Every human person is unique and precious

Any talk of legalizing is unacceptable because it suggests that there are some lives that are not worth living - this is not so. Abortion and euthanasia are attacks against human life at the time of its greatest frailty – sadly these attacks are no longer regarded as “crimes”, but as “rights”.

We have an obligation to provide reassurance and assistance to individuals requesting euthanasia, either for themselves or for someone else. Patients who have been diagnosed with a serious condition are often simply opening the door to enquiry and reassurance.

Not only the patient but their relatives and friends are afraid of what is ahead for the person they love and they want to do the right thing. Help is available but they don’t know where to seek the help they need. The fact that they, or someone they love, is on their way out of life, makes both the patient and those who love them in need of loving care. I am reasonably sure that people who want to kill the patient or the occasional patient who wants to kill themself - are rare.

Nobody has the right to shorten life let alone end it by so-called ‘mercy killing’. I have seen family members grow in wisdom, strength and understanding through visiting a terminally ill relative or friend. We are living in an enlightened age where nobody need suffer unnecessarily - we don’t have to end life! Every individual remains unique and valuable whatever their physical or mental condition.

Abortion is now commonplace. More than 100,000 unique, never to be repeated Australians are killed in utero each year. We grieve the loss of at least 1 million unborn Australians in our lifetime. We need to rediscover the value of human life or we will live to see terrible slaughter such as we witness on the news each night in Syria, Iraq, Afganistan etc. Does History teach us nothing?

We are strongly opposed to Euthanasia and Assisted My wife and I are in our 80s and we view with dismay any move to legalise euthanasia and . We have no wish to do anything that encourages killing of oneself or another person. Voluntary Assisted Dying would forever change the ethos of our society

Contrary to assurances of those who favour euthanasia, so called “safeguards” will not protect the vulnerable or prevent a decline in respect for life should euthanasia become accepted. Let us not forget that initially proponents of abortion assured us that it would only be available under strict controls. Yet Tasmania now plans to allow abortion up to natural birth-day, and abortions wide now number 100,000 each year.

The medical profession is strongly opposed to euthanasia and assisted suicide Surveys show that those most strongly opposed to euthanasia and assisted suicide are doctors. Palliative care doctors and medical professionals who care for dying people are more opposed to euthanasia than doctors in general. Since doctors will be called upon to prescribe the lethal drugs to kill a person requesting euthanasia or even to administer the lethal substance, we should take special note of their views. In a recent Canadian Medical Association poll only 16% of doctors were prepared to euthanize their patients.

The Vulnerable Legalising euthanasia and assisted suicide will pave the way for undue pressure being placed on the elderly and other vulnerable groups to accede to being euthanized, voluntarily or involuntarily.

Elder abuse has become the ‘crime of the 21st century,’ and is rightly the focus of significant concern in the community. Elder Abuse is mostly, but not exclusively, committed by relatives of an aged person, and is most often for financial gain. Raiding bank accounts or disposing of assets without permission can be accompanied by coercion, and or psychological and physical abuse. The incidence of Elder Abuse is grossly under-reported; victims often feel that they have no right to complain, or they do not want to see a relative get into trouble, or they do not know where to turn for help.

In 2009 the Queensland Public Trustee reported that cases of Elder Abuse had been increasing by 20% each year, and have estimated estimating that 27,000 elderly Queenslanders were victims of theft or physical or emotional abuse every year. The Tasmanian Guardianship and Administration Board has also expressed grave concern at the level of elder abuse in the community, Annual Report 2010 – 2011.

In this climate euthanasia will be an added risk.

Why do people choose to be euthanised? One gets the impression that legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide will be solely for the terminally ill in unbearable pain. This does not appear to be the case in Oregon USA, which is held up as a model for Tasmania. Data published each year by The Oregon Department on the operation of the Dying with Dignity legislation shows that those who died under the legislation cited loss of autonomy (95%), decreasing ability to participate in activities that made life enjoyable and loss of dignity (92%) as the key end-of-life concerns: Only 5% requested euthanasia for ‘inadequate pain control’. With so few seeking euthanasia for unbearable pain surely we could and should offer a more caring response than taking their lives.

Youth Suicide We know that youth suicide is a serious problem in Australia, Legalizing the killing of people who are terminally ill or wanting to die because of severe mental illness - would send entirely the wrong message to depressed and unhappy individuals contemplating taking their life.

The fate of the body after euthanasia or assisted suicide In Belgium euthanized donors form 23.5% of all cardiac death lung donors. A paper by Van Raemdonck et al Applied cardiopulmonary pathophysiology15: 38-48, 2011,

Initial experience with transplantation of lungs from donors after euthanasia, gives us reason for concern. In the study all euthanised donors suffered from a severe non- malignant disorder.

The study found that lungs from those who die by euthanasia are more suitable for transplant surgery than lungs taken from accident victims.

The organ retrieval process described in the paper is particularly chilling, and shows the degree of collaboration that exists between the euthanasia team and the transplant surgeons. The recipient is prepared for theatre beside the room where the organs are harvested - only then is the ‘donor’ killed, the organs retrieved and taken next door for transplanting. Given that half of all euthanasia cases in Belgium are involuntary it is be only a matter of time before the organs are taken from patients who are euthanised without their consent. We have no wish to introduce a “culture of death”.

Dr Noel Keith Roberts and Mrs Betty Roberts OAM