By Sophie Bateman & Anna Bracewell-Worrall
A group of lawyers advocating for vulnerable Kiwis says David Seymour's euthanasia bill poses a serious threat to Māori.
But Seymour says he won't get into an argument with people who compare assisted dying to Nazi eugenics.
The End of Life Choice Bill’s Justice Committee Report was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, almost two years after it was first introduced. It would give people the option to request assisted dying if they have a terminal illness or a "grievous and irremediable medical condition".
The Bill has been met with staunch opposition from some organisations, including the New Zealand Disability Rights Commissioner, the New Zealand Medical Association and Hospice New Zealand.
One such group, Lawyers for Vulnerable New Zealanders (LVNZ), has launched a website dedicated to identifying what it says are 35 critical flaws in the proposed Bill. Members of the group say one of those flaws is that the Bill poses a particular threat to Māori, who are overrepresented in the country's suicide, terminal illness and chronic sickness rates as well as mental health and disability rates.
"Government has social policy responsibilities toward Māori under Article 3 of the Treaty of Waitangi," disability rights advocate and former legal academic Dr Huhana Hickey says.
"This Bill threatens vulnerable Māori who are old, sick or disabled and who are already being failed by our health system according to a large claim currently before the Waitangi Tribunal."
"We need clear minds to come together to ensure that our most vulnerable - who are many - are given the same level of support and dignity as those privileged few who have greater resources, access and social capital," says Hickey. "This Bill is not the solution."
However Seymour refuses to respond to Hickey's criticism due to something she tweeted about the Bill on Tuesday morning.
"While I respect Dr Hickey's right to have a view on this issue, I have seen her compare the End of Life Choice Bill with Nazi eugenics and I politely decline to engage with a person who debates at that level," he told Newshub.
As well as Māori, the LVNZ says the Bill poses a threat to other marginalised groups including the elderly, the poor and the lonely.
The group cited a report into euthanasia in the US state of Oregon, which said 67 percent of people who chose to end their lives via assisted suicide were on low incomes and relied on state health care insurance. It also said 63.6 percent claimed one of the reasons they wanted to access assisted suicide was because they felt they were a "burden" on their family, friends and caregivers.
"Caring societies don't support legislation that will help poor or neglected people to end their lives because they don't want to be a bother on the rest of us" lawyer Richard McLeod says.
"This Bill creates a mechanism for the insidious coercion of people who 'just don't want to be a bother' into requesting assistance with suicide.
"It was intended to cater for the confident, the capable, the committed, and the well-resourced. Instead it puts large numbers of vulnerable New Zealanders at greater risk of being killed or helped to end their lives by doctors as a result of neglect, coercion and other forms of abuse."
On Tuesday the Justice Select Committee said it had not managed to reach a consensus on whether or not the Bill should be passed, and reported it back with minor amendments - which LVNZ says is a red flag.
"After 16 months of investigation involving more than 38,000 submitters, the Select Committee has now reported that the Bill is unworkable in its present state and they are unable to agree that it be passed," Hickey said. "This should be ringing serious alarm bells, and it points to the fact that this Bill is irremediably flawed."
"We acknowledge that the Bill was drafted with good intentions," McLeod says. "That does not excuse its numerous deficiencies. Compassion without consideration of the consequences will lead to cruelty.
"It's time to put the Bill out of its misery."
Lawyers for Vulnerable New Zealanders also featured on Breakfast on TVNZ today. Visit www.lvnz.org.nz
Richard McLeod is the Principal of McLeod & Associates, where he specialises in human rights, immigration and refugee law. Richard joins #DefendNZ because he is deeply concerned about the legal deficiencies within the End of Life Choice Bill. Looking to overseas experience, he worries that the already vague and loose criteria within the Bill would expand even further in practice should the Bill pass, exposing more people to euthanasia and assisted suicide. Richard speaks out in documentaries #DefendNZ have launched this year around the Bill including ‘A deadly double standard’ featuring Claire Freeman and ‘Terminal but not dead yet’ featuring Vicki Walsh and ‘A life in chronic pain’ featuring Dr John Fox (below).
Dr Huhana Hickey MNZM (Ngāti Tahinga, Tainui, Ngai Tai) is a Crown Director and consultant. She is a scholar of disabilities research and legal theory, and has research interests in the human rights of people from marginal backgrounds and the consequences of discrimination and social oppression. Huhana sits on the New Zealand Human Rights Review Tribunal and is Chair of the Auckland Council Disability Strategic Advisory Panel. Huhana takes part in the #DefendNZ movement out of a concern that societies’ prejudices about disability and the deficiency of support currently available for people with disabilities could have a deadly effect should the End of Life Choice Bill be passed. She speaks in documentaries #DefendNZ have launched this year around the Bill including ‘Choice is a relative term’ featuring Kylee Black (below).
Watch Kylee’s documentary in widescreen and read her complete story here.
Watch Claire’s documentary in widescreen and read her complete story here.
Watch John’s documentary in widescreen and read his complete story here.
Watch Vickis’s documentary in widescreen and read her complete story here.