The right to die quickly becomes a duty to die

Tuesday, May 27th, 2014

“The right to die would very quickly become a duty to die,” says the director of the New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre, John Kleinsman.

He was speaking to close to 140 people at a public meeting in New Plymouth last week.

Kleinsman said his opposition to euthanasia was based on social concerns that its introduction, when coupled with increasing rates of depression and elder abuse, could see the elderly pressured to take their own life to avoid feeling like a burden and a cost.

“We have to be cognisant that elder abuse in the western world is one of the fastest growing problems we have.”

“It’s going to put pressure on people who are sick, people who are disabled. It’s going to put pressure on people to justify why they are still alive,” he said.

A Taranaki branch of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society New Zealand has been founded since the End of Life Choice Bill was introduced into the ballot box in Parliament last year.

People from the North Taranaki Catholic Parishes and Anglican churches united to organise the public meeting, against the bill.

Speaking prior to the meeting, New Plymouth general practitioner Dr Ian Smiley said, “Although the idea for the meeting has come from within the churches we are very keen that the meeting, looking at the implications of legalising euthanasia, should not be seen as a religious issue, but one that the community as a whole need to openly discuss and consider.”

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