SAVES is not affiliated with Exit International / Dr Philip Nitschke and opposes the public availability of a 'peaceful pill'.

Changing the law requires ongoing engagement with elected members of parliament, including the provision of pertinent information on a range of issues. The SAVES committee is in regular written correspondence with all MPs, so that they are well informed when considering legislative change. The committee actively supported the first South Australian voluntary euthanasia bill in 1995. This was introduced by John Quirke and shamefully rejected without full debate. In 1996 support continued for the bill introduced by Anne Levy which progressed through the Social Development Committee until 1999 when it was rejected. Lobbying by the SAVES committee has continued throughout the passage of the Dignity in Dying Bill, first introduced in 2000.

This bill is now adjourned in the Lower House until after the next state election, and it is timely therefore to provide a synopsis of the information sent to MPs to date, and to place this on the public record.

May
SAVES sent a letter to all MPs written by the late Jo Shearer entitled Open letter to Members of Parliament concerning the relentless agony she was experiencing with no hope of alleviation.

June
SAVES forwarded to all MPs a copy of the joint VE Societies’ media release Nancy Crick’s Death, showing support for those who helped Nancy during her final illness.

July
1) MPs were advised of the well financed opposition to the Dignity in Dying Bill by the Family First Party.
2) In that month parliamentarians were also provided with a series of quotes from Dr Roger Magnusson’s book Angels of Death – Exploring the Euthanasia Underground, exposing the extensive practice of unregulated euthanasia.
3) A letter entitled The plastic bag is to voluntary euthanasia what the coat hanger was to abortion was sent to MPs. This explained Nutech’s work towards self-deliverance options, and urged parliamentarians to pass legislation so that ad hoc responses to suffering could be avoided.

August
1) MPs were each sent a letter entitled All that Shirley Nolan wanted was to die peacefully and with dignity, which was accompanied by a range of material relating to her death, including her wish that it be given maximum publicity so that others may be spared the ‘living hell’ she was forced to endure.
2) Following shortly afterwards, Frances Coombe had the sad duty of informing parliamentarians about Jo Shearer’s death, following earlier correspondence to them on her grave situation. The letter entitled The life and death of Jo Shearer was accompanied by a kit of information including her personal diary detailing her suffering.

September
1) MPs were provided with information about a survey of Oregon nurses and social workers, and the Task Force to Improve the Care of Terminally-Ill Oregonians. Similar safeguards to those within the Oregon legislation exist in the Dignity in Dying Bill.
2) Also in September a letter was sent to MPs entitled Why is the focus on ‘hopelessly ill’ in the Dignity in Dying Bill?

October
1) Legislative Council members were given information on seven surveys of Australian doctors’ views on assisted dying canvassed between 1987 and 2001. SAVES advised members that a significant number of doctors risk criminal sanction by responding compassionately to their patients’ hopeless and unbearable suffering
. 2) Also in October all parliamentary members were issued with a copy of the guidebook Questions and Answers on Euthanasia published by the Netherlands Government to clarify the law, and to respond to scurrilous and unfounded accusations made against it.

November
Legislative Council members were sent information under the heading A world overview of current assisted dying laws, judicial decisions and parliamentary initiatives in order to put the SA legislation in context.

June
1) A letter entitled Separation of Church and State was sent as a response to a Doctrinal Note drawn up by the Roman Catholic Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, approved by the Pope, and sent to members of state parliament. The note inevitably raised questions about the role of church dictates in a secular democratic government, and SAVES made an appropriate response.
2) Also in June, following an article in The Advertiser about development of the self-deliverance COGEN machine by Nutech, SAVES wrote to parliamentary members about the need to enact voluntary euthanasia legislation as prohibition will no longer be an option.
3) Additionally in June a letter entitled The present prohibitive law against choice for voluntary euthanasia perpetuates suffering was sent to all MPs concerning the implications from the suspended sentence given to Alexander Maxwell who assisted his wife’s suicide after a nine year battle with breast cancer.

July
A letter focusing on the ‘hopelessly ill’ in law reform, was to draw attention to the fact that those suffering greatly with a terminal illness are relatively fortunate, as they only have a short time to live, unlike with those enduring the indefinite and unrelievable suffering of a hopeless illness .

September
A letter Lies and deception continue was sent upon the publication of the third report on medical end of life decisions in the Netherlands in 2001. This included information on the replicated survey in Australia some years earlier which showed that Australia has five times the number of lives ended without explicit request.

October
MPs were sent a letter Good Deaths have positive effect on the grieving process, covering a detailed report of research conducted by the University Medical Centre in Utrecht which showed that people whose loved ones had their decision to die by voluntary euthanasia respected, had less traumatic grief symptoms and current feelings of grief, as well as less post-traumatic stress than those people whose loved ones had died a ‘normal’ death.

November
MPs were given information on the activities of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies.

April
MPs were provided with copies of SAVES’ correspondence to Senator Chris Ellison on the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Telecommunications and Other Measures) Bill outlawing free speech via electronic media on issues around suicide.

August
Members of the House of Assembly were sent a copy of the paper A Synopsis of disease and symptoms which are at best difficult, at worst impossible to control with palliative care, which had previously been published in the VE Bulletin.

February
Throughout the passage of voluntary euthanasia legislation, beginning with the Quirke bill in 1995, followed by the Anne Levy bill and currently the Dignity in Dying Bill, there have been wide ranging comments made by MPs, both in support of, and in opposition to, the legislation. These statements have been recorded in Hansard. Negative comments were analysed and responded to by SAVES in correspondence to MPs entitled Parliamentary opposition to voluntary euthanasia legislation in South Australia.

March
Judicial activism to the rescue of ineffective legislative authority was the title of a letter which addressed the possibility that case law may step in where politicians ‘fear to tread’, pointing to the judicial role in lawmaking. The points raised in this correspondence are important ones and are therefore reproduced in full:

‘Assisted suicides have been a fact of life for many years and are now continually in the news.

• They are usually carried out by close family members who act out of love and compassion.
• In law these represent serious crimes, yet often result in suspended or non-custodial sentences. For instance in May 2004 John Godfrey was convicted in Tasmania of assisting his 88 year-old mother’s suicide, after she had two unsuccessful attempts. There are many other recent cases in Australia.
• Although people continue to be charged with such crimes, it is exceptional in Australia that punishment follows. Instead the judgment essentially becomes a judgment on the existing law, rather than the individual before the court.
• It is usual that a charge of murder is not laid even with clear intention and action.
• The whole question of what constitutes ‘assisted suicide’ is also shrouded in mystery.
• The law is brought into constant disrepute and thereby suffers weakened respect.
• The possibility of criminal charges being laid causes anxiety and distress for the individual and further complicates the grief process. This is an indictment on our so-called civilised society.
• In dismissing or giving insignificant penalties judges are finding a way to act out of compassion, to circumvent an unjust and unworkable law.
• The judiciary’s role of lawmaker should not be overlooked, for while ‘judicial activism’ may be decried by legislators, courts are obliged to take the lead when parliamentarians refuse to address the issue.
• The current law is out of step with the views of the majority of the electorate, leading to people taking the law into their own hands.
• It is clear that these tragic cases point to the urgent need for legal avenues by which an incurably ill person can approach their doctor in a climate of security.
• A voluntary euthanasia law would allow those contemplating ill-considered and secretive action, access to rational and compassionate advice. In doing so the law may actually save lives.

April
Finally, correspondence was sent to all MPs entitled Ramon Sampedro – a man abused by the law, concerning the life story of Ramon Sampedro, so poignantly captured in the film ‘The Sea Inside’. Complimentary tickets that had been provided to SAVES accompanied the letter so that MPs could see for themselves why Ramon Sampdedro’s book was entitled ‘Letters from Hell’.

SAVES will continue to provide parliamentarians with important and timely information pertinent to legislative change to allow choice for voluntary euthanasia. (Copies of any these letters can be arranged by sending a stamped, self addressed envelope to SAVES).