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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 2 Hansard (26 February) . . Page.. 496 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

The Catholic Education Commission wrote to me on several occasions. In a letter dated 25 October 1995 they stated a fairly predictable point. I will read it because there were some interesting comments in it. They said this:

Every human being has the right to live and die in dignity. It is not dignified, compassionate or just to kill a person with a terminal disease but it is dignified, compassionate and just to provide:

. excellence in medical treatment;

. palliative care;

. pain relief even if the dosage required does shorten life;

. treatment for depression where appropriate.

They went on to say:

People with diagnosed terminal illness have always had the right to refuse or discontinue burdensome or futile life-prolonging treatment and this right must be protected. The choice to commence, continue or discontinue such treatment must be that of the person concerned or of the immediate family.

It is morally and ethically unacceptable to permit an individual or group, by direct intervention, to terminate a person's life, with or without that person's approval.

The second last paragraph, I think, is an interesting one. They wrote to me later on, in fact only last week, in relation to their opinion, and also gave me an extract of a talk given by Katrina Lee, of the archdiocese of Sydney. Some of the points she raised also are interesting in relation to this debate. She said this:

So what is euthanasia?

Almost everybody believes that this issue is about turning off machines. The current debate has nothing to do with turning off machines, nothing to do with discontinuing treatment, nothing to do with providing the best pain relief, even though that could lower resistance levels which might mean the person dies earlier than they might have otherwise.

The current euthanasia debate is about whether doctors should be allowed to provide patients with lethal injections.

There is a simple test which will always tell you whether or not you are dealing with euthanasia. That is to ask: "What would you do if the person lived?"

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