CLOSE
Featured
  • Tas: Ask your MP to delay this week's debate
  • WA: Vote for Christian values this election
  • Protect your religious freedom from attack today
Issues
  • Gender & Sexuality
  • Freedoms & Public Christianity
  • Life
  • Family
  • Sexualisation of Society
  • Poverty and Justice
Take Action
  • Volunteer
  • Events
  • Prayer
  • Apply to GPS
  • WA: Vote for Christian values this election
Australian Christian Lobby
Tas: Ask your MP to delay this week's debate WA: Vote for Christian values this election Protect your religious freedom from attack today
Menu
Sign In
Donate

Pages tagged "palliative care"


Euthanasia Update

Posted on Blog by Kieren Jackson · July 10, 2020 1:05 PM
‘Euthanasia’ comes from the Greek meaning ‘a good death’. Assisted suicide advocates claim that their form of ‘a good death’ will assure a peaceful death free from suffering.
Read more

Posted on Blog by Wendy Francis · May 27, 2020 8:45 PM

Celebrating National Palliative Care Week

This week is National Palliative Care Week.

The ACL team is very grateful to the amazing nurses, doctors, staff and volunteers who provide a level of care and professionalism that is almost unmatched anywhere else in the world.

Read more

Assisted suicide activists told to wait, but what happens after the election?

Posted on Blog by Wendy Francis · May 21, 2020 11:04 AM

The Australian Christian Lobby commends the Queensland government for today postponing their planned euthanasia legislation until after the October election, and for committing more funding for palliative care. The Palaszczcuk Government today referred the issue to the Law Reform Commission for a report by March 2021.

Read more

ACL's David Hutt debates euthanasia at Politics in the Pub, Gosford

Posted on Blog · July 10, 2014 10:00 AM
EuthanasiaLast Thursday night, ACL's New South Wales director David Hutt participated in a debate about euthanasia at a Politics in the Pub event in Gosford.



The other speaker on the night advocating for euthanasia was Shayne Higson, the lead candidate and convenor for the Voluntary Euthanasia Party (VEP), and a contestant in the next state election in March 2015.



Mr Hutt made the case against legalising voluntary euthanasia on the basis that it puts at risk the lives of society's most vulnerable - the elderly, the lonely, the sick, and the depressed.



"Euthanasia sends the message that some lives are no longer worth living, based on a subjective standard of ‘quality of life’. It tacitly encourages patients to seek death as a way out, rather than caring for them as valuable members of society," he said.



“the compassionate answer to suffering is to recognise a person’s inherent dignity regardless of their physical capacity or their mental abilities or health, and to strive to provide the best possible care for those with disabilities or at the end of their lives," he said.



He argued that crafting a euthanasia bill that provides adequate safeguards for the vulnerable and marginalised in society is impossible and that for this reason, euthanasia – for nearly two decades now – is consistently voted down in Australian parliaments.



Mr Hutt said there are three major concerns with legalising euthanasia elder abuse, creating a culture of death and the hampering of the doctor-patient relationship.



Elder abuse can come in the form of pressure, real or imagined, to die when an elderly person feels they have become a burden on loved ones. Even if most people withstand any perceived pressure, a culture accepting of a medical profession which will, at times, assist the death of its patients will inevitably create this pressure.



Euthanasia creates a culture of death by undermining the inherent dignity of human beings. Legalising euthanasia may not result in a sudden increase in suicide, but it would affirm that suicide is a legitimate way of dealing with pain.



The doctor-patient relationship is hampered because the ethical obligation of doctors is to preserve the life of their patients; you go to a doctor to get better, not to be killed.



As an alternative to euthanasia, Mr Hutt advocated for facilitating and encouraging the improvement in palliative care.



"In most cases, pain can be treated. The concept of “intolerable pain” is rarely experienced in practice if good palliative care is applied," he said.



Mr Hutt said it was great to see people taking an interest in such an important issue, which created some lively discussion amongst attendees.

Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Twitter Sign in with Email


Get instant access to news about political issues facing christians
Get Involved
Donate Volunteer Survey
Australian Christian Lobby
Who we are
Media
Submissions
Contact Us
Privacy Policy

Authorised by Martyn Iles
Australian Christian Lobby
4 Campion Street, Deakin ACT
Australia 2600

© 2021

Follow @ACLobby on Twitter