The impact and application will have a ripple effect. We have become one of a small number of jurisdictions to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia internationally. Are we truly ready for what comes next?
Preparation
The Government has a strict deadline to turn the theory of law into a working, integrated health care system. Its deadline – November 7, 2021.
While the Act itself outlined the basics, it in no way unpacks exactly who will be involved in the process, or how the law will be adopted into the health system. It’s the Ministry of Health’s job to sort out.
The Ministry has recently formed a team called Regulatory Assurance to do just that. Some of the team’s responsibilities include developing training for health practitioners willing to be involved, selecting members for the SCENZ Group (Support and Consultation for End of Life in New Zealand), appointing a Registrar and Review Committee, creating policy and guidance for health providers, supplying drug combinations for the lethal dose, and ensuring ethics are maintained and protected.
Usually, when a law that requires such serious levels of integration and sensitivity comes through the Parliament, the affected industry and Ministry will begin to prepare for the change before the law is even passed.
But, as the End of Life Choice Act was a Private Members’ Bill, no such preparation was started. This has meant a serious lag in development. It will be difficult for implementation to be ready by the deadline.
Ideally there will be investment into palliative care services across New Zealand so people don’t choose assisted suicide or euthanasia because they have no other option. Palliative care is currently underfunded, underappreciated and largely not understood. But no such support has been promised.
The Launch
November 7 will mark the first day people can apply for assisted suicide or euthanasia within New Zealand.
You can expect to see one of the first successful applicants featured in the media. While we as the public aren’t entitled to know any of the data around who will use this ‘treatment’, there will be some who celebrate its arrival. It shouldn’t be surprising if the first person to use it is linked to a campaign group that advocated for the law change and their story used to push an agenda.
The Government will carry the responsibility to ensure people know assisted suicide or euthanasia is a healthcare option as health practitioners can’t suggest or mention it to their patients. The new ‘treatment’ will be advertised and included in end-of-life care education and information resources.
The law change will impact every doctor and nurse. All health practitioners and healthcare providers will have to become aware of their responsibility under the Act.
Even a doctor who wants to conscientiously object to a patient’s application will have to refer them to SCENZ.
Has your doctor initiated the conversation?
“I can’t advocate for my patient to get better disability services or better treatment, which they may not be getting and which had led them to be in a situation where they feel really hopeless and desperate. I would be forced to abandon some of my most vulnerable patients.”
The Future
We will see the total number of granted applications after the first anniversary of its use. Whether we hear about details of any individual case will entirely be up to if the person choosing it wants to share their story. It’s inevitable that someone will, considering those campaigning for it, want to promote it as ‘successful’.
From there our numbers will steadily rise – as it has in every other jurisdiction that has introduced this internationally. In Victoria State, Australia, the number using assisted suicide or euthanasia within the first year was far higher than predicted.
The law change is already shifting the doctor and patient relationship around end-of-life care, and it will continue. Several cases have already been noted of patients and family members having euthanasia being tabled in conversations by health practitioners – even though this is supposed to be illegal.
Doctors and nurses across New Zealand are being trained in performing assisted suicide or euthanasia, and those that object are required to refer patients who request it.
The Act does not allow doctors to exercise their clinical judgement regarding whether an assisted death is appropriate in an individual case. Once a patient has made a request and been deemed eligible, they have a legal right to receive assisted suicide or euthanasia.
Many predict there will be legal challenges to the legislation requesting the eligibility criteria be widened, including Queen’s Counsel law barrister Grant Illingworth who is a member of Lawyers for Vulnerable New Zealanders and a #DefendNZ ambassador.
There will be cases of people choosing assisted suicide or euthanasia without telling their families. And cases where the real reason it was requested wasn’t because of pain – but loneliness. Abuse of the system is seen throughout countries where euthanasia and/or assisted suicide are legal. But that’s why we are here to #DefendNZ.
Do you suspect a family member or friend may be vulnerable?
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