Yet another Greens-inspired Bill puts Catholic health and aged care under threat.
By Anthony Barich
THE Greens’ Dying With Dignity Bill will “greatly impact” on the provision of the Catholic Church’s health and aged care services if the Bill currently before Tasmanian Parliament passes, Hobart Archbishop Adrian Doyle said.
In a July 15 letter to all Tasmanian parishioners, he warned that “this will be a very intense, emotional and occasionally hostile debate, but it is our duty as a Catholic community to resist these efforts to make euthanasia legal”. “The ramifications for the Catholic Church, should this Bill be enacted, will greatly impact upon the provision of our services to the Tasmanian community while challenging a fundamental basis of our beliefs,” he said.
He said that the Bill would re-define the relationship between doctors and their most psychologically vulnerable patients.
The statement comes just nine months after Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said the Abortion Law Reform Bill that passed through the State Parliament’s Upper House threatened the very existence of Catholic hospitals as it forced doctors who conscientiously object to abortion to refer patients on to one that has no such objection.
The Catholic Church in Tasmania has a long-term involvement in health and aged care, with two of the hospitals under Calvary Health Care – Calvary St John’s campus in Hobart and Calvary St Vincent’s campus in Launceston – providing a high level palliative care.
The Code of Ethical Standards adopted by Catholic Health and Aged Care Services in Australia prohibits euthanasia – deliberately ending life by action or by omission or to assist suicide.
The Archbishop also called on parishioners and Catholic medical practitioners to make submissions to parliament and MPs either individually or under the Archdiocese of Hobart submission.
Submissions close on July 31, and Archbishop Doyle plans on making a personal representation at the invitation of the Joint Standing Committee, along with Calvary Health’s senior anesthetist and the Vicar General Fr Mark Freeman.
Archdiocesan media consultant Phil Pyke said the legislation is unlike anything he’s seen in Australia, as the Greens, learning from two previous failed attempts to legalise euthanasia in Tasmania in 1998 and 2005, have learned to cover many potential contentious elements.
The Bill is modelled on the ‘death with dignity’ legislation the Greens introduced into the Australian Senate but builds on it by incorporating ‘safeguards’ from similar Greens-led legislation introduced in the Victorian and South Australian Upper Houses.
Up for debate in August, the Tasmanian Bill makes voluntary euthanasia available only to State residents for at least 12 months who are terminally ill and “suffering intolerable pain”. It also involves the person making the decision in the presence of a doctor, family member and they need a psychological assessment to ensure they are mentally competent to make an informed decision.
Greens MP Nick McKim, who introduced the Bill on May 26, said the Bill also ensures that it is easy for the sufferer to rescind a request for assistance. The Bill also makes it clear that medical practitioners can refuse to be involved in a voluntary euthanasia. It also protects those who are involved from censure. It also contains a residency requirement so only Tasmanian residents can seek assistance to die. Mr McKim also said the Bill is designed to “complement the palliative care system”.
However, Archbishop Doyle said that Tasmanian MPs need to be reminded that “they are not authorised to impose upon our society the secular agenda of a few while ignoring the moral and religious values of so many Australians”.
Mr McKim said that while religious beliefs that God alone gives and takes life are to be respected, “it is inappropriate in a secular, multi-faith society for this belief to be enforced in law”. He claimed that voluntary euthanasia upholds the sanctity of life as “forcing the terminally ill to suffer intolerably and die without dignity is an affront to the sanctity of life”.
The Cathechism of the Catholic Church states: “Those whose lives are diminished or weakened deserve special respect. Sick or handicapped persons should be helped to lead lives as normal as possible.
“Whatever its motives or means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of the handicapped, sick or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable.
“Thus an act or omission which by itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person, and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator.”