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Yes, Christians DO support voluntary euthanasia. My article in On Line Opinion.

06/03/2015 / Ian Wood

Thursday March 5, 2015 I had an article, “Yes, Christians do support voluntary euthanasia” appearing in OLO (On Line Opinion)
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=17148

South Australian Voluntary Euthanasia Society (SAVES) also have the same article, but with more photos, in their Newsletter.

SAVES Newsletter (9) – Christian Support for Voluntary Euthanasia. SAVES send this to each South Australian MP.

http://www.saves.asn.au/bulletins/mp_eol_newsltr/mp_newsletter230215.pdf

Please read and pass on to your friends

The DWD NSW “Pollies Register” for State Election March 28. Who is PRO-CHOICE?

06/03/2015 / Ian Wood

I attended the Dying with Dignity NSW Forum at Parliament House in Sydney, Wednesday 25th February.

A feature of the afternoon was the launch of the Pollies Register, that lists the support or otherwise of NSW MP’s and candidates on the issue of VOLUNTARY ASSISTED DYING for the Election on Saturday 28 March.

The LOWER HOUSE list may be found here, but please check for updates as they come in –
http://dwdnsw.org.au/documents/2015/pollies%20regsiter.pdf

Pro-Choice candidates for the Upper House can be found here –
http://dwdnsw.org.au/vote-for-pro-choice-candidates-in-the-nsw-election/

DWDnsw President Sarah Edelman gave an insight into Continue reading

Assisted suicide ban is struck down by Canadian Supreme Court

09/02/2015 / Ian Wood

THIS IS VERY RELEVANT TO ALL AUSTRALIANS!

Canada’s Supreme Court has unanimously struck down a ban on doctor-assisted suicides for mentally competent adults suffering an incurable disease. The Canadian Parliament has been given 12 months to enact legislation to comply with the Supreme Court guidelines.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-07/doctor-assisted-suicides-ban-lifted-in-canada/6077270

“The prohibition on physician-assisted dying infringes the right to life, liberty and security of the person in a manner that is not in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice,” the court wrote, adding Continue reading

Dec 30, 2014. I learn of the deaths of three very different people.

31/12/2014 / Ian Wood

The first was Peter Short, who succumbed to oesophageal cancer. Peter had been a passionate advocate for the legalisation of assisted dying, I talked about Peter in my first blog on this website.
The Final Post on his Blog, petershort.com.au posted by his wife Elizabeth reads, Hi, my beautiful husband Pete died this morning at 12:20 AM. He died peacefully and I was privileged enough to be sitting on his bed holding his hand at that time. Pete’s decision to opt for Palliative care brought him to a place of calmness and serenity and for all of us, safety and security. It allowed Pete to relax, stop fighting and go calmly to his happy place. Thank you all so much for your constant love and support, it has meant the world to us.
As a family we will continue to strive to achieve Pete’s dream of seeing Senator Richard Di Natale’s Dying With Dignity Bill become Law.
Elizabeth and Mitchell x

The second death was that of Debbie Purdy in the UK. Debbie had suffered excruciatingly for many years from progressive MS. Again, she was also a passionate advocate for the legalisation of assisted dying, and it was her efforts that led to the UK Director of Public Prosecutions issuing guidelines under which family accompanying a loved one to an assisted death in Switzerland would not be charged with the crime of assisting a suicide. Debbie died after she deliberately stopped eating.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2890340/Right-die-campaigner-MS-sufferer-Debbie-Purdy-dies-aged-51.html

The third death was that of a childhood friend of mine from the ravages of Parkinson’s. An email from his wife included, “He passed away last night after 3 tortuous weeks. It is such a relief to see him in peace at last.”

In her Christmas card to us two weeks earlier she had said that his situation was deteriorating, “nearing the end” and that it was “tragic”. Also that it is “Hard to imagine that anyone who sees him would not actively support euthanasia.”

Three more reasons why I will keep striving for compassionate choice in assisted dying!

Ian Wood’s response to Archbishop Anthony Fisher article: “Euthanasia: Lethal dose has fearful consequences”, SMH 15.10.2014

24/11/2014 / Ian Wood

Archbishop Anthony Fisher
Polding Centre,
133 Liverpool Street,
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia

Dear Archbishop Fisher

Firstly, my best wishes to you on your appointment as the ninth Archbishop of Sydney.

I am responding on behalf of the members of my Group to aspects of your article in the SMH, Oct 10, 2014. “Euthanasia: lethal dose has fearful consequences.” http://www.smh.com.au/comment/euthanasia-lethal-dose-has-fearful-consequences-20141014-115p18.html

It is grossly misleading to infer the Senator Di Natale Draft Bill is a community response to the “elderly, frail and disabled”. It is a response to those dying and faced with unbearable suffering.

If you read through the draft Bill, you find –
The objects of this Act are:
(a) to recognise the right of a mentally competent adult who is suffering intolerably from a terminal illness to request a medical practitioner to provide medical services that allows the person to end his or her life peacefully, humanely and with dignity;

You state “Now people who aren’t terminally ill, aren’t even physically ill, people who haven’t volunteered or can’t volunteer, can legally be killed”. This is simply emotive scaremongering! I ask would you please provide me with factual documentation for this claim. Belgian legislation has never been restricted to the terminally ill, but legislation does recognise an advance directive. It applies to “a patient in a medically futile position of constant and unbearable physical or mental suffering that cannot be alleviated, resulting from a serious and incurable disorder caused by illness or accident.”

You state, “It asks us all to agree that some people are better off dead and that our laws and health professionals should make them dead.” Again, this is emotive and simply not true. Continue reading

The Age Newspaper – a week of support for assisted dying – Age Editorial

16/11/2014 / Ian Wood

Path clear to enact the right to assisted death
Date November 14, 2014

For the past week, The Age has published in the pages of the newspaper and across our digital platforms a comprehensive series of reports, videos, opinions and contributions from our readers to advocate for the right of terminally ill people to choose, under rigorously regulated circumstances, the timing and manner of their death.
We began the coverage with an editorial urging the Federal Parliament to enshrine this right in law, and with a video testimony by a terminally ill Melbourne man, Peter Short, whose campaign for choice inspired Greens senator Richard Di Natale to propose legislation that would legalise strictly controlled physician-assisted death. We believe that what has been presented in the past five days has established and indeed buttressed the case for change, and today we underscore and amplify our call on our lawmakers to act by debating, honing and then passing Senator Di Natale’s bill. Not only should every lawmaker have an unfettered vote on this, but our political leaders ought to urge support for the change.
The very day our series started, the cross-party Senate committee that had been receiving submissions and holding nationwide hearings on the proposed legislation declared that it, too, supports a free vote. The committee’s chairman, Liberal senator Ian Macdonald, said his mother’s prolonged demise had partly shaped his view that terminally ill people should have a right to assisted death, provided Continue reading

Peter Short and his campaign to give us all choice in dying

22/10/2014 / Ian Wood

I hope you like our new website. Please check in frequently for the latest in assisted dying news. Ian.

This post is to inform you of a current advocate for dying with dignity who is getting some great media attention for our campaign. Peter Short is a Melbourne resident, who was diagnosed with terminal oesophageal cancer on his 57th birthday in February this year. He was given a prognosis of three to nine months to live. Peter immediately retired from his position as the CEO of Coles Express service stations.

Peter is now living past his life expectancy and is drawing attention to our dying with dignity campaign, starting with a powerful opinion piece he wrote for The Age in May, saying “In the time I have left, I believe I must do what I can to fight for everybody’s right to freedom of choice to control life’s end process if facing a terminal illness…. Choice is a powerful palliative force, I now know. There is an immediate and direct benefit from having end-of-life choice.”

On 15 Oct Peter Short addressed a Senate hearing into the federal Exposure draft of the Medical Services (Dying with Dignity) Bill 2014 which has been put forward by Greens Senator Richard Di Natale.

In the last few months, Peter has appeared in dozens of radio, newspaper and mainstream television news stories across Australia. Jeremy Ervine has agreed to produce a feature-length documentary following Peter and his family in “his life’s last great challenge to improve the end of life options of every terminally ill Australian by hustling politicians, lawmakers, lobbyists, activists, corporate Australia and anyone who will listen”. The film will also explore some of the darker ways in which terminally ill people have ended their life without a safe and medically assisted framework in place.

This film is not a commercial endeavour and they are relying on donations to their crowdfunding campaign to cover the cost of production. Seed funding was obtained from Dying with Dignity Victoria which enabled filming to commence in August.

The target for the film crowdfunding was reached and in fact exceeded, and Peter thanks all who contributed.

If you would like to hear more about Peter Short and his campaign for Dying with Dignity, please go to http://petershort.com.au