Euthanasia puts the dying in control

RIGHT TO DIE: Members of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society - from left, Mari Jay, Sue Walkinton, and Lyneke Onderwater - say New Zealanders need to have a discussion around euthanasia. PHOTO/STUART MUNRO 250215WCSMEUTHANASIA1

No more will die, and fewer will suffer. That's the belief of Wanganui supporters of euthanasia who are encouraging debate and discussion around the contentious issue.

Three local members of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of New Zealand told the Chronicle why they would like to see legislation allowing medically-assisted suicide to be made available in certain circumstances.

All three have had experiences around death and dying - Lyneke Onderwater and Mari Jay had relatives who struggled during the dying process, while Sue Walkinton was a palliative nurse for 20 years.

The three don't agree on exactly what euthanasia legislation should look like, but they agree New Zealanders need to discuss the issues around mercy killing. Euthanasia is already legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and in four states in the United States, while judges in Canada recently overturned the ban on euthanasia in that country.

An attempt was made to overturn the ban on euthanasia in New Zealand when former Labour MP Maryan Street introduced the End Of Life Choice Bill into the parliamentary ballot. She withdrew it when she realised it would have no support.

The threesome hope a visit to Wanganui by Rob Jonquiere, the communications director of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies, will spark discussion here. Dr Jonquiere will speak at Wanganui's Grand Hotel at 2pm on Sunday. "Before we can have legislation, we need to have a discussion - and I believe Dr Jonquiere is the key to reassuring people about euthanasia," Ms Walkinton said.

She comes to the debate from a medical perspective, having cared for hundreds of dying people over the past 20 years. "I estimate that around one-third of those dying patients wanted to die sooner. And it's not about pain - it's about the indignity of being dependent, incontinent, unable to swallow, constantly vomiting, and so on."

Ms Walkinton also believes making medically-assisted suicide legal would safeguard the medical profession, who are already quietly helping terminally ill people die. "It's doctors who are prescribing that high dose of morphine, but it's the nurses that administer it, and that puts them in a vulnerable position."

Ms Onderwater has seen two close relatives - her father and mother-in-law - die slow, painful deaths.

Her father faded away from Alzheimer's, while her mother-in-law had aggressive stomach cancer. "She was told she had anywhere from two weeks to two months to live, but it took her eight months to die," Ms Onderwater said. "She couldn't eat and just wasted away. She was in pain and desperately wanted to be allowed to die - it was distressing for her and for her family."

Ms Jay's support for euthanasia also comes from personal experience, after she cared for her mother during the last three years of her life.

In her eighties, Ms Jay's mother was "too blind to read, to deaf to watch television, socially isolated, and crippled with arthritis and osteoporosis".

"I believe it would have helped her to have had the option to end her life painlessly made available."

She thought it unlikely her mother would have chosen to end her own life - "But she had no control over her life, and just having that option would have given her a sense of control."