Radical campaigner Andrew Denton has made a fresh call for euthanasia to be legalised in Queensland. In a bizarre interview with the ABC, Mr Denton said “a government’s first duty is to protect its citizens, and the reality is that seven Queenslanders every month are choosing to take their own lives because of the medical distress they find themselves in.”
Offering people with disabilities assisted suicide is not suicide prevention. State-sanctioned suicide is not the solution to this absolutely heartbreaking situation.
Improved access to palliative care and psychological assistance is the way forward for a truly compassionate society.
In the same interview Mr Denton continued “if this parliament doesn’t address this issue between now and next October … it may be another four, eight, twelve years before a law like this is seriously considered. And in that time, in every month of those years, seven Queenslanders will be taking their own lives and leaving behind the scares for the families, the doctors, the nurses, the first responders.”
Suicide hurts our society whether it is state-sanctioned or not. Pretending that legalising assisted suicide is somehow going to remove the scares from the families, doctors, nurses and first responders is simply false.
Support, not suicide is the answer.