Why I support voluntary assisted dying laws in Queensland

If Queensland MPs don’t vote to legalise assisted dying how can they even claim to have a conscience at all, asks Jeremy Pierce.

“I just want to die.”

It’s not really what you expect as an answer to a casual “how’s it going?”

But you probably don’t expect to face a rare brain disease that will eventually entomb you in your own body either.

As my dying Dad stared intently into my eyes, I did what most blokes would do.

I made a lighthearted gibe about how we would both be dead before our useless politicians could vote to legalise voluntary assisted dying and casually moved the conversation on to the Broncos’ latest debacle.

Inside, my heart was breaking.

As to how Dad feels about this week’s landmark debate on voluntary assisted dying, I don’t know.

My dad, who would talk the leg off a chair on the phone or at the clubhouse after a game of tennis, lost the ability to speak months ago.

Jeremy Pierce with his dad Robert. Picture: Jeremy Pierce

He gives a “thumbs up” to communicate as his brain is slowly suffocated by progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP, the same disease that just claimed the mum of the Veronicas.

I once listened to a conservative MP dominate a dinner party discussion by saying the push for voluntary assisted dying in Queensland was just a political stunt because palliative care already achieved pretty much the same thing.

There’s no doubt it’s a godsend for those in excruciating pain, but it’s no help whatsoever to people like my dad, who suffer in silence.

More and more people, including my mate Peter Gleeson and former premier Peter Beattie, have changed their views on euthanasia after being confronted with the terrible final journey of loved ones.

Baby Boomers, that vital voting block which often decides elections, are facing this moral dilemma at the same time as our politicians.

Boomers are at the age where they are either being afflicted by horrible illnesses that will ultimately prove fatal, or they are watching their parents battle dementia, Alzheimer’s or other heartbreaking conditions in aged care centres.

I see the sadness in their eyes as they visit their parents, knowing they are also taking a depressing glimpse into their own futures.

Pro-lifers talk about treating the terminally ill with “dignity” and making them “comfortable” in their final weeks and months.

Aged care and respite workers perform amazing and often thankless work, but where is the dignity in having strangers hose you off in a shower because you can no longer go to the toilet for yourself?

Or being unable to tell your family why you have tears streaming down your face when they come to visit.

And how comfortable must it be when you need so much morphine to dull the pain that you’re barely conscious?

Today’s debate comes too late for my dad, a proud Queenslander, fan of the Broncos, the mighty Maroons and Dick Johnson.

He has spent many years living in NSW and even now, as he waits for the end, he’s in an aged care home south of the border.

Jeremy Pierce’s father Robert was a banana farmer on the Tweed before being struck down by PSP. Picture: Adam Head

Assisted dying reforms are also a hot topic in NSW, but my dad will not be around to see them.

Queensland parliamentarians have been informed the decision will be a conscience vote.

But if they don’t vote to legalise assisted dying how can they even claim to have a conscience at all?

Euthanasia Bill: How voluntary assisted dying would work in SA

South Australia votes in favour of voluntary assisted dying law

Originally published as Why I support voluntary assisted dying laws in Queensland