In a rare move for a sitting MP, Louisa Wall tabled the proposed Authorised Dying bill at a select committee which is considering public attitudes to euthanasia in New Zealand.
The Labour MP says her proposed law change to legalise assisted dying in New Zealand will not go into the private member’s bill ballot.
The bill, drawn up with Wall’s wife, human rights lawyer Prue Kapua, and Otago University Dean of Law, Professor Mark Henaghan, proposes an ethics committee be set up to vet applicants and work out the details of the authorised death.
Only the patient could apply to the committee, which would be made up of experts from medical, psychiatric, ethics, Maori tikanga, disability, elderly care, and legal fields.
It is based on the ethics committee system used with fertility practises.
“We were using ACART [Advisory Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology] as a model. We thought, well if we do that for the beginning of life, why wouldn’t we for the end of life?”
Getting Wall’s bill before the house will be tough. There appears to be no political appetite from the Government – or her own party – to promote it, should it win next year’s election. Read more and also read