Daily Archives: April 17, 2022

Sixty-six people have been helped to die since it was made legal in New Zealand in November, with most of those choosing to do so in their home.

From November 7, when the End of Life Choice Act came into force, and March 31 this year, 206 people have applied to end their lives, according to Ministry of Health statistics.

At last count in February, the ministry said the number was at least 28 since then a further 38 people have gone through the process.

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About three quarters of those who applied for assisted dying were over the age of 65. (File photo)

Most of those who applied for assisted dying were Pkeh, who made up 79 percent of applicants, while 5 per cent were Mori and 2.4 per cent were Asian. Just over half were women and three quarters were over 65.

READ MORE:* At least 28 assisted deaths in first three months of new law* Two formal applications made for assisted dying in 10 days it has been legal* Kpiti man prepares for his own death as euthanasia law begins

Three quarters also chose to die at a private residence or their own home.

Most of those who applied were suffering from cancer (133), while 21 suffered from a neurological condition.

UNSPLASH

Nine of those who applied for assisted dying were between the ages of 18 and 44. (File photo)

But not everyone who started the process finished.

Of the 206 applicants, 59 were still going through the process as of March 31, while 81 didnt continue as they were either found ineligible (40), withdrew from the assisted dying programme (11), or died from their condition (30).

The criteria for an assisted death are strict and, so far, 40 people have been assessed as ineligible.

The reasons range from not being a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident to being assessed as not suffering from a medical condition that was likely to be terminal within six months.

To be eligible for assisted dying under the Act, a person (over the age of 18) must have a terminal illness likely to end their life within six months.

They must have significant and ongoing decline in physical capability and experience unbearable suffering which cannot be eased in a manner they find tolerable.

A person cannot access assisted dying solely because they have a mental disorder or mental illness, have a disability or are of advanced age.

Previously the ministry estimated up to 950 people could apply for assisted dying each year, with up to 350 being assisted to die.

To go through the assisted dying process, a person must first make a formal request to their doctor for assisted dying, and an attending medical practitioner undertakes a first assessment to determine their eligibility.

Stuff

The ACT Party celebrates as the euthanasia referendum results are revealed.

A second independent doctor also assesses the person, and a third assessment by a psychiatrist may be undertaken.

So far, no person has been rejected after being assessed by a psychologist.

When a person is deemed eligible, they choose the date and time for the assisted death to take place, as well as the method for the medication to be administered.

Assisted dying may be a sensitive topic for some people. People can call or text 1737 for free to speak to a trained counsellor at any time.

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Sixty-six people have been helped to die in NZ since euthanasia law change - Stuff

Two cases of bird flu have been confirmed in U.S. zoos, but officials said they wont order widespread euthanasia of zoo birds the way they have on farms.

U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman Mike Stepien declined to release any details about the zoo cases Thursday, including which two zoos were involved.

Many zoos across the country haveclosed down their aviaries and moved birds insidewhenever possible to help protect them from avian influenza that officials believe is primarily being spread by the droppings of wild birds.

At many zoos, penguins might be the only birds visitors can see because they are generally kept inside behind glass where they are shielded from the virus.

Nearly 27 million chickens and turkeyshave been slaughteredin 26 states to limit the spread of bird flu during this years outbreak. Officials order entire flocks to be killed when the virus is found on farms.

Stepien said zoos work with state veterinary officials when the virus is found, but unlike farms, zoos are generally allowed to isolate and treat an infected bird as long as they take precautions to protect the other birds in their collections.

Health officials emphasize that bird flu doesnt jeopardize food safety because infected birds arent allowed into the food supply and properly cooking meat and eggs to 165 degrees Fahrenheit will kill any viruses. The disease also doesnt represent any immediate public health threat, and no human cases have been found in America.

This years outbreak is theworst onesince 2015 when roughly 50 million chickens and turkeys were slaughtered because of the virus. Stepien said that there were very few bird flu cases in captive wild birds in 2015 and none in large zoos, and no wild birds at zoos were euthanized that year.

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2 Bird Flu Cases Confirmed In US Zoos As Virus Spreads - News On 6

Nothing in David Hunters life is as it should be. Six weeks short of turning 75, the pensioner remains in Cyprus but his home is a prison cell shared with 11 other men. At the other end of the Mediterranean island, Janice, his beloved wife, lies buried in a cemetery overlooking the sea. He has not been able to visit. Even worse, almost four months to the day after she died, he stands accused of premeditated murder with the prospect of spending the rest of his life behind bars.

My dad loved my mum for 56 years, said Lesley Cawthorne, the couples daughter, from her home in Norwich. He absolutely cherished her. From beginning to end, when she was so ill and in such pain, he treated her with kindness, love and compassion. All we want is to bring him home.

The battle to do that moves into high gear on Monday, when Hunter, a former miner from Northumberland, will be driven out of Nicosias central prison to Paphos, the southern resort town where he and his wife first sought their dream life abroad.

There, before an assize court, he will relive the events of the night of 18 December, events that his lawyers say amount to assisted suicide, but which, in a nation heavily influenced by the Greek Orthodox Church, have caused unease even if they have also helped lift the veil on a subject long considered taboo: euthanasia.

For months, Cawthorne said, her father had resisted her cancer-stricken mothers pleas to end what had become excruciating physical pain.

Janice Hunter was diagnosed with leukemia in 2016 and her health deteriorated after the outbreak of the pandemic. Difficulties accessing treatments combined with persistent diarrhoea and the gradual loss of sight had made life unbearable.

Fearing the same fate as her sister, Kathleen, who endured an agonising and undignified death from the same disease, Janice begged for her suffering to end, said Cawthorne, a finance industry compliance consultant.

A week before Christmas, as his wife sat in her favourite armchair in a room full of decorations, Hunter acted: he took his wifes head in his hands and, according to police, blocked her air passages until the deed was done. The septuagenarian then tried to take his own life by overdosing on prescription pills and alcohol. By the time the authorities arrived alerted by Hunters brother they found the ex-miner barely alive in their Tremithousa maisonette in the hills above Paphos. Janice was dead in her white leather chair.

For days doctors pumped Hunters stomach, against his will, until the Briton fully regained consciousness. When he did come round, it was to the knowledge that a moments decision, spurred by an alleged act of love, had changed his life forever.

But Derek Wickett, the couples neighbour, is certain of one thing. They thought the world of each other, said the mild-mannered Midlander who also retired to Cyprus after 40 years employed at the Fort Dunlop tyre factory in Birmingham. Youd hear Janice sing; she loved her vegetable garden, he told the Observer, popping his head over the wall between the maisonettes. Then suddenly there was no singing. She was in such pain she couldnt come out. It was terrible how it ended. We just hope they can get David home.

Hunters lawyers have appealed to the attorney general, the top legal officer in the former British colony, to intervene in what is the first case of its kind in Cyprus. Against a backdrop of opposition from the Orthodox Church and debate in parliament over legalising euthanasia, the defence team asked that the charge be reduced to assisted suicide in line with legislation elsewhere in Europe. On Friday the request was rejected.

We put together lengthy submissions drawing on law and guidance from other jurisdictions explaining why a prosecution for murder is inappropriate in the circumstances of this case, said Michael Polak, a barrister with the London-based legal aid group Justice Abroad. These submissions have been rejected but no reasoning was given in the letter for this cause of action.

The lawyers said they would continue to request that the prosecution take a principled decision so David Hunter could return to the UK.

In Ollies, a family-run pub near the palm-fringed cul-de-sac where the Hunters once lived, expats were reluctant to talk about an affair that has clearly cast a pall over the community. But genuine affection and respect for the Hunters were not in short supply.

They were very good people, said Petros Christofi, who presides over Tremithousas 1,300-strong community and rented the maisonette to the couple after they sold their Paphos flat to pay for Janices healthcare. Ask Father Michael at the church, ask anyone here. They were liked by all.

It was with a heavy heart, said Christofi, that he had testified to police on the night she died. Its clear she was suffering. Its clear she was in pain. Its clear this wasnt murder and its clear our laws should change.

A wooden cross marks the hillside spot where Janice is buried. A flower-filled jug and bouquets lie across the freshest grave in the cemetery full of foreign names.

Dad is obsessed with the idea that he needs to visit Mums grave, said Cawthorne, 49, who said her own heart condition has prevented her from travelling to Cyprus.

He feels its indecent and disrespectful that he hasnt been able to go. Its been impossible to grieve for Mum. All we want is compassion. We need Dad home so we can grieve together.

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Briton who killed terminally ill wife faces murder trial in Cyprus - The Guardian

By Tony MaglianoMaking a Difference

In his book, "The Passion and the Cross," columnist and author Father Ron Rolheiser writes, "The cross of Jesus doesn't just reveal God as unconditional love' it also reveals how vulnerability is the path to intimacy. How is this revealed in the cross? The best place to start is with God. What the cross tells us, more clearly than any other revelation, is that God is absolutely and utterly nonviolent and that God's vulnerability, which the cross invites us into, is a power for community with God and with each other."

But our attraction to sin and its powerful capacity to lure us away from our loving God, often leads us to a deafness a deafness to the message of the cross. And thus, even in its most violent forms, sin continues to seduce countless human beings to disregard their most fundamental nature as persons made in the image and likeness of our good God.

Jesus self-giving message from the cross, inviting us to enter into his unconditional love, vulnerability, intimacy, absolute nonviolence, community with God and each other is what you and I and the entire world needs more than anything else!

During Good Fridays Stations of the Cross led by Pope Francis in the Roman Colosseum (see: https://bit.ly/3vfZzpQ), a Ukrainian and a Russian family jointly wrote the meditation for the 13th Station praying: We wake up in the morning and feel happy for a few moments, but then suddenly think how difficult it will be to reconcile ourselves to all of this. Lord where are you? Speak to us amid the silence of death and division, and teach us to be peacemakers, brothers and sisters, and to rebuild what bombs tried to destroy.

And in the 14th Station composed by the parents of a migrant family driven out of their war-torn country, they share how they daily die to self so that their children have the chance of a life without bombs, blood, and persecution. They pray: If we do not give up, it is because we know that the great stone at the entrance of the tomb will one day be rolled away.

These families who have suffered so deeply, have entered into Jesus invitation from the cross. They have experienced, and are continuing to experience, the message that our Lord Jesus is with them, and through his unimaginable suffering, he fully understands their suffering and is leading them to help the rest of us enter into his invitation from the cross, of unconditional love, vulnerability, intimacy, absolute nonviolence, community with God and each other.

In addition to these sad, and yet heroic examples of suffering migrants and victims of war, there are countless other innocent brothers and sisters, enduring tremendous hardships, pain and death.

Abortion, poverty, hunger, starvation, homelessness, human trafficking, needy refugees, capital punishment, religious and ethnic persecution, racism, lack of medical care, euthanasia and human-related climate change disasters are among the other realities that crush fellow human beings.

In light of all this human-induced misery and death, are we the 21st century followers of Jesus Christ finally willing to deeply reflect upon and selflessly act on the truth insightfully observed by Father Rolheiser that The cross of Jesus doesnt just reveal God as unconditional love; it also reveals how vulnerability is the path to intimacy. How is this revealed in the cross? The best place to start is with God. What the cross tells us, more clearly than any other revelation, is that God is absolutely and utterly nonviolent and that Gods vulnerability, which the cross invites us into, is a power for community with God and with each other.

Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached attmag6@comcast.net.

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The cross' indispensable invitation - Clarion Herald

First-year student, Elijah Fazil, recorded their heated conversation with SFL, resulting in their phone being knocked out of their hands.

On April 8, there a pro-life table was stationed in the Student Union Building, in front of Lounge 100. Students were baffled by the tables presence, considering SUNY New Paltz is supposed to be a progressive school.

The table is run by a Students For Life of America (SFL) group, according to New Paltzs Student Engagement. SFL states they exist to educate students on abortion and help make it unthinkable, and that they are dedicated to helping mothers during and after pregnancy. The organizations Constitution states its purpose is to work to save lives threatened by induced abortion, euthanasia and the destruction of human embryos for research.

At the SUB, SFL had multiple infographics showcasing the effects of the Chemical Abortion, details about the Abortion Industrys Plan for a Post-Roe America and one that stated The Supreme Court Is Ready To Reverse Roe v. Wade. The graphics refer to the opposing side as they, not exactly specifying who or what this organizations opposition is, but many speculate their opposition is either Planned Parenthood or leftists.

The table promoted many anti-abortion agendas, including untrue claims over the effects of mifepristone, falsely stating it is 4x riskier than surgical abortion. Mifepristone (also known as mifeprex) is a drug that blocks the progesterone hormone and can end a pregnancy that is less than 10 weeks along. It was previously known as RU486 and is sometimes called the abortion pill.

Another infographic that was on display included an argument about Decreased Womens Safety, which stated that abortion harms women, such as in the extreme cases of underlying medical conditions for those who take the mifepristone.

Each infographic SFL has displayed a website titled ThisIsChemicalAbortion.com, whose mission is to stop chemical abortions with the Teleabortion Prevention Act of 2021. Introduced by Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), the act aims to hold accountable medical professionals providing remote healthcare. If passed, this bill will require healthcare providers to conduct a physical examination, to be present during the monthly chemical abortion intake, and schedule a follow-up visit for the patient.

Student For Lifes website stands by its argument that abortion is considered violence. The organization does not believe that sexual assault is a justification for abortion, nor the idea that the life and health of the mother are grounds for abortion.

First-year student, Elijah Fazil, decided to record the anti-abortion displays and had an interaction with a person running the stand. Fazil was curious about what those tables were saying and wanted to take a few photos of the information SFL was promoting.

Im taking a picture of this because Im like, this is silly, Fazil states in the 15-second video they took. Fazil had already had a disagreement with the woman leading the table prior to this interaction, but they decided to come back and share this information with their friends.

The woman, who has remained unidentified, begins to taunt Fazil by saying, Oh go ahead. Go ahead and do it. She is seen wearing a sweatshirt that reads Choose Life, which is SFL merchandise. When Fazil turns their camera toward the voice, the woman swats the phone out of their hands and it falls to the floor.

The woman can be heard in the background, No, dont take a photo of me, you [inaudible].

When she tried taking my phone, I was really about to start something but I didnt want to get kicked out of school over some girl, Fazil said following the incident. They are glad they caught the action on camera though.

Students For Life has not replied for a comment.

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Students For Life Table in the Student Union Building - The New Paltz Oracle - SUNY The New Paltz Oracle

Katie Leigh French was Sue Waltons stepdaughter, but Walton never really made the distinction. One of six daughters in a blended family, French like her stepmum worked in aged care, and the pair used to talk all the time, night shift, on the phone or shed text me. That was until July of last year when, just two weeks after giving birth to a baby boy, French was told that she had stage 4 cancer. She was given three months to live. She was 35 years old.

Soon after her diagnosis, French talked to her stepmum about her decision to apply to access voluntary assisted dying (VAD), with all the pragmatism of a couple of aged care workers. She said, Im going to do it, and it seemed like she was sort of waiting for approval. And I said: Kate, its your body. Its your choice, says Walton. I know whats going to happen at the end of all of this, and so do you. And you have the right to decide what to do.

French had moved to Victoria, the first state in Australia to legalise voluntary assisted dying, before she discovered she was ill and so she was eligible to make use of that states laws. While she longed to come home to her dad, her stepmum, and her friends and family in Kanahooka, NSW, she was anchored to Melbourne by the lockbox of life-ending medication shed jumped through legal hoops to attain and the knowledge that if she returned home to NSW to use it, shed be breaking the law in the last state in Australia yet to legalise voluntary assisted dying.

Last month marked the third time in a decade that the NSW upper house has debated voluntary assisted dying. NSW had been in line to become the first Australian state to legislate it in 2017, but the bill failed to pass in the upper house by just one vote. Days later, Victoria legalised voluntary euthanasia.

In 2021 the issue took on an extraordinary momentum across the country, with a similar scheme to Victorias coming into effect in Western Australia in July, and Tasmania and South Australia passing legislation in the same year. The federal government has denied the territories the chance to make their own laws on the issue.

All of this means that the rules on voluntary assisted dying are not uniform across Australia. It leaves some terminally ill people in one state or territory unable to choose to end their lives, while those on the other side of the border can. And it leaves a few, like French, stuck between family on one side, and the death they want on the other.

NSWs latest bill finally passed the lower house in November 2021, on the last day of parliamentary sitting for the year. Three months later Walton stood outside parliament house in the rain, at a rally to urge members to push the bill through the upper house.

Walton told organisers shed return to the next rally, in between trips back and forth from NSW to Melbourne to care for French. Protests like this kept her busy, kept her mind off things, but she also had something else tugging at her, a promise shed made to her daughter: to be by her side when she decided to take the medication that would end her life. But just over 24 hours later, French was dead.

Independent member for Sydney Alex Greenwich knows a bit about the cost of delaying this kind of legislation, having co-sponsored failed bills in the past.

This time around, hes led the process, introducing the latest bill in October last year. With each bid to get the legislation up, Greenwich has been confronted by the costs of delay to the people desperate to see such a bill passed. Dealing with disappointing people that we havent resolved this for yet is tough, but its certainly not as tough as the cruel deaths that people experience and the trauma that their family members then face.

When French received her diagnosis last year, it was via Zoom. The city was about to enter hard lockdown again, and Walton began the task of coordinating with two state governments to get over the border to help nurse her daughter and take care of their newborn grandson, Jameson, the baby French had spent 10 years trying to conceive. It was the start of a dawning realisation of just how diabolical navigating the sometimes vastly different bureaucracies of neighbouring states could be.

Walton and her husband spent the next six months driving up and down the Hume to see French. (Waltons husband, Andrew, has leukaemia and cant get on a plane due to his compromised immune system.) Having only moved to Victoria shortly before the pandemic hit, Walton says French and her husband hadnt yet had a chance to build up much of a support network. They tried to get back home to Kanahooka as often as they could, but always returned to Melbourne.

The young mothers last trip home was for Christmas with her large extended family. It was an extremely emotional time for her and us, as she dearly wanted to stay at home and be with us all for whatever time was left, says Walton. If the law was in NSW, she wouldve been here with us and all her sisters, all her friends and all her family.

But with all our hearts broken she went back to Victoria.

In an April 2021 Australia Institute poll, three-quarters of Australians agreed with the principle that a person who is experiencing suffering that cannot be relieved and who asks to die should be allowed to receive the assistance of a doctor to do so. Another July 2021 Australian Institute poll found that seven in 10 NSW voters think that voluntary assisted dying should be legal.

Greenwichs current proposal, despite being personally opposed by both premier Dominic Perrottet and opposition leader Chris Minns, is backed by 28 MPs, including members of the government, crossbench and the Labor opposition the highest number of co-sponsors to a bill in the history of any Australian parliament.

In all the states that have thus far legalised it, VAD is only available to adults with decision-making capacity in the end stages of a terminal illness, and who are suffering intolerably. The person must maintain decision-making capacity throughout the process and make repeated requests for VAD. They can withdraw at any time. Amid caring for her newborn and dealing with increasingly painful symptoms, French applied for access to VAD in August. It was approved by February. By then, French had well outlived her three month prognosis. And even then, Walton says she was reluctant to actually order the medication to be delivered to her house.

The latest figures from Victorias voluntary assisted dying report of operations show that since June 2019, when the act came into force, until 30 June 2021, 836 people were assessed for eligibility to access VAD. Of those, 674 permit applications were made and 597 permits were issued. Of those permits, 331 people have died from taking the prescribed medications.

As reflected in Victorias data, many people who are granted a permit for medication dont utilise it. But for Walton, being in a different state provided another level of difficulty, given she was determined to honour her promise to be by Frenchs side if and when she decided to take the medication.

For the last five weeks she was asking us: Can you come down tomorrow? Im going to do it. And so wed prepare to leave at three in the morning, and wed ask her if she could wait that long, and then, hours later, shed say, Im not taking it tomorrow. And thats been going on for weeks.

She was clinging by the fingernails, as long as could, says Walton. The tumours became so large in her bones that they fractured they actually splintered she had a broken left arm. We knew that would happen, she knew that would happen, but she just didnt want to leave her little fella.

French was determined to see her sons first birthday. Instead, on Walton and her husbands last visit to Melbourne, as Jameson turned seven months old, French decided to throw a party. She didnt want to miss his first birthday party. So we held one early.

After the party Walton and her husband reluctantly returned home in time for Andrews regular course of treatments for his leukaemia. That was the week that Walton decided to step up to the Dying with Dignity rally. The week she had no idea just how little time there was left.

After Jamesons party, Frenchs condition rapidly deteriorated. She had begun to lose consciousness. Her family made preparations to once again head down the freeway to be by her side. But on the Thursday morning, the day after the rally, she suddenly became conscious and with her husband by her side took the medication. She passed away an hour later.

Greenwich has been struck by the stories of family members like Walton. Theres just a massive amount of stories in NSW, coupled with the sheer inequity that then exists by the fact that people in Victoria and Western Australia can already access this, and soon people in all of the other states.

By the time the NSW upper house concluded debate, a majority of members had spoken in favour of the VAD bill. Advocates like Dying with Dignitys Shayne Higson now believe its likely the legislation will pass when parliament resumes in mid-May. If it then passes without amendment, she estimates it could be implemented by the end of 2023.

Of course for some terminally people in NSW that will still be too late for them to access.

And for their families, that means trying to make peace with the way they died.

I dont make a promise easily. It means an awful lot to me, says Walton. And I now have to live with the fact that I didnt keep my promise to be there for Katies last breath. And I dont know whether she wouldve known or not, but I know myself. So thats just another thing that breaks my heart.

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Australians have unequal rights to die. For some families, that only adds to the pain - The Guardian