Euthanasia, palliative care and the choice facing Queenslanders

By questioning why Queensland needs prompt enactment of voluntary assisted dying legislation, Catholic and Anglican archbishops Mark Coleridge and Phillip Aspinall appear either uninformed or uninterested in the well-established facts regarding this issue (“Religious leaders cry betrayal on euthanasia”, 20/10).

Published medical evidence from Australia’s Palliative Care Outcome Collaborative demonstrates that even with the excellent palliative care we enjoy in this country, just short of 15 per cent of patients will have untreatable symptoms of pain up until the time of their passing.

Multiple indepth inquiries, including here in Queensland, have confirmed the unacceptable number of terminally ill people enduring a distressing end of life with intolerable suffering and loss of dignity not in keeping with their rational wishes.

In the absence of a legal right to have control over peaceful and dignified circumstances for their own end of life, coronial figures reveal that, on average, seven terminally ill Queenslanders every month are ending their own suffering in invariably lonely and disturbing situations.

Copious evidence already exists to confirm effectiveness of safeguards in protecting vulnerable members of our society. Delaying passage of voluntary assisted dying law only adds to the suffering of those terminally ill people who wish to have control over their own end of life.

Dr Sid Finnigan, Qld state convenor, Doctors for Assisted Dying Choice

The Queensland Premier is pushing for legislation that will bring the end of life to certain people through euthanasia. Given that the standard of palliative care has improved massively over the years, there is no real justification for euthanasia.

If Labor wins this election, euthanasia will be hurried into parliament. Labor will claim it’s a conscience vote but the legislation will be treated as if it’s a government bill, guaranteeing an early hearing and quick vote in February.

Robert Jacobucci, Canley Vale, NSW

Repeated polling has shown the vast majority of Christians want the option of VAD for themselves and their loved ones. I guess the churches never claimed to be democratic institutions so the Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane is free to advocate delaying consideration of VAD in Queensland. The sad fact is dozens will die badly as a result of legislation not having been considered before the election.

Marshall Perron, Buderim, Qld

Queensland is a financial disaster, drowning in a sea of debt and with unemployment running at 9 per cent and little chance of any reduction in the foreseeable future. So what does our Premier, Anastasia Palaszczuk, put front and centre in her policy speech? Euthanasia. And this is the government that is going to revive our economy.

Don Spence, Ashmore, Qld

Trump’s out of jail card

Peter Hawkins (Letters, 19/10) lists the overlooked achievements of Donald Trump, but forgets to mention his significant prison reforms. Trump removed a two-year minimum sentence for minor crimes and established the First Step program, which gives prisoners a government-subsidised job on their release; not only does this upskill an ex-prisoner, but it provides them with a more employable resume and helps to prevent a return to drugs, gangs and crime. This has been welcomed, especially by African-American community leaders, as providing better outcomes for urban youth.

D. Fedewytsch-Dickson, Footscray, Vic

No matter how much you dislike Donald Trump, only a fool can fail to see the implications for public access to information of the massive suppression on the internet of the Hunter Biden leaks (“Big Tech pulls on censor’s jackboots for left”, 20/10).

N. Broomhall, Port Macquarie, NSW