THE LAST RIGHT? AUSTRALIANS TAKE SIDES ON THE RIGHT TO DIE Simon Chapman Stephen Leeder (eds.) Originally published by Mandarin Books Port Melbourne, Victoria 1995 ISBN 1 86330 504 1 Now out of print Feel free to distribute, copy or reproduce any part of this book with acknowledgement to the editors. Simon Chapman is professor of public health at the University of Sydney [email protected] 1 Feb 2010 1 Index of contributors Sir GUSTAV NOSSAL Sir MARK OPILPHANT PHILLIP ADAMS DAVID PENINGTON EUGENE AHERN RONALD PENNY YVONNE ALLEN RAYMOND APPLE PETER BAUME MARSHALL PERRON CHARLES BIRCH CHRIS PUPLICK VERONICA BRADY MARK ROSENTHAL JOHN BUCHANAN BRUCE RUXTON JIM CAIRNS B.A. SANTAMARIA DENISE CAMERON DOROTHY SIMONS JOHN CARGHER PETER SINGER MIKE CARLTON Sir NINIAN STEPHEN MICHAEL CARR‐GREGG LOUISE SYLVAN TRICIA CASWELL BARBARA THIERING SIMON CHAPMAN BERNADETTE TOBIN EDWARD CLANCY IAN WEBSTER EVA COX ROBYN WILLIAMS LORRAINE DENNERSTEIN ROGER WOODRUFF ANNE DEVESON MICHAEL WOOLDRIDGE MARCUS EINFELD JULIA FREEBURY MORRIS GLEITZMAN HARRY GOODHEW NIGEL GRAY KATE GRENVILLE BLL HAYDEN GERARD HENDERSON HARRY HERBERT JOHN HINDE ELIZABETH JOLLEY ALAN JONES MICHAEL KIRBY HELGA KUHSE TERRY LANE MICHAEL LEUNIG NORELLE LICKISS MILES LITTLE ROBERT MARR JIM McCLELLAND COLLEEN McCULLOUGH JIM McCLELLAND PADRAIC P. McGUINNESS GEORGE NEGUS BRENDAN NELSON FRED NILE 2 Going To Sleep Now the day has wearied me. And my ardent longing shall the stormy night in friendship enfold me like a tired child Hands, leave all work; brow, forget all thought. Now all my senses long to sink themselves in slumber. And the spirit unguarded longs to soar on free wings so that,in the magic circle of night, it may live deeply, and a thousandfold. Hermann Hesse (from Richard Strauss' Last four Songs) At Gloaming Through want and joy we have walked hand in hand, we are both resting from our travels now,in the quiet countryside Around us the valleys fold up, already the air glows dark, only two larks still soar wistfully into the balmy sky. Come here, and let them fly about; soon it is time to sleep We must not go astray in this solitude Joseph von Eichendorff (from Richard Strauss' Last four Songs) 3 Preface At 3.15am on the morning of May 26 1995, the Northern Territory's Assembly became the first legislature anywhere in the world to pass a bill which allowed doctors to actively assist patients to die. The crescendo of debate leading up to and following Marshall Perron's bill has engaged the whole country. In March seven Victorian doctors "came out" on the front page of the Melbourne Age declaring their past participation in voluntary euthanasia. Since then the Age and many other newspapers have been alive with opinion. As we write, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australian legislatures are grappling with the issues. Impassioned speeches documenting the extremes of suffering are up against thundering spirituality and the potent claims being made for high‐tech palliative care. What started out as a whisper a mere three months before the parliamentary assent in the tropics has become a pre‐ occupation of politicians everywhere. Jeff Kennett has proposed a consensus debate within the medical profession; Bob Carr has announced his willingness to debate as long as direction comes from the public first; and Carmen Lawrence has proposed wide community debate involving all concerned. At present both major political parties seem unwilling to hang their hats on one side of the debate or the other, perhaps mindful of the potential to alienate voters in critical seats. Of all the politicians we approached to contribute to this book, only two ‐‐ Marshall Perron and Michael Wooldridge ‐‐ agreed to declare their hands. The preferred political route seems to be that exemplified by the Northern Territory, private members' bills with politicians free to exercise their consciences. The fears are well founded ‐‐ there can be no more dangerous area in which to legislate than life and death itself. The heavy weight of responsibility is evidenced by the torrent of passion the events in the Northern Territory have unleashed. The medical profession is divided on the issue. On the surface orthodox medical opinion as espoused by the AMA stands against legalising euthanasia, whilst reformist opinion is in support. However, once you scratch the surface the reality is somewhat more murky with doctors from both camps swearing unswerving loyalty to one side of the debate or the other. In a recent editorial in the Medical Journal of Australia, editor Martin Van Der Weyden highlighted the gravity of the issue for doctors; 50% have been asked by patients to hasten their deaths and 19% ‐ 27% have taken active steps to bring about the death of a terminally ill patient, and a majority of public opinion has repeatedly approved of euthanasia or other form of supported death. The most recent poll published as we go to press. AGB‐McNair polled 2,061 Australians on June 2‐4 1995 and asked "Lately there has been much talk about euthanasia. Would you support or oppose the introduction of a law which protects doctors who assist terminally ill patients who choose to end their own lives?" Seventy five percent of those polled said they supported such a law, 16 percent were opposed, 6 percent were neither for nor against and 3 percent said they did not know1 . We can only echo Dr Van der Weyden's sentiments when he declared that "The time has surely 1 . Sharp M. Mercy killing favoured by most. Sydney Morning Herald 1995;June 7:3. 4 come for society to openly address the taboo of dying. Active euthanasia should be widely discussed in an open forum free of the polemics of opponents and advocates, and without the political, religious and legal prohibitions that have stifled the debate"2. We were inspired to take the "sides" approach to this book by three similar projects undertaken in Britain in 1937 (by WH Auden, Pablo Neruda and others) about fascism and the Spanish civil war (Authors Take Sides on the Spanish War; in 1967 about American involvement in Vietnam (Authors Take Sides on Vietnam); and in 1982 (Authors Take Sides on the Falklands). Euthanasia is of course not a war, although arguments about it have often become very heated and sometimes violent. Whatever one's views on the end of life, it seemed to us that there was no fudging two core questions that lie at the heart of most debates now occurring in many countries about euthanasia and the right to die. "Are you for, or against, the proposal that a person with a terminal or incurable severe illness should be able to have their request granted that their life should end?" "Do you believe that doctors should be able (with legal impunity) to actively assist such people who request that their lives be ended through euthanasia?" We put these to each of the people who have contributed to the book and asked them to respond. The list of people we approached was designed to cover a wide spectrum of both prominent Australians and some who are not so well known but who have special interest or experience in questions of death, dying, chronic disease, ethics and religion. Brief details about each contributor precede each response. With the prominent Australians, we had no idea of which way they would respond. Some of those from health, medical, ethics and religious backgrounds have been participants in public debate about this topic, so here we knew what to expect. In writing to these people, we tried to balance our invitations between an equal number of people who would take each side. Our original invitation list had 209 names. Sixty‐three people sent their responses; 37 declined usually citing pressure of work; 104 failed to respond; and five promised contributions but did not deliver. We offered no payment and asked that people respond in whatever way seemed most appropriate. The 63 contributions in this book show that while both questions could be answered with a simple yes or no (Gough Whitlam apologising for being too busy to respond, sent a message that he supported both questions) there are deeply personal and moral ravines in which many contributors wandered on their way to an answer. Until events in the Northern Territory euthanasia was somewhat of a sleeping giant. Debate has 2 . Van Der Weyden MB. Medicine and the community - the euthanasia debate. Med J Australia 1995;162:5 June. 5 been largely confined within the church and to the medical profession. Unfortunately professional opinion has masqueraded as community values leaving little space for the voices of ordinary men and women. Our own mortality and the mortality of family and friends gives us all a stake in how our communities deal with life and death. We hope that these contributions will help fill in some of the silences. Tragedy and spirituality are integral to the human condition, by sharing the thoughts of other Australians we hope to provide an entry point for all to participate so that consensus and tolerance can be achieved. Finally, we would like to thank all the contributors who responded to our letter. Thanks also go to Jennifer Byrne at Reed Books who shared our sense of how important a book on this subject done in this way could be. Thanks also to Darlene Sebalj for chasing the addresses of many of our contributors, and to Peter Singer and Helga Kuhse for their advice on the project in its early days. Simon Chapman Stephen Leeder 9 June 1995 6 PHILLIP ADAMS Phillip Adams is a writer, broadcaster and film‐maker.