An advertisement promoting euthanasia has been prominently positioned in the Caboolture (Metro North Health) Public Hospital, sending a clear message to doctors, patients and the general public that ending your life is a good option.
Wendy Francis, National Director of Politics for the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) said, “This 4×2 metre wide advertisement, placed near the main entrance of Caboolture Hospital where staff, patients, and the general public walk past many times a day, is a heartless and brazen attempt to promote assisted suicide to people who are at their lowest ebb in life.
“In Queensland it is an offence, under section 311 of the Criminal Code, to counsel another person to kill themselves, or to induce them to do so. In November last year, Federal Court Judge, Wendy Abraham KC, ruled that VAD is a form of suicide. Have laws been broken here?
“That question must be answered, but regardless, the doctors lending their voices to this advertisement should be ashamed of themselves for participating in what appears to be callous opportunism. Queensland Health’s own documents indicate that risk factors for suicide include pain, illness, and lack of control over life circumstances.”
ACL calls on Qld’s Health Minister, Shannon Fentiman, to intervene and demand that the hospital cease from advertising an easy death to people who come to find help to live.
