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 assess its effectiveness and determine whether amendments are needed.

The current review will be finished by November.

Kleinsman was speaking on 1 News.

Changes needed

Kleinsman say the current legislation needs changing as it lacks:

• a formal assessment for coercion
• a requirement for an independent witness during the assessment phase
• adequate screening for depression and other mental health issues
• no cooling-off period after a request is made

He recognises that the case for assisted death is motivated by a desire to show mercy to those suffering.

While individual cases may appear justified without immediate harm, concerns arise about the cumulative impact of cases and shifting public perceptions, he says.

Kleinsman warns that the growth of habits and attitudes of mind gradually reshapes public perceptions of what is happening and what assisted dying means.

He points to several international examples that cause concern.

Countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain now permit assisted dying for mental illness, with several other countries also allowing it for minors, infants and individuals with dementia.

Then, in a related development, a 2023 Canadian poll revealed that 28 percent of respondents supported assisted dying for individuals experiencing homelessness, while 27 percent were in favour of those living in poverty.

The findings have fuelled further controversy as stories emerge in Canada of patients opting for assisted dying due to inadequate social support and healthcare rather than an autonomous choice driven by their medical condition.

"This shows us a glimpse into our own future if we loosen our eligibility criteria - the price could involve "severe unintended consequences" Kleinsman said.

He adds that we must continue to protect the integrity of palliative care and have AD-free spaces. Many people want this, and it's essential for upholding real choice.

He says that to replace the requirement for a terminally ill patient's life expectancy to be under six months with a clause like "grievous and irremediable suffering" would be wrong.

Forbidding doctors to raise the option of assisted dying with a patient must not change, he says.

Pro assisted dying changes

Social Justice NZ CEO Jackie Foster says she voted "no" at the referendum but has changed her mind.

Foster said, after losing her mother to cancer and having a close friend aged 51 die from a degenerative disease, it is often difficult for doctors to determine if people will die within six months, so she wants the removal of that time restriction.

She wants two changes to the legislation -

• the removal of the words "within 6 months" from section 5(1)(c)
• inserting a new sub-section 5(1)(g) into the Act that says "suffers from a degenerative disease that will ultimately end their life"

Foster believes that the first three years of this legislation have brought the country closer on the issue.

In 2020, 65 percent of voters said "yes" to the legislation but she believes that number would be higher today.

Source

• 1News

The modernisation seeks to fill a twenty-six-year gap and reflect some of the modern challenges.

Dr John Kleinsman, director of the NZ Catholic bishops' Nathaniel Centre for Bioethics, is delighted with the bishops' update.

Kleinsman describes the new document as a "succinct overview of eight key moral areas, including a new section on information technology and artificial intelligence."

Among the modern challenges the bishops consider

• Information technology and artificial intelligence
• Justice and correction systems
• War and peace
• Poverty
• Discrimination and abuse
• End-of-life issues
• Beginning of life issues
• Integrity of Creation

Kleinsman says that people generally know what the Chucrh teaches but are unsure of why.

Te Kahu o te Ora - A Consistent Ethic of Life summarises key points which can give people greater insights into Catholic thinking, comments Kleinsman.

"It is a great source for open and informed discussions", says Kleinsman who, as well as being a theologian, is a married man, father and grandfather.

The original Te Kahu o te Ora was inspired by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin's A Consistent Ethic of Life.

Bernardin's work grew from his observation that we must act consistently because all human life is sacred.

It was Bernadin's view that it was inconsistent to protect life in some situations but not in others.

In the years following Roe v. Wade, Bernardin argued that human life is always valuable and must be respected consistently from conception to natural death.

Being pro-life is not only about abortion or euthanasia.

Being pro-life must encompass war, poverty, access to health care, education and anything that threatens human life or human wellbeing, he argued.

Stephen Lowe, the Bishop of Auckland, the Apostolic Administrator of Hamilton and President of the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference, describes the update as "Opportune".

Lowe says human life and emerging challenges are interconnected.

"The essence of Te Kahu o te Ora is the interconnectedness of all life, from the womb to the Earth," he said.

Lowe says Pope Benedict put it well some years ago:

"There are so many kinds of desert. There is the desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of abandonment, of loneliness, of destroyed love. There is the desert of God's darkness, the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life. The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast."

"While traditional human life issues continue to need our attention, we are now facing many new problems, all interlinked.

"The key message of Te Kahu o te Ora is that everything is connected, whether it is life in the womb or the life of the Earth," Lowe repeated.

Sources

• Supplied
• Catholic Sun

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 first-hand experience of mental illness.

"By making mental health a focus, we hope to break down further and lessen the stigma and discrimination which still surrounds mental illness and encourage more open and honest conversations," he says.

"Our schools and faith communities should be places of positive connection that lift people up, and we want to encourage people to reflect on the extent to which that is the case, as well as ways of becoming more supportive, uplifting and inclusive," Kleinsman says.

Overseas research shows stigma and fears surrounding mental illness mean sufferers are less likely to get the level of pastoral care provided for people with physical illnesses.

Catholic Bishop of Auckland Stephen Lowe says about 50 to 80 per cent of us will experience some form of mental distress, addiction challenges or both.

"Mental illness is a major issue which touches every family in some way," he says.

"And yet we don't talk about it nearly enough."

Lowe believes that as a Church, we are beginning to deal with and help people with mental health issues.

"We must also realise that we can and need to do better as faith communities in acknowledging mental illness and accompanying people with it.

"It's all about putting into action our core belief in the unconditional dignity of the human person," Lowe says.

This year's parish resources for Support Life Sunday include a social media campaign that highlights critical facts about mental illness and features quotes from people living with a mental illness or caring for someone who is mentally ill.

Parish and school resources for Support Life Sunday are now available.

• NZ Catholic Bishops Conference

The New Zealand Catholic bishops' Nathaniel Centre for Bioethics is providing a series of weekly briefs for parish newsletters.

The first brief says:

The End of Life Choice Act is not an option of 'last resort.'

• It will not just apply to the 'exceptionally difficult cases'.
• It does not require that a person first make use of available treatments or counselling, nor that they first receive palliative care.
• A person does not need to be in physical pain.

If euthanasia becomes legal in NZ, people will access it because they think they lack other choices.

• Even though quality palliative care is effective, there is no corresponding legal right to access palliative care.
• Under current law, people can already say 'no' to treatments and can receive whatever level of pain relief they need. These days, no-one need die in pain.

The EOLC Act is badly drafted and seriously flawed. Whatever one's views about the idea of euthanasia, it is not 'compassion' to vote for a dangerous law.

See also:

• Risky Laws
• Vote Safe

Authorised by John Kleinsman, 15 Guildford Terrace, Thorndon, Wellington

The latest issue of the Nathaniel Centre Report is also available online.

It has articles that include scrutiny of the euthanasia and cannabis referendums.

Click here to read Nathaniel Centre Report 61 in PDF format.

Meanwhile in Australia several states are also debating whether to legalise euthanasia.

The state of Victoria, where voluntary assisted dying (VAD) was legalised a year ago, has reported more than ten times the anticipated number of deaths.

Victoria's Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board reported 124 deaths by assisted suicide and euthanasia during its first year.

Source

• catholic.org.nz
• catholic.org.nz
• thetablet.co.uk
• Image: 3.bp.blogspot.com

They conclude there is no evidence to suggest that legalising cannabis will provide a solution to the drug-related issues that disproportionately affect marginalised/minority groups.

"These issues include negative impacts on health, education, employment and criminal convictions.

Although in some jurisdictions where recreational cannabis has been made legal, there is a reduction in the overall conviction numbers, legalisation does nothing to reduce the disproportionate conviction rate of marginalised/minority people."

Decriminalisation

Bowyer and Stevens suggest a better way forward may be to take the time to explore and publicly discuss the decriminalisation of cannabis.

Decriminalisation involves removing the criminal penalties for possession and use, without actually making possession and use legal.

They suggest decriminalisation would facilitate the separation of cannabis use from issues of social justice and provide space in which the broader negative issues that plague marginalised people can be adequately addressed.

Two Polls - different results

A poll commissioned by New Zealand's largest medicinal cannabis company, Helius Therapeutics. shows that 56% of New Zealanders would vote in favour of legalising the personal use of cannabis in the upcoming referendum.

43% indicated they would vote against the proposed changes.

Horizon Research conducted the survey between June 10 and 14, 2020.

However, a One News Colmar Brunton poll found that 49 per cent of New Zealanders opposed legalising cannabis.

Those in favour of legalising it had gone up a percentage point to 40 per cent.

The poll, of 1007 eligible votes, was done to mobile phones and landlines between June 20 and 24.

In both polls, when compared to the previous polls, the number favouring change had increased and the number opposing change had declined

Longitudinal studies

The findings of the Christchurch Health and Development Study and the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study show that:

• Cannabis use is very common, with as many as 80% of participants having used cannabis on at least one occasion.
• Rates of regular use (using at least weekly) were far lower (35%).
• Higher levels of cannabis use, particularly at younger ages, were related to mental health problems including increased risk of cannabis use disorder and major depression.
• Earlier and heavier cannabis use was also related to increased reports of psychotic symptoms in the Christchurch study, and increased risk of meeting criteria for a diagnosis of psychotic illness in the Dunedin study.
• Further research by both studies has found that long-term cannabis use is also associated with gum disease, impaired lung functioning, and cognitive problems.
• Earlier and heavier users of cannabis were less likely to complete educational qualifications, and were more likely to report being unemployed, or receiving a benefit.
• While only a minority of cannabis users went on to use other, possibly more dangerous illicit drugs, those participants who were heavy cannabis users in adolescence were especially at risk.

Source

• horizonpoll.co.nz
• nathaniel.org.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• thespinoff.co.nz
• Image: horizonpoll.co.nz

The event runs from noon to 1 pm in the Connolly Hall, 10 Guildford Terrace, Thorndon, and marks the 2019 International Day of Persons with Disabilities, with the theme being The Future is Accessible.

Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni will address the gathering.

The day and the event present a special opportunity to let go of out-dated thinking around people with disabilities, says Nathaniel Centre director Dr John Kleinsman.

"People with disabilities can make a valued contribution to our families, our schools, our parishes, our communities and our neighbourhoods," Dr Kleinsman says. "More importantly, they provide us with the opportunity to look ahead and reimagine how our families, schools, communities, churches and neighbourhoods can be made into more accessible places for people with disabilities."

The International Day of Persons with Disability has become an annual celebration on 3 December for communities around the world. It was established by the United Nations in 1992 to promote the dignity and rights of people living with disabilities.

Light refreshments will be served. NZ Sign Language Interpretation provided. Accessible parking will be available in the grounds of Sacred Heart Cathedral School.

Supplied

On January 1, The Catholic Institute and Good Shepherd College will merge to become Te Kupenga - Catholic Leadership Institute.

The name has been chosen by the country's bishops after careful thought and consultation with staff and students.

The merged organisation will have three operating units - Catholic Theological College, National Centre for Religious Studies and the Nathaniel Centre for Catholic Bioethics.

Te Kupenga means "the net" or "the fishing net" and harks to the first four disciples of Jesus - Andrew, Peter, James and John.

They were called from their boats and nets to become fishers for Jesus' kingdom with the same care, dedication and skill they brought to their fishing.

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people." (Matthew 4:18-19).

Bishop Pat says the name resonates strongly with Pope Francis' call to the Church to revive its missionary spirit and purpose.

"Te Kupenga will put out into the deep and cast our net wide," said Bishop Pat.

The bishops intend the name to also reflect a contemporary reference to networking, online learning,and linking with others collegially.

They expect Te Kupenga to play a vital role in training, educating and forming Catholic seminarians and lay leaders.

Existing staff, courses and students will carry on from the two existing organisations into the new year.

A new board appoints management and decides the paths taking Te Kupenga forwards.

The Institute will provide a number of degree, certificate and diploma courses.

Source

• Supplied David McLoughlin Communications Adviser, NZ Catholic Bishops
  Te Huinga o nga Pihopa Katorika o Aotearoa
• ctc.ac.nz
• Image: 123rf.com

Du Plessis-Allan was commenting on a piece in Wellington's DomPost, More than a moral dilemma: The religious and community views on euthanasia.

She is the host of NewtalkZB's morning programme in Wellington.

In her DomPost opinion piece Ruby Macandrew had written that, while just over 12 percent of the New Zealand population identify as Catholic, their views on euthanasia have been one of the most prominent - and well-covered in the media.

Bishop Patrick Dunn, president of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference, who authored the conference's submission on behalf of six New Zealand-based bishops, believed the church's position on the End of Life Choice Bill carried significant weight due to its role within society.

"The Catholic Church's long involvement in the hospice movement and pastoral care of the dying and their families provides us with strong credentials to speak in societal debates about dying and death," he said.

John Kleinsman, the director of The Nathaniel Centre (the New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre) responded by saying his group, while under the NZCBC umbrella, was arguing more from a research and experience perspective rather than out of any church teachings.

"For most of history the Christian church has certainly been involved in caring for people on the margins, vulnerable people with nowhere to go and those sick or dying. The church has a longstanding involvement in supporting people at the end of life."

A University of Otago study, led by research fellow Jessica Young who reviewed 26 studies into New Zealander's euthanasia views over the past two decades and found 68 per cent were in support, said nearly 15 per cent were in opposition and the remainder unsure.

"There is no one typical supporter [but] ... it seems that a majority of the public is open to the possibility of legislative change."

She said public support of euthanasia appeared to have peaked in 2015 during the Lecretia Seales case and had remained reasonably stagnant since, despite the topic dominating headlines in the past year.

Young said it had also been disappointing to see a lack of research involving vulnerable and marginalised populations - the people potentially the most affected by the legislation.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• NewstalkZB
• Image: nzcatholic.org.nz

Bishop Charles Drennan, Dr Caroline Newson, who works in acute psychiatry medicine, Dr John Kleinsman and researcher Dr Sue Buckley from the Nathaniel Institute made submissions.

Drennan talked about the selfless staff working in rest homes, hospices and hospitals who accompany the dying and their families and whanau daily.

He noted the Catholic Church's long involvement in palliative care.

A group of catholic sisters, the Little Company of Mary, founded Mary Potter Hospice, the first hospice in New Zealand.

He took issue with the principle of individual choice as it is presented the End of Life Life Choice Bill.

He said, "choice is good but not always good. What is important is to choose what is right or dignified or best."

New Zealand prides itself on being a progressive nation, the bishop said.

But the Bill, if passed, would usher in a regressive and unnecessary backward move.

Assisted suicide of the elderly or sick, like the tragedy of youth suicide, would be a cause of great whakama or shame for Aotearoa.

It is progressive to challenge ageist attitudes and eliminate the sense that being sick or old or dependent equates to being a burden, Drennan said.

Newson argued that making it legal for those with a mental illness to have a doctor assist their suicide would contradict the Government's pledge to better support mental health.

She asserted that euthanasia and assisted suicide had no place in healthcare and that doctors did not want it.

Their training prepares them to provide care and give hope to their patients.

So they should not have the burden of being the ones to end people's lives imposed on them.

"This Bill places a heavy burden upon the medical profession to aid in the suicide of, or actively kill, a person who seeks such an end to their life and is deemed to satisfy the Bill's eligibility criteria," she said.

Kleinsman spoke to the Bill's problems.

• Its imprecise terminology
• Its vague and subjective language around eligibility
• Its failure to consider broader social implications
• The ethical contradiction of involving doctors in ending the lives of their patients
• The impossibility of ensuring people were not coerced.
• The absence of effective safeguards within the proposed legislation.

Kleinsman cited the growing rates of elder abuse as well as growing social isolation amongst older people along with an increased sense amongst our elders that they are a burden.

"There has never been a more dangerous time to implement an assisted death regime in New Zealand."

He cited international examples showing a year-on-year increase in numbers of euthanasia.

The practice of euthanasia, Kleinsman said, is contributing to a "new norm around dying" in places such as Belgium and the Netherlands.

These countries have regimes similar to to the proposed legislation.

The NZCBC's social justice agency, Caritas, also presented to the Select Committee.

Their media statement on their submission can be found by visiting their website

Others presenting to the Select Committee included Not Dead Yet Aotearoa, Care Alliance, Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, Grace Presbyterian Church of NZ, Palliative Care Nurses, Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine and Hospice New Zealand.

Source

• Supplied: Amanda Gregan Communications Advisor - NZ Catholic Bishops Te Huinga o nga Pihopa Katorika o Aotearoa
• Image: Supplied: Amanda Gregan Communications Advisor - NZ Catholic Bishops Te Huinga o nga Pihopa Katorika o Aotearoa

Their concern is that that making abortion purely a health issue would limit or remove the rights of the unborn child that the current law acknowledges.

In their joint submission to the Law Commission, made last Friday the NZCBC and the and the Nathaniel Centre argue that the State has a responsibility to protect and care for all human life, born and unborn.

They say it would an abdication of this responsibility to make abortion solely a matter between a woman and her doctor.

Justice Minister, Andrew Little has, in previous comments, indicated that a full review of the abortion laws would take place.

But a press release from the Bishops Conference expresses the view that the brief given to the Law Commission falls far short of this.

It says the minister has, instead, indicated the government wants abortion to be treated as "a health issue", rather than a criminal one.

As a result, the Law Commission now has the task of providing an alternative legal framework to facilitate this change.

The NZCBC President, Bishop Patrick Dunn, said that the changes they are proposing in their submission would ensure continued consideration of the rights of the unborn child.

They would also and promote the well-being of women, including better processes to ensure adequate informed consent, especially independent counselling."

The submission also calls for a parallel review of the social support structures, familial, financial, emotional and social, that our society offers to women who are pregnant.

"A decision for an abortion can only be described as a truly ‘free' choice' if the woman knows there is tangible support that enables her to choose to keep the child," said Dunn.

Ko te Huinga Pihopa o te Hahi Katorika o Aotearoa (NZCBC) te kahui whakahaere o nga mahi whakapono a-motu me nga ropu minita o te Hahi Katorika. Otira nga ropu matauranga, tika me te pono, kaitohutohu Maori, whakapaoho whakawhiti whakaaro me te toro atu ki te iwi nui tonu, ritenga o te Hahi, whakawhanaungatanga o nga Hahi, matatika koiora, whakawhanaungatanga o nga whakapono, mahi minita ki nga whareherehere me nga hohipera, oti atu.

Read the Submission

Source

• Supplied: Amanda Gregan NZCBC
• Image: dailyrounds.org

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 the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference.

The Nathaniel Centre is however, disappointed that Report does not give the assurances needed by the New Zealand Parliament to change the current law, " assurances that it won't pose substantial risks of coercion and abuse for those who are most vulnerable, the elderly, sick and disabled."

Kleinsman thinks anyone who reads the Report in full with an open mind will left be with huge concerns about the ability of any proposed law to supply adequate safeguards, "the sort of safeguards that would work in the real world."

Read full media release from the Nathaniel Centre in which the following points are made:

• The Health Committee report did not engage more with the solid evidence that was presented by many individuals and groups.
• In the absence of clear and irrefutable evidence that the most vulnerable would be adequately protected on an issue when the stakes are life and death and when a mistake is permanent, the precautionary principle must apply.
• "It is not up to opponents to prove beyond doubt that a law would be dangerous. It is up to proponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide to prove beyond doubt that it would be safe and this Report clearly does not deliver the required level of assurance.
• The Report identifies, in multiple places, that the desire to ‘not become reliant on others' and ‘not wishing to be a burden' is what motivates many to make euthanasia and assisted suicide available.
• "This reinforces the Nathaniel Centre's view that a law change would initiate a change in the way society would view the disabled and those who are dying, as well as the way we care for these people.
• Of even greater concern is that these persons would come to view their own place in society in a much more tentative way.

Source

• Supplied: Amanda Gregan Communications Advisor - NZ Catholic Bishops - Te Huinga o nga Pihopa Katorika o Aotearoa
• Image Change.org

The director of the New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre was commenting on a recent survey prepared for the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of New Zealand Inc by Horizon Research.

He said the recent Health Select Committee process is a much better indicator of people's real position because it involves a far more deliberative process than answering a single question telephone survey.

"Of the more than 21,000 people who wrote into the Health Select Committee to express their views on euthanasia and assisted suicide, more than 77% were opposed."

What did the poll reveal?

The Horizon Research poll found New Zealanders support medical practitioners assisting adults to die by majorities ranging from 66% to 75% in specified circumstances.

These include:

• Where such a request has come from a mentally competent patient, 18 years or over, who has end stage terminal disease (e.g. cancer) and irreversible unbearable suffering: 75% support
• Where such a request has come from a mentally competent patient, 18 years and over, who has irreversible unbearable suffering which may not cause death in the immediate future (e.g. motor neurone disease or some other degenerative or irreversible condition): 66% support

"The level of overall support shown in this poll falls within the broad range of many such polls conducted over the recent years," said Kleinsman.

Polls do not allow people to engage in the complexities

Kleinsman said said polls like this one do nothing to help people engage with the complexities of this issue and they are not at all productive in helping us to have a robust and better informed debate.

"The key issue for MP's and policy makers is less about the overall number of people who might support it and much more about whether such a regime can be implemented safely."

He said other research around the world has shown that the more people become aware of the complexity and risks associated with euthanasia, the less likely they are to support it.

There has never been a more dangerous time

"I maintain that there has never been a more dangerous time to introduce euthanasia or assisted suicide in New Zealand," said Kleinsman.

He pointed out that New Zealand is currently in the middle of Elder Abuse Awareness week.

"And this is a serious issue for us in New Zealand, one that is increasing in magnitude despite our best efforts to bring the numbers down."

"Add to that last week's OECD Report which shows that we have the highest rates of youth suicide in the OECD, more than twice that of the United States and almost twice that of Australia."

"This is not the time to send a contradictory message about the acceptability of suicide."

Source

• Supplied: Dr John Kleinsman
• Image: 3.bp.blogspot.com

For more information contact:
027 846 7489
jkleinsman@nathaniel.org.nz

This was the conclusion of the oral submission made by Dr John Kleinsman to the Health Select Committee on behalf of the The Nathaniel Centre, The Catholic Bioethics Agency.

The hearing took place on Wednesday at the Select Committee Rooms in Wellington and was supported by The Nathaniel Centre's written submission, submitted earlier in the year to the Committee's End of Life Investigation.

In his submission Kleinsman addressed 4 main points:

1. Choices are shaped by the context in which we live
2. The distinction between choice and autonomy
3. Applying the "precautionary principle"
4. The caring role of health professionals precludes their involvement in ending the lives of their patients

Read the verbatim text of the oral submission

Kleinsman said that the strongest arguments against granting individuals the right to choose euthanasia arise when we understand that all choices are made within a context.

After reviewing the features of the contemporary context Kleinsman concluded "that there has never been a more dangerous time in our country's history to think about implementing an assisted suicide or euthanasia regime."

"The combination of all of these factors create the conditions for a 'perfect storm' and has the potential to drive up demand for euthanasia to surprising levels, as has recently happened in Canada where the uptake is three times higher than anyone ever anticipated," he said.

"While euthanasia may be instituted as a measure of last resort, it will not stay that way."

Speaking about the role of the medical profession he said, "It is dangerous to assume that that euthanasia belongs within medicine and, besides, it is incorrect to think that we could only have a euthanasia regime if it involved health professionals as the agents."

Source

• Supplied
• Image: familyfirst.org

It is designed to stimulate discussion and help viewers appreciate the complexity of the issue by raising questions that are often not explored in the overly simplistic and emotive way that the debate is too often presented by New Zealand media.

In the video, different New Zealanders raise concerns about euthanasia and assisted suicide from a range of professional, cultural, ethical, societal, pastoral and personal perspectives.

To aid further discussion The Nathaniel Centre has prepared two supplementary resources; a sheet of questions and a handout of selected quotes.

Nathaniel Centre Director Dr John Kleinsman said he hoped the new resource will prove useful for schools, parishes and other groups as well as individuals.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are once again receiving considerable media attention in the build up to the release of the findings from the Health Select Committee Investigation into Ending One's Life.

A recent new story featured Dr Sean Davison, the New Zealand born microbiologist who was convicted for helping his mother die.

He is planning to scan dying people's brains to test whether their stress is lowered once they know a doctor will help them die.

Davison heads a forensic DNA laboratory in South Africa.

He as become a campaigner for legalised euthanasia after serving five months' home detention in Dunedin in 2012.

The video and other resources have been created by staff of The Nathaniel Centre, the New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre and Dartworks NZ, with support from the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference Communications Office.

Source

• Supplied
• nzherald.co.nz
• Image: cdn.theconversation.edu.au

Ottley leads psychological pain management services at Southern Rehab.

He outlined his views in a submission to the Health Select Committee inquiry into euthanasia legislation.

Confusion of Terminology

The director of The Nathaniel Centre Dr John Kleinsman said that there seemed to be considerable confusion in the terminology and arguments Ottley puts forward.

"In the first instance it is a classic example of using hard cases to justify a law change.

"As any lawyer will tell you, ‘Hard cases make bad law'."

Secondly, he seems to be confusing ‘incurable pain' and ‘psychological suffering'."

Extremely rare for people to die in pain

Kleinsman said he has discussed the question of pain management with many skilled palliative physicians who repeatedly tell him that palliative medicine has now developed to the point where it is extremely rare for people to die in pain.

"In those rare instances where pain is difficult to control there is always the option of using palliative sedation."

"The ability of palliative medicine to address physical pain is well understood now by most proponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide - they readily accept that the issue is about suffering and the desire to exercise control rather than about physical pain," says Kleinsman."

"One only needs to look at the government statistics from places like Oregon and Washington State to realise that the people requesting assisted suicide do so for reasons other than physical pain."

Psychological suffering can be effectively dealt with

Kleinsman says the major reasons people give relate to things like fear of becoming a burden, loss of dignity, loss of autonomy, feelings of worthlessness, social isolation and various forms of psychological suffering - issues that relate to psychological and social concerns.

He says this suffering can also be effectively dealt with, and without advocating a regime that institutionalises premature death as a socially desirable and even dutiful thing to do.

Changing the law send out the wrong message

"Changing the law to allow euthanasia and/or assisted suicide will send a message to our society that killing one-self or being killed by another is an acceptable way of dealing with suffering," says Kleinsman.

"Firstly it will undermine our efforts to prevent suicide in vulnerable groups such as young persons and the elderly."

"Secondly, it will actually make it harder to help people who are trying to come to terms with an advanced progressive illness or disability."

Kleinsman point to countries like Belgium and the Netherlands where the same sort of argument based on the hard cases were advanced when they first discussed a law change.

"We only need to look at how widely available euthanasia is in those countries to know that it does not stop at the hard cases."

"Their laws have been continually expanded to include many categories of people who are not dying, including now a push for anyone over 70 to be eligible without any specific reason."

"It is not about where we start with respect to any law around assisted suicide and euthanasia but where it will take us and where we will end up."

Source

• Supplied
• stuff.co.nz
• Image: www.newswire.co.nz

"The legalisation of voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide is not merely a matter of individual choice and should not be based on high-profile individual tragic cases, such as the Lecretia Seales case which has been reported widely in the media," he said.

Kleinsman is the director of NZ Catholic Bishops Bioethics Nathaniel Centre.

He and Waipuna Hospice chief executive Dr Richard Thurlow were speaking to more than a 100 people gathered at the Central Baptist Church in Tauranga on Sunday.

Kleinsman said once the door had been opened it would be impossible to prevent abuses, no matter how many safeguards were written into a law change, and there were already examples in the Netherlands and Belgium which New Zealand needed to heed.

Dr Thurlow said while Ms Seales' case was "very sad and hard", any move to legalise physician-assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia would be "detrimental to society".

Source

• Bay of Plenty Times
• Image: 1.bp.blogspot.com

Our bioethics agency, the Nathaniel Centre, is a member of the Care Alliance, which is an alliance of 10 organizations committed to fighting attempts to introduce voluntary euthanasia in New Zealand, and to promotion of quality palliative care for the chronically and terminally ill.

We encourage you to take some time to inform yourselves more deeply about the issue, and why Catholics should be opposed to euthanasia. There is good material available on the website of The Nathaniel Centre and the Care Alliance.

The Nathaniel Centre and the Care Alliance have our full support as they engage with this latest attempt to introduce euthanasia in New Zealand. We ask for your prayers for their work.

As we celebrate the great mysteries of death and Resurrection this Easter, we also ask you to pray for all those who are chronically or terminally ill, and for those who care for them and love them. That may be some of you, and we assure you that our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Supplied - Cardinal John Dew

Ironically, for those who identify as Catholic, greater courage may be required.

Catholic bioethicist Bernadette Tobin writes: "In order to understand the teachings of the Catholic Church in relation to questions about the beginning of life, we need to identify and appreciate the one idea that informs all of these teachings.

"This is the idea that the life of every human being is, in and of itself, valuable or sacred."

For Catholics, the unconditional respect due to human life begins when an ovum is fertilised.

Embryos become children not by some addition to what they are, but simply by developing further as the kind of beings they already are.

No matter how undeveloped or damaged the potentialities of a human being may be, that life is sacred.

This view runs counter to that of many people for whom the embryo is nothing more than a ‘clump of cells'.

‘How can we possibly accord the same moral status to a group of cells as to a person?' it is asked. Continue reading.

John Kleinsman is director of The Nathaniel Centre

Source: The Nathaniel Centre

Image: Marist Messenger

The Care Alliance is an umbrella organisation that brings together a wide range of voices from across the palliative, medical, youth, elderly, disability, bioethics and faith sectors who are opposed to euthanasia.

The Alliance was established in 2012 in opposition to the poorly written, confusing and flawed End of Life Choice Bill proposed by a Labour List MP which has since been withdrawn following political pressure.

The Director The Nathaniel Centre, the New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre, speaking about the need for such a body said, "In my fairly extensive experience it is extremely difficult to have a balanced and informed debate in New Zealand about this issue - I am talking about the sort of open and fair debate that enables people to appreciate the real complexities of this issue; the sort of debate that enables everyone to have their say including those from a faith background and those of no faith."

"That is why the Care Alliance is so important … without groups like this my fear is that a truly informed and open debate about euthanasia and assisted suicide simply wouldn't happen in New Zealand."

The Care Alliance is an umbrella organisation that is focused on bringing together the wide range of voices across New Zealand which oppose euthanasia and assisted-suicide. Individuals and organisations involved reach across the palliative, medical, disability, elder care, youth, bioethics, and faith sectors.

Read the Care Alliance press release

Source

• Supplied - Nathaniel Centre
• Image: The Care Alliance

The reason Street gave for her decision on Thursday to withdraw was that there would probably be only two more days this year in which members' bills would be considered by the House and "Anything that is drawn, including the ones drawn today, will be debated in election year, and I don't want my bill debated in election year," she said.

"I'm concerned that it would not get the treatment it deserves. It needs sober, considered reflection, and that's not a hallmark of election years in my experience."

Kleinsman says, "The current law provides the best possible protection for people. We have always had grave concerns about the consequences of state-sanctioned killing of persons as well as moves to promote easier access to suicide as a way of dealing with suffering. We will continue to highlight the dangers and negative social consequences that would flow from legalising assisted suicide or euthanasia.

"While the Bill has been withdrawn for now, we know the debate will continue. Ironically, Street's decision coincides with reports in the media of a high-level review into suicide prevention amongst those with addictions and mental health issues. Why would we want to make suicide easier to access when, at the same time, we recognise it as a major social tragedy?"

"Ultimately, the law change being proposed in Ms Street's End of Life Choice Bill would have eroded the choices of many and would not have lead to good robust decisions or better end of life care. We remain committed to advocating for equitable access to quality palliative care, disability support, and mental health services for people and their families," he said.

Source

• Stuff.co.mz
• New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference
• Image: inthehouse.co.nz