End-of-Life Choice Society on palliative care

Media release from the End-of-Life Choice Society of New Zealand

There is ample evidence that palliative care does not provide a safe and pain-free death for all terminally ill New Zealanders, the authors of a book recently published by the End-of-Life Choice Society said on Friday.

They rejected claims by Hibiscus Care Hospice specialist Professor Rod McLeod that New Zealand’s palliative care services were “well designed” for people with terminal cancer and neuro-muscular disorders. The claims were made at a meeting Thursday of hospice and palliative care organisations opposed to the End of Life Choice Bill currently before parliament’s justice select committee.

“Submissions to the last parliament show that terminally ill New Zealanders die cruel, agonizingly painful, deaths every day,” Dr Jack Havill and writer David Barber said.

“Many suffer horribly for days, some for weeks, while others linger at death’s door for months waiting for merciful relief.”

The book, Dying Badly – New Zealand Stories, contains extracts from the submissions with heart-rending accounts by bereaved relatives and friends of such deaths that were in no way alleviated by hospice or other palliative care.

“It graphically illustrates the need for a law change to allow medical assistance in dying,” the authors said.

The e-book can be downloaded free on the EOLC website https://yestodignity.org.nz and is also available in paperback.

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