Maitland residents will finally have their say on the Dying with Dignity debate with Australian Federal Parliament inviting submissions on the controversial issue.
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Parliament has now listed the links and process for all Australians to contribute to the Medical Services (Dying With Dignity) bill currently being tabled for discussion in the Senate.
The bill proposes a legal right – with strict safeguards – for the terminally ill and those with incurable suffering to choose when and how they die.
The Dying With Dignity debate made headlines in Maitland late last year when former political activist Aina Ranke took her own life after illegally obtaining the lethal barbiturate Nembutal.
Ms Ranke, 57, took the drug – also known as the peaceful pill – on September 19 in her Ashtonfield flat following a three-year battle with an incurable degenerative neuromuscular condition.
But all did not go as Ms Ranke planned with her Home Care carer finding her alive but unconscious. As a result, Ms Ranke was taken to Maitland Hospital then the Calvary Mater Newcastle, where she was put on life support.
She died five days later.
At the time of Ms Ranke’s death Dying With Dignity NSW president Richard Mills called for governments to legalise voluntary euthanasia as a matter of urgency.
“If the law allowed medical professionals to help, Aina could have told her friends and been as comfortable as she could be in ending her life,” Mr Mills said.
Mr Mills said the law denied Ms Ranke the ability to die the way she wanted and politicians across Australia needed to realise that the terminally ill deserved to be allowed to make that choice.
Peter Short, a terminally ill man from Melbourne, has also welcomed news on the submissions.
“Australians now have the opportunity for input into this process,” Mr Short said
“This ability to have a say via the submission process represents an historic breakthrough.”
The final date for submissions is August 21.
Senator Nova Peris, who is part of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, has also publicly backed the bill.
For more information visit about making a submission visit www.research.net/s/euthanasia_sen.