Simplifying the end of life journey
The legalisation of euthanasia and assisted suicide in Tasmania has emerged again as a political issue. It is confusing for many as it brings together diverse factors such as medical treatment, sickness, hope, dignity, pain, palliative care, compassion, ethics and many more. The issue stirs many emotions based on our fear of death and suffering and our experiences of seeing loved ones die.
It is worth clarifying a few key concepts to help make this topic a bit clearer. Euthanasia involves an action by a medical professional (usually a doctor) that aims to end the life of a person prematurely through the administration of a lethal dose, typically delivered by an injection. Assisted suicide involves a patient self-administering a lethal dose (usually through something they swallow) that is supplied as a prescription by a medical professional.
While the Church values the sanctity of human life at all stages, it does not teach that people should be kept alive forever using technology. Turning off life-support machines or refusing treatment is not euthanasia, if the machine/treatment is judged to be futile or overly-burdensome for the patient concerned.
The Church also promotes the use of palliative care for people who are terminally ill (at the end of their life). Palliative care provides pain relief but also psychological, emotional and spiritual support for the patient and their family. The standard of palliative care in Australia has improved over the last 25 years. The pain relief provided to the patient is gradually increased over time to relieve their physical pain as it progresses but can have the unintended side effect that their life is cut short by a few days. The intention of this treatment is to relieve the patient’s pain not to end their life prematurely as in the case of euthanasia. I have heard many palliative care doctors say that they have accompanied thousands of people at the end of their lives who have had good deaths even in the very rare cases in which a patient’s pain levels were higher than normal. Finally, palliative care is completely consistent with medical ethics that has as one of its foundational tenets: ‘Do no harm’.
Legalising euthanasia and assisted suicide is fraught with many difficulties. Firstly, international experience has shown that legal safeguards and eligibility criteria get watered down over time as more people demand access to the law. So what starts off as an exception to the rule becomes normalised. Consequently vulnerable people experience more pressure to follow this expectation. Secondly, as more people choose assisted suicide and euthanasia, evidence in a number of countries suggest that suicide rates increase.
Tasmania does not need to go down this path. There is no safe way of legalising euthanasia or assisted suicide.
For more information on this issue, check out the page ‘Real care and compassion’ on the Australian Catholic Bishops’ website.
By Ben Smith, Director of the Office of Life, Marriage and Family