Page 2889 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 September 1994
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wash himself. His eyesight problem precluded him from access to the written word, television or other visual media; and his paralysis meant that, despite valiant attempts, he could not talk easily or for long periods and what he did say was almost impossible to understand. The only sense which was left to him in any significant degree was hearing, yet he was unable to tune a radio or change a cassette tape. Here was a man, with a sharp and inquiring mind, almost totally cut off from sensory input, virtually unable to communicate, and totally dependent on others for his care and stimulation. After about a year of home care he and his wife came to the realisation that her health was suffering from undertaking this caring role and, after careful consideration, reached an agreement that he should enter a nursing home. At about this time he began to articulate, as far as he could, his wish to die.
To cut a long story short, this man spent another three years in his room in the nursing home while there was a gradual decline in his health. Medical advice was that a lifespan of another 10 years was still probable. In his time at the nursing home he suffered two major kidney infections and, as often happens with the bedridden, numerous bouts of pneumonia. Despite his express wishes, albeit difficult to understand, and the imploring of his wife, medical staff intervened on each occasion to prevent his death. In his last year in the nursing home he increasingly tried to communicate his wish to die to his visitors, and particularly to his family. It got to the stage where he was asking to be helped to die, and he attempted to conspire with family members to achieve that end. Mercifully, the suffering finally came to an end. When he suffered yet another bout of pneumonia, the doctor in charge consulted his wife before undertaking any treatment and, as a result, agreed to withhold any treatment other than pain minimisation. The grateful look in this man's eyes when he knew that death was imminent was a consolation to everyone and a reflection on the indignities which he had been forced to suffer. It is indeed a tragedy, Madam Speaker, that this man's still sharp intellect was trapped in a non-functional body for nearly 4½ years, despite his express wishes to the contrary, which were made clear before his illness.
I have taken the unusual step of relating this story because I believe that it illustrates very well the indignity of terminal illness and death, both for the dying and for those people close to them, the difficulties which even the most rational of us face in having our wishes carried out in respect of how we die, and the need for legislation to allow people to choose to minimise the indignity associated with terminal illness and death.
Madam Speaker, as I said at the outset, I support a stronger position than that espoused in this Bill. That does not mean, however, that this Bill is not an important step forward in allowing people to minimise the indignities associated with the process of dying. It is. I commend the work of the Select Committee on Euthanasia in examining this issue and I commend my colleague Mr Moore for having the courage to bring the issue forward for debate. I firmly believe that this Assembly exists to provide a forum for the discussion of both straightforward and complex issues and, in this instance of the complex issue of euthanasia, that this Assembly brings credit upon itself for the work which has been achieved.
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