New Zealand’s End of Life Choice Act is deficient and the assisted dying law needs to be changed says Dr John Kleinsman from the Nathaniel Centre for Bioethics. His comments come as the Ministry of Health is conducting a mandated review of the End of Life Choice Act within three years of its implementation to Read more
A recent study alarmingly reveals that global temperatures have not only surpassed the critical 1.5°C threshold set by the 2015 Paris climate agreement but are also on a trajectory to exceed 2°C within this decade. Published in Nature Climate Change, the University of Western Australia’s Professor Malcolm McCulloch’s groundbreaking research utilised a unique method to Read more
Climate change deniers and politicians are called to note that the World’s responses to climate change have not been adequate. According to Pope Francis, nations are using climate change responses merely as a ploy to distract attention, and it’s time to get serious. The comments come in a stern warning in Laudate Deum, issued by Read more
Caring for people living with mental illness is something many of us may have to do at some stage. On 9 October, the Catholic Church in New Zealand marks “Support Life Sunday.” Dr John Kleinsman, Director of the Nathaniel Centre for bioethics, says it is important this year’s campaign helps people hear those who have Read more
New Zealand health officials are expecting legal action when the new End of Life Choice Act comes into force on 7 November this year. Ministry of Health officials have highlighted “complex and sensitive elements” to the End of Life Choice Act and incoming assisted dying regime in a briefing paper to Health Minister Andrew Little. Read more
The New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) and New Zealand’s Catholic bishops conference, Hospice New Zealand, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists have all expressed dismay at the vote allowing assisted dying. NZMA says it goes against medical values and is a “step too far” for many doctors. NZMA Read more
I am not writing to tell you how to vote in the binding referendum on the End of Life Choice Act, but I hope I can be of some help so you are better informed about the Act. Firstly, though, I want to help you think about the concepts of justice, love, compassion, mercy and Read more
John Kleinsman, director of The Nathaniel Centre for Bioethics – an agency of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, says the conference believes it is dangerous to implement any euthanasia law. But the conference specifically takes issue with the proposed End of Life Choice Act that is the subject of the impending referendum. “I think Read more
The New Zealand media have, to date, largely failed to convey the complexity of the euthanasia question in their mostly shallow reporting on this issue says Dr John Kleinsman. He is pleased that the Health Committee Report on the subject noted that complexity. Kleinsman is the Director of The Nathaniel Centre, the Bioethics Research Agency for Read more
“These polls rely on one or two very simple questions and, on a sensitive issue such as euthanasia, give people very little time or information to consider the issue in depth,” said Dr John Kleinsman. The director of the New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre was commenting on a recent survey prepared for the Voluntary Euthanasia Society Read more