Mercy - At Last !

Most people hope they will have a merciful death.  The ultimate would be a peaceful death from natural causes in their dotage.   Unfortunately reality is somewhat different.  A lot of people suffer an agonising and lingering death from one of the many diseases that life's lottery chooses to bestow.

The laws that relate to the act of dyeing are heavily influenced by church doctrines.  Some still regard suicide as a mortal sin but in todays world suicide is perfectly legal in most countries, provided the person wishing to die acts alone.   Should someone help, that person could face a court and serve a prison sentence as a penalty.

This creates a fine line between mercy - and legal responsibility.  The doctors and nurses who administer to the dyeing tread a treacherous path.  Delivering relief that may lessen agonising pain may tip the balance between life and death.   They have to decide between their conscience - and the law.

That led to impossible situations in many hospitals - and resulted in the creation of hospices. These were dedicated places where the dyeing could expect the utmost efforts to be made to ease their suffering, even if so doing decreased their life span.  They were places where legality chose to shut its eyes and ears.

Unfortunately hospices are few and far between.  Many people are unable to achieve that relief and we are aware that both medical people and relatives bend the law to ease terminal suffering.  From time to time this help results in a lurid court case and a prosecution.

Opinion polls show that the majority of the Australian population approve of the right to die with dignity, but there is a hard core of very vocal opposition and this spooks the politicians.   The Northern Territory passed a law to allow the terminally ill to end their lives - only to have that disallowed by the Federal parliament.  It is only the states that have the right to legislate on that subject without Federal oversight.

Just that is now happening.   The premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews has broken ranks with the other states and will introduce a law to legalize euthanasia.  It will have very limited application and be only available to those in the terminal stage of their illness, and will require the consent of two independent doctors.

This law will be drafted by an independent panel over the next six months and will then need to pass both houses of the Victorian parliament.   The earliest it could come into operation would be 2018 because an eighteen month delay is proposed.   The bill will be subjected to a conscience vote in the Victorian parliament.

Daniel Andrews is being courageous.   Some sections of religion will fight this bill vigorously and it remains to be seen if it will receive bipartisan support.  Mr Andrews commented that the death of his father heavily influenced his decision to introduce this legislation.  Many who have witnessed a loved one die in the grip of unceasing pain will have empathy.

The impasse in Australia is finally being broken.   It seems inevitable that pressure will build for the other states to follow !