Stuff co.nz 25 August 2016 Family First Comment: How very sad. “The woman is also seeking an unspecified amount for pain and suffering she has experienced, including depression and psychological trauma.” I think it may be the son who grows up and reads this article that will suffer far far more. But I’m sure he will be grateful for life. #chooselife
A 23-year-old mother is suing her GP and the public health system for thousands of dollars to support her son after her termination went wrong.
In August 2013, the woman, who is from rural Victoria, Australia, asked her GP for a termination following a positive home pregnancy test.
But despite having a surgical termination, the pregnancy continued, the Daily Telegraph reported. And in April 2014 the woman gave birth to a son, “Cooper”.
The woman says she was unable to terminate her pregnancy because of the negligence of her GP and the hospital.
The woman is suing for funds to cover the cost of raising her son, including the cost of feeding, clothing, housing and schooling, out-of-school activities such as sport and music, and medical and transport expenses.
In addition to this, the woman is also seeking an unspecified amount for pain and suffering she has experienced, including depression and psychological trauma.
Stuff co.nz 24 August 2016 Family First Comment: Some superb comments from someone who knows!
People aren’t “crying out in pain from their deathbeds”, says a palliative care doctor against voluntary euthanasia.
Amanda Landers, chair of The Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine, told MPs on the first day of a parliamentary inquiry into euthanasia that pain is “completely subjective”.
“Sixty per cent of New Zealanders have chronic pain … I had a hip operation recently and I have hip pain right now and I’m pretty sure my teenagers suffered during their teens for about five years.”
When questioned whether that was “unbearable pain” by National MP Jacqui Dean – Landers responded, “isn’t it?”
Landers submission against giving people the choice to die is borne out of her own experience dealing with about 5000 deaths in palliative care throughout her career.
“In my job I have a lot of people asking me about euthanasia. When they say that to me I say, you’re so brave but why do you want that?. We dig down … almost everybody changes their mind in my experience.”
She said those who didn’t change their mind about wanting to end their life shouldn’t be given the option.
Her comments were in direct contrast to those of Matt Vickers, husband of Lecretia Seales, who fought on her deathbed for the right to choose to die.
Vickers asked that the inquiry “have an open mind” and consult with experts overseas.
The SpinOff 24 August 2016 Family First Comment: “Dear (ACT MP) David Seymour… Disabled and other people who oppose assisted suicide are not religious fanatics. Not Dead Yet Aotearoa was founded on disability rights not religious convictions. Assisted suicide supporters attempting to diminish the opposition by ignoring some and making sweeping statements about others is not helpful.”
I assure David Seymour that assisted suicide is a really big and complicated deal. It is no coincidence that disabled people all over the world oppose it. Our opposition arises from a (largely invisible) dark and troubled history, negative attitudes and behaviours towards disabled people and current human rights abuses. Disabled people see assisted suicide as dangerous because of their already marginalised status. Some disabled people are particularly vulnerable.
Disabled and other people who oppose assisted suicide are not religious fanatics. Not Dead Yet Aotearoa was founded on disability rights not religious convictions. Assisted suicide supporters attempting to diminish the opposition by ignoring some and making sweeping statements about others is not helpful.
Part of our unease relates to evidence that lives of disabled people are valued less than those of others. There is a history of euthanasia and eugenics, which have gone hand in hand for disabled people. The most notable, yet largely unknown T4 programme initiated by the Nazi Third Reich was the forerunner to the better known holocaust of Jews, gays, gypsies and others who did not meet the Aryan ideal. Around half a million people with of all kinds of impairments were killed. Some were tortured with “experimentation” before death. The first child to be euthanised was killed at the request of his parents. They were labelled “useless eaters”. Many disabled people today still feel the residual power of that label as they struggle with cuts to services, parsimonious supports and subtle pressures to find work.
Even today those who murder their disabled family members, often vulnerable children, usually receive lesser sentences than other murderers. Their crimes may be labelled by the media and others as “mercy killings”.
Disabled people in the past were often discarded by society, “put away” in institutions popularly labelled “bins”, forgotten by society and history and eventually buried in unmarked graves. Today’s mini-institutions still harbour instances of violence and abuse, occasionally gaining media exposure. Disabled people, especially women, feel more vulnerable because they know they are more likely to experience violence and abuse and often feel powerless. Powerlessness and assisted suicide can be a dangerous combination.
READ MORE: http://thespinoff.co.nz/featured/24-08-2016/not-a-big-deal-david-seymour-for-disabled-people-the-idea-of-assisted-suicide-couldnt-be-bigger/
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