Lecretia and Me

I've just made a small contribution to legal costs to support a doctor named Lecretia Seales. She is dying from brain cancer. Next month she will ask the  High Court to determine that the law which says her doctor cannot end her unbearable pain by assisting her to die breaches our Bill of Rights Act.

According to today's NZ Herald, her statement of claim has been filed by no less than a senior legal and policy advisor at the NZ Law Commission.

Her case is somewhat based on a favourable judgment recently given in Canada. There the Court also directed that the existing law is flawed and instructed Parliament to address the matter within twelve months. In this country our courts cannot make such demands on Parliament. But if Dr Seales eventually wins the right to chose to end her life at an appropriate time, a kind of precedent will be created for others.

The Voluntary Euthanasia Society of NZ has asked to be a party to the case and my small gift has gone along to help with their expenses. Understandably, the Care Alliance Trust also asks to represent the opposite view. And the Human Rights Commission, with no predetermined opinion on the matter, feels it should be there also. These three bodies would seem to represent a balanced and realistic forum.

Today's procedure to decide who may be involved is the first step in what may be a most significant journey down a path our very conservative government is choosing not to take.
Like Lecretia Seales, I am at present enjoying robust health in spite of oppressive therapies for significant cancer. Like her, I don't wish to end my life now nor in the immediate future.

But, also like her, I believe I should have the right to make a different decision in changed circumstances. I do not wish to force my view on others. But, at risk of standing accused of trying to influence the Court, I just express the hope that a way will be found to provide a framework for reasonable choice for every person.