Cancer victim’s daughter urges SA Parliament to legalise voluntary assisted dying

A woman has urged SA’s parliament to pass a Bill that would make voluntary assisted dying legal, after sharing the heartbreaking story of her father’s death.

Rose Morton was having a morning coffee with her father when he took his final breath last November, losing his horrific battle with terminal cancer.

Just months earlier, David Morton, 80, was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which spread throughout his body.

Ms Morton, of Banksia Park, said her father suffered immense pain during his illness and would have chosen to end his life “with dignity” had voluntary assisted dying been an available option.

She is urging South Australian politicians to immediately pass a Bill that would make voluntary assisted dying legal, saying it would help people suffering from terminal illnesses and their grieving families.

Rose Morton holds a portrait of her late father David Morton, who died from prostate cancer. Picture: Sarah Reed

The Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill, first introduced by Opposition legal affairs spokesman Kyam Maher, will be further debated in the state’s Upper House on Wednesday evening.

Ms Morton cared for her father at his Surrey Downs home until he died.

“That was absolutely heartbreaking,” she said.

“I was the one who was there 24 hours of the day looking after him, watching him go through the pain … listening to him saying, ‘it will be over soon, bub, it’ll be OK’.”

“My dad couldn’t even move. He was so riddled with this bloody cancer that we couldn’t even change his clothes, because just to move him in the bed would have broken a bone. How dignified is that?

Modelled on Victorian law, the proposed reforms would allow access to assisted dying for adults who have lived in SA for at least 12 months.

The person must be diagnosed with an incurable disease, illness or medical condition that will cause death within weeks or months. Their illness must also be causing suffering that cannot be relieved.

A group of about 20 people – mostly current and retired lawyers and health professionals, pictured left – gathered on the steps of Parliament House yesterday in support of the reforms.

Voluntary Assisted Dying SA president Frances Coombe said MPs needed to follow Victorian and West Australian politicians in supporting the compassionate laws.

“South Australians are being forced to suffer without choice – it’s time to stop the cruelty,” Ms Coombe said.

The latest Bill is the 17th attempt to legalise voluntary euthanasia in SA.

The last push, in 2016, was rejected by MPs influenced by their religious beliefs and concerns about the potential breakdown of medical safeguards.

Originally published as Cancer victim’s daughter urges SA Parliament to legalise voluntary assisted dying