The death lottery !

Yesterday, an elderly man walked free from a Melbourne court after it imposed a three year good behaviour bond for assisting his wife to commit suicide.  This 70 year old woman lived an unbearable life of misery because of constant pain from a disability that failed to respond to surgery, medication or acupuncture.
The husband heeded is wife's plea for relief and they obtained the necessary implements by consulting the website of Exit International.

The consequences of assisting suicide are virtually a death lottery in Australia.  It all depends on luck - and which judge happens to get to sit in judgement on the case in question.    Yesterday the person sitting on the bench was a realist who dispensed  mercy.  Not everyone is so lucky !

Religion rears it's ugly head in a lot of cases.  There are some that are convinced that we do not have the authority to decide when it is time to die.   That decision belongs to a higher authority, and therefore anyone infringing on that right must be subjected to harsh punishment.

The politicians are too cowardly to bring this matter into the open and subject it to a referendum.  Yet at the same time it is quite legal to have all the details of a successful suicide available on the web, and it is quite legal to be a paid up member of euthanasia organizations.

Decades ago a person who failed in a suicide attempt was charged, put before a court and punished for breaking a law.  That has been watered down - and now it is perfectly legal for any person to end their life - so long as nobody else gives them any help.

And that's where the " death lottery " thing comes in.     If someone who has assisted in a suicide has the bad luck to get a " bible basher " judge he or she will have an unfortunate outcome.   There is every chance that an appeal to a higher court may reverse that decision, but an appeal costs a lot of money and a conviction is a heavy load to carry until the case goes to a higher court.

Other countries in the world have resolved this matter in the affirmative.   About time Australian politicians grasped the nettle - and gave the citizens a vote to decide the issue !