicide in particular situations. When you get to our age, you are only too aware of the distressing nature of the final passage of life for a few people. And you probably have an enhanced sense of compassion for others who are going through what you may have to experience yourself some day. So many of us, who have no wish to end our lives right now, would like to have some kind of choice should our situation become unbearable and our pain unrelievable.

The disappointing thing is that hardly anyone I have spoken to intended to make a submission and offer their views. About a dozen asked to be associated with my submission and their names have gone forward. A small number of others have told me that have made submissions. But most seem to be leaving it to everyone else.

Even more disappointing is that the minority of New Zealanders who are really against any change in the law seem to be much better organised than those who have stuck their heads up above the parapet and called for change. On the Committee's website, you can see a lot of submissions that are as simple as "I am against any change in the laws about dying".

While I don't mind if others put up "I am in favour of assisted dying", neither is really a submission. Statements of this kind are really just opinions and the opinion polls have already declared that the majority of us want some change.

I hope that these last two weeks will see an increase in thoughtful, considered offerings, including examples from personal experience, so that the Committee will get a sense of the depth of thinking of the country rather than just a counting of heads "for" and "against". This is not a time for shouting loudly or for rallying mere numbers to the cause. It's a time for doing some deep recollection of our own experiences and some sound thinking around our understanding of the mystery that is life and the inevitability that is dying.

And then we need to pass our thoughts on to the Committee. 

Here's the simple procedure that Parliament uses.
Guidance on how to make a submission is here.

Ups and Downs of PSADT

My PSA doubling time rocked up to two months for the last three monthly readings but, last Friday, it went down to zero for the month. Quarterly trends are no doubt more reliable than one- month checks. But this is a big downwards shift for which we are all pretty grateful around here.

And, while I'm on-line, the Vol Euthansia Society has just sent me this link to a marvellous parody of the Eminem and Rhianna number Love the Way you Lie by Zdoggmd. It's called Ain't the Way to Die, and - if you can just follow the words - picks up on so many of the issues around end of life choice. A wonderful piece of work from an inspired medical team.

Oh, heck, here are the words for you. But do go and see the clip!

Based on “Love The Way You Lie” by Eminem and Rihanna

Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
End of life and all my wishes go unheard
They just prolong me and don’t ask why
It’s not right because this ain’t the way to die, ain’t the way to die
Patient:
I can’t tell you what I really want
You can only guess what it feels like
And right now it’s a steel knife in my windpipe
I can’t breathe but ya still fight ‘cause ya can fight
Long as the wrong’s done right—protocol’s tight
High off of drugs, try to sedate
I’m like a pincushion, I hate it, the more I suffer
I suffocate
And right before I’m about to die, you resuscitate me
You think you’ve saved me, and I hate it, wait…
Let me go, I’m leaving you—no I ain’t
Tube is out, you put it right back, here we go again
It’s so insane, ’cause though you think it’s good, I’m so in pain
I’m more machine than man now, I’m Anakin
But no advanced directive, I feel so ashamed
And, crap, who’s that nurse? I don’t even know her name
You lay hands on me, to prolong my life again
I guess you must think that this is livin’…
Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
End of life and all my wishes go unheard
They just prolong me and don’t ask why
It’s my right to choose the way that I should die
Doctor:
You ever love somebody so much, you can barely see when you with ‘em
That they, lay sick and dying but you just don’t wanna let ‘em
Be at peace cause you miss ‘em already and they ain’t gone
Beep beep, the ventilator alarms
I swore I’d never harm ‘em, never do nothing to hurt ‘em
Hippocratic oath primum non nocere now I’m forced just to torture ‘em
They push full code, no one knows what his wishes were
His sister heard him say once, “I don’t wanna be a vegetable”
But no one agrees in the family, his caregiver Kate
Wants him comfort care but Aunt Claire lives so far away
That her guilt eats her like cancer
So she answers, “Wait! I think he’ll wake”
Maam, you ain’t even in the state!
Palliate, relieve pain, get him home, explain
Critical care? Just hypocritical when it’s so insane
But they insist I shock his heart again so I persist
Guess that’s why they say that love is pain.

Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
End of life and all my wishes go unheard
They just prolong me and don’t ask why
It’s my right to choose the way that I should die
The way that I should die