New Zealand will hold referendum on assisted dying in 2020

BMJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. l6517
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Mahase
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Assisted Dying

Helping a loved one die: the act of assisted dying in New Zealand

Mortality ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Feigin ◽  
R. Glynn Owens ◽  
Felicity Goodyear-Smith
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Assisted Dying ◽  
Loved One

scholarly journals New Zealand medical students’ views of euthanasia/assisted dying across different year levels

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Nie ◽  
Kelby Smith-Han ◽  
Ella Iosua ◽  
Simon Walker
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical School ◽  
General Public ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Assisted Dying ◽  
Medical Work ◽  
Undergraduate Medical Students ◽  
On Line

Abstract Background Previous studies report a majority of the general public support euthanasia/assisted dying (EAD), while a majority of doctors are opposed. In considering policy decisions about EAD, some may discount the views of doctors because they take them to be based on personal values or tradition, rather than reasons that the general public might share. One way to explore this notion is to examine whether medical students’ views change during their medical education. The objective of this study was to learn how New Zealand medical students view EAD and whether students at different year levels have different views. Methods An on-line survey of undergraduate medical students was conducted asking whether they supported a law change to allow EAD. Quantitative data was analysed using unadjusted and multiple logistic regression. Thematic analysis was conducted with the qualitative data. Results A total of 326 students replied to the survey. The overall response rate was 28%. 65% of 2nd year students were supportive of EAD, compared to 39% in 5th year. The odds of 5th year students supporting a law change compared to 2nd year was 0.30 (95% CI: 0.15–0.60). The predominant themes found in the qualitative results indicate that medical students support or oppose EAD for reasons similar to those found in the wider debate, and that their views are influenced by a range of factors. However, several at all year levels cited an aspect of medical school as having influenced their views. This was mentioned by participants who were supportive of, opposed to, or unsure about EAD, but it was the type of influence most often mentioned by those who were opposed. Conclusions The quantitative findings show students at the end of 5th year were less likely to support EAD than students at the end of 2nd year. We suggest that this difference is most likely due to their time in medical education. This suggests that the lower support found among doctors is in part related to medical education and medical work rather than age, personality, or social context. The qualitative findings indicate that this is not related to a particular educational experience at Otago Medical School but a range.

Assisted dying in New Zealand: what is known about the values underpinning citizens’ positions?

Mortality ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-82
Author(s):  
Chrystal Jaye ◽  
Jessica Young ◽  
Isabelle Lomax-Sawyers ◽  
Richard Egan
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Assisted Dying

scholarly journals Physician-assisted dying

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Havill
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Medical Practitioner ◽  
Assisted Dying ◽  
Medical Assistance ◽  
Competent Person ◽  
Physician Assisted Dying

The term physician-assisted dying refers to where, at the request of a mentally competent person, a medical practitioner actively hastens death, by either providing the means by which the patient can take drugs themselves, or directly administering the drugs by injection. An example  of prospective legislation for physician-assisted dying in  New Zealand, consistent with several other legalised jurisdictions, can be found in Maryan Street’s End of Life Choice Bill (2012). Under this bill, individuals may seek medical assistance to die under defined circumstances. 

scholarly journals The Right to Die and the Communal Body - An examination of the media influence, ethical principles and stakeholder attitudes towards assisted dying in New Zealand from a sociology in bioethics perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sarah Revell-Dennett
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Right To Die ◽  
Assisted Dying ◽  
Assisted Death ◽  
Pain And Suffering ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Right ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Socially Situated

<p>This thesis is based on a sociology in bioethics approach which seeks to demonstrate that the current rhetoric being used by parties on both sides of the debate is no longer useful for the realities that people are expressing or living. In sociology, the assisted dying literature has tended to focus on the social, political, economic and cultural contexts within which it is sought, and to understand the range of definitions that are used to conceptualise a good death. Bioethics literature, on the other hand, has removed the socially situated individual from ethical discussions of assisted dying. By engaging with an idea of the communal body, interpreted as a moral community who experience intersubjective realties, this thesis provides a platform to combine these two perspectives. It seeks to examine the range of possibilities for understanding the socially situated and relationally autonomous individual requesting medically-assisted death.  The debate in New Zealand surrounding the right-to-die was brought to the fore in 2015 when terminally ill Lecretia Seales took a case to the High Court. Her argument sought a clarification of the current law, which would have allowed her doctor to provide life-ending medication should her pain and suffering become unbearable. Seales’ case was unsuccessful but it, along with the following events, has succeeded in bringing attention about end-of-life choices to the New Zealand public and media. The current End of Life Choice Bill, which stands before Parliament and was proposed by Member of Parliament (MP) David Seymour of the ACT Party, will once again provide a chance for these issues to be voted on by New Zealand’s elected officials.  A critical analysis of provincial New Zealand media articles, across the time periods between 2002-2005 and 2012-2015, has sought to highlight the ways the media influences public perceptions of the debate and emphasises the limited discourse available. These years represent significant periods during which events in time led the media to variably describe these deaths from murders to mercy killings. Further thematic analysis (TA) of 12 interviews undertaken with stakeholders in the field of medically-assisted dying show discrepancies between lay public knowledge and informed stakeholder views.  Overall, this thesis situates the communal body within the right-to-die argument in New Zealand. The results lend themselves to support a view that the current lack of available discourse has for the most part irrevocably rendered a divide between those who campaign for change and those who do not. In this thesis, I argue that by positioning itself within a sociology in bioethics approach, the right-to-die debate in New Zealand will be afforded a clearer understanding.</p>

scholarly journals The Right to Die and the Communal Body - An examination of the media influence, ethical principles and stakeholder attitudes towards assisted dying in New Zealand from a sociology in bioethics perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sarah Revell-Dennett
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Right To Die ◽  
Assisted Dying ◽  
Assisted Death ◽  
Pain And Suffering ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Right ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Socially Situated

<p>This thesis is based on a sociology in bioethics approach which seeks to demonstrate that the current rhetoric being used by parties on both sides of the debate is no longer useful for the realities that people are expressing or living. In sociology, the assisted dying literature has tended to focus on the social, political, economic and cultural contexts within which it is sought, and to understand the range of definitions that are used to conceptualise a good death. Bioethics literature, on the other hand, has removed the socially situated individual from ethical discussions of assisted dying. By engaging with an idea of the communal body, interpreted as a moral community who experience intersubjective realties, this thesis provides a platform to combine these two perspectives. It seeks to examine the range of possibilities for understanding the socially situated and relationally autonomous individual requesting medically-assisted death.  The debate in New Zealand surrounding the right-to-die was brought to the fore in 2015 when terminally ill Lecretia Seales took a case to the High Court. Her argument sought a clarification of the current law, which would have allowed her doctor to provide life-ending medication should her pain and suffering become unbearable. Seales’ case was unsuccessful but it, along with the following events, has succeeded in bringing attention about end-of-life choices to the New Zealand public and media. The current End of Life Choice Bill, which stands before Parliament and was proposed by Member of Parliament (MP) David Seymour of the ACT Party, will once again provide a chance for these issues to be voted on by New Zealand’s elected officials.  A critical analysis of provincial New Zealand media articles, across the time periods between 2002-2005 and 2012-2015, has sought to highlight the ways the media influences public perceptions of the debate and emphasises the limited discourse available. These years represent significant periods during which events in time led the media to variably describe these deaths from murders to mercy killings. Further thematic analysis (TA) of 12 interviews undertaken with stakeholders in the field of medically-assisted dying show discrepancies between lay public knowledge and informed stakeholder views.  Overall, this thesis situates the communal body within the right-to-die argument in New Zealand. The results lend themselves to support a view that the current lack of available discourse has for the most part irrevocably rendered a divide between those who campaign for change and those who do not. In this thesis, I argue that by positioning itself within a sociology in bioethics approach, the right-to-die debate in New Zealand will be afforded a clearer understanding.</p>

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