Why is David Seymour MP Misleading Parliament?

MEDIA RELEASE JUNE 17, 2017

Image resultRight to Life believes that if the End of Life Choice bill were passed, it would ultimately result in more than 1240 patients being killed by their doctor or assisted in suicide each year, not the 130 claimed by the Hon David Seymour. Right to Life asks why is he misleading Parliament and the people of New Zealand?

The Hon David Seymour Leader of ACT, claims that should his End of Life Choice bill be passed it would help “an incredibly small number of people,”. He estimates that 130 persons would be killed by a doctor each year. Right to Life disputes this and believes that the incredibly small number of people that would be killed would ultimately be an estimated 1,240.

The Hon David Seymour’s claim is based on the experience in the state of Oregon where the Oregon Death with Dignity Act was passed in 1997. The Oregon experience is not indicative of what would happen in New Zealand. The Oregon Act provides for a doctor to give a prescription for a lethal pill to a patient in a terminal condition. The prescription is then taken to a pharmacy and the patient may then take the lethal drug in his home at any time that he chooses. There is no medical supervision and the patient may decide not to take the pill. The Oregon Public Health Division reported in January 2017 that 133 patients had died in 2016 after taking a lethal pill.

Right to Life requests that Members of Parliament withdraw their support for this bill which is a ravenous wolf dressed as a lamb.

Right to Life believes that should the End of Life Choice bill be passed we would expect an estimated 1,240 patients to be killed by a doctor each year or from assisting in their suicide.

Right to Life believes that the Dutch euthanasia legislation passed in 2001 is close to the proposed bill. In 2016 there were 6,091 cases reported of doctors killing their patients or assisting in their suicide in Holland, an increase of fifty per cent in five years.

The reported euthanasia cases represent 4 per cent of the deaths in Holland in 2016. It should be noted that a Lancet study in 2011 found that 23 per cent of cases in Holland were not reported, generally because of lack of consent. There were 31,179 deaths reported in 2016 in New Zealand. If we replicated the Dutch experience four per cent, ie 1240 of these deaths would be patients killed by their doctor or assisted in suicide under the End of Life Choice bill.

Ken Orr

Spokesperson,

Right to Life

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