Euthanasia is part of a culture of death that seeks to replace a culture of life.

Right to Life requests the Minister of Health, Andrew Little, to save our public health system from imminent destruction. We ask him to uphold the common good by protecting our public health service and by instituting a regulatory requirement that assisted suicide and euthanasia be prohibited in Public and Private Hospitals in New Zealand.

Right to Life supports the Minister of Health, Hon. Andrew Little, in his expectation that doctors do not kill their patients with a lethal injection or assist their suicide in a Public Hospital.

The Minister was quoted in the NZ Herald as saying in a media release on 12th October, 2021 “We expect that in most circumstances, these services will be provided in the community and will be free for people who meet the strict eligibility criteria.”

The Minister has given no public encouragement for people to seek to end their life in a Public Hospital by a lethal injection or with assistance to commit suicide.

The first Assisted Dying report from the Registrar of [Assisted Dying] for the period 7th November 2021 to 31st March, 2022 however, revealed that of the 66 people who had been killed during that period 6% had been killed by a doctor in a Public Hospital, 4% in a hospice facility, 17% in aged care facilities and 73% in the person’s home or another private residence.

Right to Life believes that this prohibition would have majority support from the community. We also believe that an overwhelming number of doctors and nurses employed in Public and Private Hospitals are totally opposed to assisting in the killing of patients. The Ministry of Health estimates that only ten percent of health professionals were prepared to assist with the killing of their patients.

The introduction of euthanasia and a culture of death will contribute to the destruction of the morale and ethics of the staff dedicated to upholding the sanctity of life ethic and the protection of the lives of their patients.

The introduction of euthanasia will seriously undermine the trust and confidence that the public have had for more than 170 years in our public health system. This system has rested on the premise that we will receive care for our health and respect and protection for our life. Who would willingly be admitted to a hospital if they were unsure whether they were going to be cared for or killed? Euthanasia will replace the sanctity of life ethic with a quality of life ethic. Who will be safe in a hospital bed when killing the patient becomes a treatment option?

The right to die will soon become a duty to die. Every year in Holland more than 500 people are victims of involuntary euthanasia in being killed by a doctor without their knowledge or consent. This is a violation of human rights and is homicide.

Doctors killing their patients or assisting in their suicide is not health care; it is a violation of human rights and unjustly deprives patients of palliative care which provides ethical pain relief and compassionate treatment that neither hastens nor postpones death. There is no place for euthanasia in our public health system.

Ken Orr,

Spokesperson,

Right to Life

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