Willmott Lindy, White Ben
Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology.
J Law Med. 2003 Aug;11(1):77-92.
Assisted death and voluntary euthanasia have received significant and sustained media attention in recent years. High-profile cases of people seeking assistance to end their lives have raised, at least in the popular press, debate about whether individuals should be able to seek such assistance at a time when they consider their suffering to be unbearable or their quality of life unsatisfactory. Other recent developments include a number of attempts to legislate on the issue by the minor parties in Australia and the successful enactment of legislation in a few overseas jurisdictions. However, despite all of the recent attention that has focused on assisted death and voluntary euthanasia, a discussion of the adequacy of existing laws has not made it onto the political agenda of any of the Australian State or Territory governments. This is in spite of the fact that the private views of the majority of our elected Members of Parliament may be supportive of reform. This article explores the role of politicians' views and, as a case study, considers the opinions expressed by a number of Queensland Members of Parliament. In light of the views of these politicians and those of members of the public, as well as considerations arising from current medical practice, the article argues that there is a need for open political debate on assisted death and voluntary euthanasia. The article also suggests ways that such a debate may be achieved while minimising any political impact on governments that are prepared at least to consider this issue.
近年来，协助死亡和自愿安乐死受到了媒体的广泛且持续的关注。备受瞩目的人们寻求帮助结束生命的案例，至少在大众媒体上引发了关于个人在认为自己的痛苦无法忍受或生活质量不尽人意时是否应该能够寻求此类帮助的辩论。近期的其他进展包括澳大利亚一些小党派就该问题进行立法的多次尝试，以及一些海外司法管辖区成功颁布相关法律。然而，尽管近期所有的关注都聚焦在协助死亡和自愿安乐死上，但对现有法律是否充分的讨论却尚未进入澳大利亚任何州或领地政府的政治议程。尽管事实上我们大多数当选议员的个人观点可能支持改革，但情况依然如此。本文探讨了政治家观点的作用，并作为一个案例研究，考量了一些昆士兰议员表达的意见。鉴于这些政治家以及公众的观点，再结合当前医疗实践中出现的各种因素，本文认为有必要就协助死亡和自愿安乐死展开公开的政治辩论。本文还提出了实现此类辩论的方法，同时将对至少愿意考虑这个问题的政府产生的任何政治影响降至最低。
