It is appalling that governments around Australia consciously continue the suffering of people with  a terminal illness against their wishes.  

Many incurable, irreversible and painful medical conditions cannot be relieved by palliation. Suffering is being prolonged by a system that is failing. 

Terminally ill people lose their dignity, their choices are taken away and, tragically, desperate people now are ending their suffering through a lonely suicide.

Successive polls indicate that more than 75% of the population is in favour of assisted dying, with appropriate safeguards, for the terminally ill. 

It is hard to imagine a stronger political mandate for change and yet politicians continue to ignore the will of the people. 

I say to them:  if you are not up to the task of legislating to end the suffering of terminally ill people, move aside. 

You are currently not doing the job you have been elected to do.

Opponents of assisted dying want to leave things as they are because they are worried about what might happen is we had a law.  

We should all be worried about what is happening now! 

Twenty to 40% of doctors claim to have assisted patients to die, 20% of them without patient consent. We can only hope that is done as an act of compassion, but we cannot know that.  

Not all suffering can be palliated. 

A 2016 study of 106 palliative care facilities in Australia showed that 22-25% fall patients died in moderate to severe pain.  

Terminal sedation is the palliative care panacea to suffering. 

You are put into a medically induced coma, you can’t eat nor drink, and you essentially starve and dehydrate to death.  

It can take up to 21 days to die this way.  No-one I know wants to die this way.

The NSW Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2017 was launched last week for a three month pubic consultation period.  

We urge everyone in the community to read it, then phone, email and write to their local politicians.  

Appropriately, it has the most stringent safeguards and, although it restricts access to terminally ill people over 25 years of age who are experiencing severe pain unacceptable to them, it is better to have a law than none at all - 70% of something is better than 100% of nothing.   

There is also an online petition - change.org/annie - we encourage people to sign.

Annie Quadroy, 

Midnorth Coast DWDnsw