The Death with Dignity Bill was voted down as it should have been says Family Life International Spokesperson, David
Fisk.
60 MPs decided that it was not right to entertain laws that will enable people to kill others, they weren't going to
impart the right to kill. The media response has been to ridicule and belittle those who claimed that it is improper to
give the right to kill. The Sunday Star Time ran an article condemning the 60, placed right beside one dealing with the
issue of the Holocaust thesis, apparently failing to see the very obvious lessons of history. On two occasions a paper
has carried features on abuses against the elderly in rest homes while carrying swathes of pro-euthanasia commentary.
What is the message being conveyed here; that euthanasia is better than abuse. We could solve the abuse issue by making
it legal to kill the residents.
The Death with Dignity Bill was not about providing the right for a person to take their own live. The Bill was about
providing legal immunity to a medical practitioner who would end the life of a patient.
Peter Brown claims that the Bill which is based on the law in Oregon has sufficient safeguards to prevent abuses
occurring. During his recent visit to NZ, the Californian Commissioner for the Aged advised that his researched showed
that there were numerous cases of abuse in Oregon. The British House of Lords considered this issue and after extensive
research and reporting stated; "we (do) not believe that it would be possible to set secure limits if euthanasia were to
be legalized; and we were in no sense reassured by the evidence we obtained during our visit to Holland, despite the
obvious sincerity of the Dutch doctors and lawyers whom we met."
In the USA, Dr J Kevorkian was jailed for killing many of his patients. He claimed that "we need to serve the need of
the patient." There was no need to die, only a desire. If there was a need to serve those who came to him so that they
could end their lives, then why was it that Kevorkian declined 97% of the requests that he received. He was very
selective in whose needs he met.
Dr Nitschke and Lesley Martin will be campaigning for euthanasia and are strong supporters of Peter Brown's Bill. Dr
Nitschke is on record as advocating for a suicide pill for depressed teenagers. Mr Brown has stated that his bill would
only apply to those over the age of 18. However, The Death with Dignity Bill defines an adult as being a person over the
age of 18 years but fails to use the defined term in the Bill, instead referring only to the patient, therefore
rendering this "safeguard" non-existent. The fact that euthanasia is a crime in NZ has not prevented doctors killing
their patients. The current law is subject abuse, thus showing that safeguards do not work.
Family Life International published and distributed 20,000 copies of a booklet detailing the errors with euthanasia. In
four weeks Family Life International collected nearly signatures for a petition calling for MPs to reject the euthanasia
bill
The 60 MPs who have been widely insulted did what every good and decent MP should have done; they said no to the taking
an innocent life.