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Credit: Illustration: Megan Herbert
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VOLUNTARY ASSISTED DYING
Why I don’t want to live past my ‘use-by date’
I appreciate that old-age psychiatrist David Ames and geriatrician John Obeid are specialists in their areas and I agree with many of their reasons for apposing voluntary assisted dying (VAD) being extended (Comment, 10/6). However, they seem to have overlooked one important reason to extend it.
For the last 10 or more years, both when I lived in Queensland and now in Victoria, I have had an up-to-date advanced care directive. And in all that time, I have not changed my mind about how I would like to be treated if I were unfortunate enough to develop any form of dementia. I do not want to live long enough to have forgotten my loved ones, I do not want them to see me die from the inside out and I do not want to live past my use-by date.
I agree with both these gentlemen that good (not merely adequate) aged and palliative care could help alleviate some of my concerns but until this is so, why would I want to live as a vegetable and be a burden, both on my family and society? So please may I have a say in this matter?
Janice Merrett, Seaford
The problem with making idealised assumptions
David Ames and John Obeid are experts in their fields and their opinions and insights are extremely valid. However, they make many idealised assumptions. They assume: people can afford the right care; that there are enough of the right kind of people working in the care industry; that their motivations for working in the industry are sound; and that all workers have had adequate training, receive enough support and work in conditions conducive to being able to give sufficient care. This is unlikely to be always true.
Also the authors are not listening to those who say that even with this care, they would prefer not to enter this state of decay. By denying individuals this option, they are enforcing their preference over the preferences of others, which is not fair or compassionate.
Jason Macquarrie, Hampton
Facing the harsh reality of ’optimal care provision’
Anyone in touch with the lived reality of those suffering today will know that David Ames and John Obeid’s prescription of “optimal care provision for those with dementia” is a pipe dream in our society. I recommend they come back to earth by taking a month’s work as personal care assistants in the high-dependency unit of a poorly run nursing home.
Roger Foot, Essendon
Specifying in advance how and when we die
People are entitled to their beliefs that life begins at conception, or that life is a gift of God and is only to be ended by God. They are also entitled to persuade governments to legislate according to these beliefs. But laws informed by these beliefs would deny people who do not share them the right to terminate a pregnancy and the right to stop living after losing faculties they deem essential.
Everyone, including those who will never avail themselves of it, needs to have the right to determine in their wills or care plans when they can choose to die, alone or with their loved ones close to them. Of course there need to be discussions about what specifications a person can make, and under what circumstances, and about how coercion can be prevented. But those who do not want to recognise this right need to be politely but firmly argued against.
Mirna Cicioni, Brunswick East
Surely we can have assisted dying and better care
David Ames and John Obeid say “most people with dementia do not ‘suffer’, as they have limited awareness of their incapacity and functional decline; most seem content”. A contentious view and I would beg to differ. They have missed the point entirely. Voluntary assisted dying is not a trade-off for improving aged care. We can do both. VAD is the voice and option the community is demanding.
Rosslyn Jennings, North Melbourne
THE FORUM
Another terminal illness
I am an enthusiastic supporter of the choice of VAD for those who are mentally competent and with terminal, distressing illnesses. I agree with David Ames and John Obeid that it should not be available once a person with dementia reaches the stage of being unable to make this choice. It is reassuring to hear that dementia patients, despite their disability, are usually “content”. The case of “holding down” a reluctant late dementia patient to administer the VAD would never be acceptable.
The distress of early dementia lies in the perceived horrible prognosis which may induce some sufferers to request VAD while they are still competent to make a decision. The law restricts VAD to those with a life expectancy of less than six months, except for people with motor neurone disease and other neurological diseases who may live as long as 12months but with severe disability.
Dementia is also a terminal illness, but with a life expectancy of usually five to eight years. Allowing VAD for competent early dementia sufferers, after a few months of observation to verify the diagnosis, would seem a reasonable, and ethical, additional exception to the legal requirement for six months’ life expectancy.
Dr Harley Powell, Doctors for Assisted Dying Choice, Elsternwick
Request to die refused
I was gobsmacked by the article by an old-age psychiatrist and a geriatrician about how best to look after people with dementia. It is simply not their decision to make.
Having experienced my partner with dementia desperately wanting to end her life by bashing her head against walls, I know this was not a “quality of life” journey. She had always expressed her wish for assisted dying and was denied it, much to my anger. The coroner diagnosed “concussion”, not dementia, as cause of death.
The authors say that countries like Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada have laws that are too lenient in this regard. Does that imply they are not quite civilised? It beggars belief.
Martin Hengeveld, Research
Opting for private, again
The Andrews government may cut land tax for developers and landlords who temporarily convert vacant buildings into emergency shelters and low-cost accommodation (The Age, 10/6). In other words, it is again planning to hand the baton to private developers and landlords to ease the homelessness problem. Has it forgotten that it owns a relatively modern, well-designed public housing estate which is currently sitting almost empty at Barak Beacon in Port Melbourne?
Unfortunately, no. It has been lent to private developers to bulldoze and make money out of. As happened with the Walker Street housing estate on the banks of the Merri Creek in Northcote. Both these estates housed communities of the less-well-off, but are/were in scenic locations. Too good for the housing challenged? What does this say about this government?
Susan Walker, Northcote
Quick-fix housing solution
Immediately reduce immigration for two to three years. That should go a long way to relieving pressure in the housing and rental markets. It would be one of the rare moments when a “quick fix” makes perfect sense.
Kirby Johnson, Warrandyte
My property, my right
It is pretty clear that some contributors to these pages subscribe to the 19th century anarchist mantra, “property is theft”. The world has, however, moved on. Most people in 21st century Australia dream of owning their own patch and using it as they like.
Michael Gamble, Belmont
Greens’ impossible dream
The federal Greens would do well to remember that they received only 10per cent of the national vote. Siding with the Coalition to block the government’s housing fund bill again sees them sacrificing the good in pursuit of the perfect. And a fat lot of good they did for us all the last time they chose that path. Good on Allegra Spender and her independent allies for putting the interests of the “battlers” first.
Scott Lowe, Highton
Listen to listeners
The ratings figures for RN Breakfast (The Age, 10/6) are trying to tell the ABC something but sticking its fingers in its ears will not help. What would ABC management know about “how the listenership engages”?
Several months ago it brought in external consultants, but has it made any effort to engage with its current and former audience? They are much better placed than consultants to tell the ABC what it is getting right and what is not working. As a listener who never listened to any other media than the ABC until relatively recently, I could give a few pointers – as could my friends and acquaintances who have also switched off. If ABC management drew on its current and former audience, it might gain sufficient insight to develop strategies to save this once great and indispensable organisation from fading into oblivion.
Liz Schroeder, Thornbury
My eternal gratitude
You are a “superhero” in your own right, Brett Sutton (The Age, 10/6). Your face once adorned all sorts of memorabilia. Although you endured heavy criticism and personal abuse, you followed what you believed was in the public interest and saved many lives. I, for one, am forever grateful.
Betty Alexander, Caulfield
Students the real victims
“School camps saved: $130m for time in lieu for teachers” (The Age, 10/6) reported very welcome but inevitable news. How much taxpayer money was wasted by the state government in trying to argue against the fact that teachers are always on duty at a camp? How many camps were aborted or modified?
It is good that the teachers’ union challenged the government and won. But the challenge should never have been necessary. Fair time-in-lieu for teachers on camps should have been settled during the enterprise agreement negotiations. The union made a big mistake and was pressured by schools into fixing it.
And the government made a big mistake in allowing the union to sign off on an enterprise agreement with such an obvious omission. Students have paid the price over the last six months for the mistakes made by both the union and government. And I can’t help wondering if the latter will try to claw that $130 million back from schools in some way.
John Kermond, South Blackburn
Grandfather the change
The Catholic Education Commission of Victoria is lobbying against the state government’s plan to remove the payroll tax exemption from mid and high-fee schools (The Age, 8/6). It recommends parents send their local Labor MPs a letter reminding them “if we chose a Catholic education for our child” they should “not be targeted by taxes that would affect our child’s education”.
This request could be easily accommodated at all Catholic and independent schools, regardless of fee level, by removing all tax exemptions but grandfathering the change to the new intake of the next school year. Then no parent can claim the education they have “chosen” is being “targeted”.
Allison Stanley, Preston
Turn down that music
I agree with your correspondent’s list of sources of noise that make for a frustrating night dining out (Letters, 9/6). No matter how good the food is, the experience of eating out is spoiled if your companions have to shout to be heard.
\I suggest restaurants: remove screaming coffee grinders from the dining area; squawking chair legs be fitted with felt pads (an easy and cheap fix); and that the so-called “background” music be turned off, especially as the place fills up. Who goes to a restaurant to listen to music playlists chosen by, and for the benefit of, staff? In too many restaurants you might as well eat alone for the quality of social intercourse you will enjoy.
Nicholas Elliot, Brunswick
Seeking perfect balance
Balancing the needs and rights of residents with or without dogs as members of their family is tricky (Letters, 10/6). Parks and beaches where dogs can be exercised are limited to protect the peaceful environment of non-dog owners.
However, dogs are crucial to the physical and mental health of many people. And they need regular walks. What to do if you are disturbed by dogs and their owners where you live? Councils can respond to unreasonable barking noise and police to abuse. But it is hard to make it all work so that everyone is happy.
Glenda Johnston, Queenscliff
Cats can and do kill
I wish Jaana Dielenberg, who keeps her cat inside 24 hours a day over wildlife concerns (The Age, 10/6), was my neighbour. Most people say (about cats hunting), “My cat doesn’t/can’t/wouldn’t do that”. It is not difficult to envisage a world inhabited only by humans and cats.
Jill Barclay, Castlemaine
Changing attitudes
The banning of Nazi symbols poses more problems than it solves, as the Allied Occupation forces found out in Germany in 1945. It was relatively easy to ban, burn or blow up anything related to the Nazi regime, but that did nothing to change the minds of many Germans who held true to that ideology. Even after decades of restriction, education and government initiatives, innumerable groups who profess allegiance to their kind of National Socialism exist across Europe and in Australia too. Changing people’s attitudes is an arduous, costly and drawn-out undertaking which needs a level of commitment to succeed that our governments seem incapable of sustaining.
Mark Kennedy, Sebastopol
Sorry, but what is it?
My husband, for some reason, loves cheques and he is devastated that they are being phased out. At his insistence I used one recently to pay a large account, only to have the receptionist look at it and ask: “What do I do with this?“
Maureen Goldie, Blackwood, SA
AND ANOTHER THING
Victoria
Thank you, Brett Sutton. You and others saved hundreds and probably thousands of lives. Every best wish for the future.
Ken Davis, Black Rock
Thanks, Brett. Surely the world’s first public health official to be immortalised on bed linen.
Rod Duncan, Brunswick East
2020 was my favourite grand prix.
Paul Harkins, Middle Park
Victorians need to support Pesutto. He’s an honest man who cares about our once great state.
Lindsay Bradley, Ballarat
Politics
Perhaps they should trade Julian Assange for Donald Trump. It would solve the whole problem.
Suzanne Palmer-Holton, Seaford
Trump’s sustained popularity is the indicator of our tolerance to narcissism and greed in western society.
Danny Hampel, Caulfield North
We ought to be grateful that monetary policy is not in the hands of politicians.
James Moseley, Frankston
I’d be very pleased to support any group started to shed light on public school funding. Bring it on.
Irene Morley, Seaford
Furthermore
Could AFL players stop spitting. It looks revolting and sends the wrong messages to fans.
Christine Hammett, Richmond
What a beautiful and positive read – David Ames and John Obeid pointing out the importance of the gift of life (9/6).
Des Welladsen, Echuca
Patricia Karvelas, keep up the good work on RN Breakfast (10/6). Your broadcast is essential listening.
Mary Keating, Flemington
The ″cultural history values″ of wild horses is entirely based on one poem.
Ron Davis, Korumburra
Well said, Alan Attwood (9/6). You have called out boxing for what it is: a throwback to uncivilised man.
Ian Anderson, Maldon
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