Broadcaster Andrew Denton, an advocate for assisted dying law, told the Q&A audience it was not correct to say 550 newborn babies were killed last year under Dutch euthanasia laws. Is that right?
Australian parliaments continue to resist legalising euthanasia or its cousin, assisted suicide.
tommaso lizzul/Shutterstock
The Australian public supports legalising euthanasia and bills are introduced into state parliaments every year. Yet governments continue to resist legalising euthanasia or assisted suicide.
ABC’s Q&A subtly but importantly changed the nature of the euthanasia debate.
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It’s possible the difference between Australia and the Netherlands (where euthanasia and assisted suicide are legal) lies more in the way we think about what we are doing than what actually happens.
The contrast between rights with dignity and rights without is increasingly apparent with regard to two groups of Australians: retirees and those in aged-care facilities.
Where next for supporters of end-of-life choice?
Robert Kneschke
The debate on the role of law and ethics at the end of life is an enduring one. In 1971, such debate was focused almost solely upon the Netherlands when a rural physician called Truus Postma facilitated…
Too stringent an approach to assisted dying risks locking people with mental illness out of the right to make decisions about the end of their lives.
Thomas Hawk/Flickr
Euthanasia advocates often assert a distinction between dying with dignity (good) and suicide (bad), drawing on the community’s twin commitment to both permitting euthanasia in some circumstances, and…
Terminal cancer patient Peter Short gives evidence on voluntary euthanasia to the Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, which tabled its report on Monday.
Tracey Nearmy/AAP
A Senate inquiry into legalising voluntary euthanasia for terminally ill people has recommended a conscience vote on the proposed bill after technical matters, such as what constitutes a “terminal illness…
Historical evidence of suicide rates varying with the philosophy of the times urges caution about adopting an unqualified libertarian stance that privileges autonomy above all else.
Arallyn!/Flickr
Seven Australians will die today as a result of suicide, the leading cause of death in young Australian men. So the media interest surrounding one in particular, that of 45-year-old Nigel Brayley’s suicide…
If Senator Richard di Natale were to win the federal parliament’s support for his bill to legalise euthanasia, it would probably override state bans.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Greens senator Richard Di Natale is circulating a bill to legalise euthanasia throughout Australia, the Medical Services (Dying with Dignity) Exposure Draft Bill. The key provision permits – subject to…
Philip Nitschke and David Leyonhjelm have appealed libertarian ideals in their arguments for euthanasia and same-sex marriage respectively.
Joe Castro & Luca Koch/AAP
The suspension of Philip Nitschke’s medical registration, and the events leading up to it, has sparked one of the most heated discussions about euthanasia in Australia for some time. What’s surprising…
Dr Philip Nitschke admits advising a healthy 45-year-old man who later killed himself.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
People who operate on the edge risk falling over it and into the abyss. And euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke has been in freefall since it emerged he had email contact with a healthy 45-year-old West…
In the current era of hi-tech medicine, the word euthanasia has been stretched to encompass a broad range of interventions.
Guian Bolisay/Flickr
Debate about euthanasia flares up in Australia every few months but, for some reason, it never gets very far. The latest round started late last month, when urologist and campaigner for voluntary euthanasia…
Lawfully allowing a patient to die should be kept distinct from euthanasia.
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There is a clear legal distinction in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States between withdrawing life-prolonging treatment – such as ventilation for a person who can’t breathe unaided, or…
Belgium is a world away from Australia on this issue, with a completely different culture and history of euthanasia.
Image from shutterstock.com
Ben White, Queensland University of Technology and Lindy Willmott, Queensland University of Technology
Late last week, the Belgian parliament passed laws that granted children access to euthanasia. The laws have been controversial and attracted significant discussion internationally. Opponents of reform…
The reaction to the euthanasia of Marius the giraffe at Copenhagen Zoo has highlighted cultural differences in attitudes to animals and death between the UK and Denmark. I first visited the Copenhagen…
How do you explain finality to a child?
Daquella Manera