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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 2 Hansard (26 February) . . Page.. 497 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

If you discontinue treatment and the person keeps living then you keep caring for them. If you provide a pain killer which risks hastening death and the person is still alive then you don't provide further doses unless they are required for more pain. But if it is euthanasia and after giving a lethal injection, for some reason the person is still alive, then you give a higher dose immediately and continue to do so until the person is dead. Because that's the objective you're trying to reach.

Euthanasia is when the cause of death is not the illness or condition, but the doctor.

Euthanasia always involves a second person. That's why it can never be seen as a simple issue of individual rights. If it only involves an individual then by definition, it is not euthanasia. Euthanasia is about how we respond as a community to the person who asks for a lethal injection.

The fact that there is more at stake than choice is easily shown by considering two situations.

She went on to say this:

The first person is young, healthy, and without disability. The second person is old, dependent on continuing treatment, and has a disability. If both people go to the doctor and request a lethal injection what will the responses be?

Under every proposal for legalised euthanasia the first person who is young and well will be told that they are being irrational and that society can help the person through this. The second person who makes the exact same request but is elderly and unwell will be told that they have made a sensible decision and that society will help them do this.

The difference between who has their value reaffirmed and who is put down does not depend on who makes the request. In both cases the request is the same. This debate always involves a value judgment by certain doctors, that the lives of people who are unwell, elderly, or who have disabilities in some way lack value, lack worth, lack dignity.

When someone is suicidal our response should always be to try to improve the context of someone's life. When someone feels worthless, we try to convey the value that we see in them and help them in any way we can. These are compassionate responses. There is nothing compassionate about telling someone who feels worthless that they are worthless.

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