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

President's Report November 2003

SAVES president Frances Coombe welcomed members, friends and other interested parties to the November 2003 meeting. She gave Dr Francis Macnab’s apology for being unable to be guest speaker, as arranged.

Frances advised members of the many ways in which they can support the work of SAVES; including writing to their state members of parliament in support of the Dignity in Dying Bill, writing to or ringing their local public libraries either asking them to host the mobile display or thanking them for doing so, contacting community groups to see if they would like a SAVES speaker, or asking their medical practitioners to hold SAVES pamphlets in their waiting rooms.

Frances said that members’ support is especially important in light of the fact that pamphlets have been stolen from the display in 2 libraries recently. It is of great concern that any of those who would deny us choice for voluntary euthanasia are prepared to act in such a dishonourable manner. Membership Officer, Marika McKerral, has written to 22 shopping centres with the aim of securing venues to host the display. She has also contacted many doctors’ surgeries asking them to display SAVES pamphlets. To date she has now been successful in placing these in over a dozen waiting rooms.

Frances has also written to the Palliative Care Council after their decision to refuse SAVES an information booth at the last national Palliative Care Conference. Information on the conference is included later in this edition.

On the local political front the latest letters to members of parliament include an explanation for the focus on the ‘hopelessly ill’ in the Dignity in Dying Bill. Another detailed the results of a report comparing end-of-life decision making in six European countries – Sweden, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland between June 2001 and February 2002. A further letter entitled ‘Lies and deception continue’, gave results of a third survey of medical end-of-life decisions in the Netherlands. This showed that there is no evidence of a ‘slippery slope’ towards ending of life without request; an assertion which continues to be made by opponents of choice.

Politicians have also been advised of an article reporting on a survey, conducted by the University Medical Centre in Utrecht, of 189 bereaved family members and close friends of terminally ill cancer patients who died by voluntary euthanasia. Responses were compared with 316 of those whose loved ones had the same condition but experienced natural deaths. The survey covered the years 1992 to 1999. It was reported that the bereaved families and friends of the first group, whose request for voluntary euthanasia had been granted, had less traumatic grief symptoms, less current feeling of grief and less post-traumatic stress reactions than the second group.

SAVES has also written to members of parliament informing them of the existence and role of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies.

Several members of the SAVES committee heard retired Episcopalian Bishop, John Shelby Spong, speak at the Uniting Church Kent Town and were very inspired by his compassion, sincerity and honesty on the issue of voluntary euthanasia. He describes assisted suicide as a ‘Christian choice’ stating that his deepest desire is to choose death with dignity over a life that has become either hopelessly painful and dysfunctional, or empty and devoid of all meaning. His feelings appear to epitomise those of many Christians who support choice for voluntary euthanasia.

Reporting on interstate matters, Frances advised that the NSW Upper House has debated a Greens' bill calling for a referendum at the next state election, on an 18-month medically supervised voluntary euthanasia trial. In the Western Australian parliament debate on the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia has begun, after being stifled for six years. This bill is only for the terminally ill, unlike the Dignity in Dying Bill, which allows the choice for the hopelessly ill. Greens MLC Robin Chapple said he expected his private member's bill to be voted on in the Upper House early next year. He said recent changes to Upper House rules meant time was now dedicated each sitting week to non-government business.

Frances then reported on the overseas front, where a most tragic case in Frances has propelled the issue of voluntary euthanasia forward again for debate. Twenty one year old Vincent Humbert, a former fireman, had survived a car crash in which he lost the use of his four limbs, his sight, speech and senses of smell and taste. His repeated requests to die appeared to have finally been met by his mother, who allegedly gave her son sedatives sufficient to induce a coma, and a compassionate doctor admitted to then removing his life support system.

On the day of Vincent Humbert's funeral, the government appointed a parliamentary commission on the issue of voluntary euthanasia. Every political party agreed on the desirability, in due course, of changing the law. All acknowledged that there had to be a way for such painful dilemmas to be avoided but that does not easily translate into law reform.

Frances then told the audience of the importance of completing an advance directive, and discussed the case of Terry Schiavo, from Florida USA, who has been reliant on a feeding tube since she collapsed in her home in 1990. Her husband and her parents disagree about withdrawing of her tube, and since 1998 there have been approximately 28 legal decisions and appeals. As a consequence Ms Schiavo’s feeding tube has been removed, replaced, and removed a second time. CAT scans indicate a massive shrinkage of her brain, with its higher centres completely destroyed, indicating irreversibility.

However Governor Jeb Bush has personally intervened, supporting her parents’ view that artificial feeding should be resumed. He has passed a special bill, limited to cases where a patient has not left an advance directive, is in a persistent vegetative state, has had nutrition and hydration tubes removed, and where a family member has challenged the removal. This law also required a guardian be appointed for Ms Schiavo and that he report to the governor in 30 days on the value of giving tests to see if she can be rehabilitated.

However the above law will be challenged as a clear violation of both state and federal guarantees of the separation of powers; that is one branch of government (the legislature) does not have the right to overturn the rulings of another branch (the judiciary), especially without standards or review. Frances told the audience:

‘I’m sure that none of us here would want our families to go through such a terrible ordeal, but how many of you have made an advance directive, so that your wishes are known, and your families and loved ones are spared this possible complication of the grief that accompanies the end of your life? I do sincerely hope that this story motivates you to fill in one today or tomorrow but please no later!’

The meeting concluded with a video detailing the circumstances around the death of Reginald Crew, hopelessly ill with motor neurone disease, who travelled with his family from Britain to be assisted to die by members of Dignitas in Zurich.