Public divided over euthanasia

Public opinion remains divided over whether assisted suicide should be permitted, a poll shows.

Research New Zealand polled 500 people aged over 15 on whether euthanasia should be legalised in New Zealand and found that 47 per cent supported assisted suicide and 44 per cent were opposed to it.

Support for euthanasia was highest among older age groups. While just 39 per cent of 15 to 34-year-olds felt that assisted suicide should be permitted, more than 51 per cent of those aged 35 and over were in favour of the proposal.

"The older people and those who have older relatives clearly feel differently about this issue than do the younger people," Research New Zealand director Emanuel Kalafatelis said.

Among Maori and Pacific Island respondents, 37 per cent supported assisted suicide – significantly less than among the European population, in which 49 per cent voiced support.

The issue of whether assisted suicide should be allowed in New Zealand has been back in the news since last month when a Auckland doctor dying of cancer wrote to New Zealand Doctor magazine arguing for the legalisation of euthanasia.

John Pollock, 61, who has metastatic melanoma, claimed it was unfair that, if he lived in the Netherlands, Belgium or some American states, he would have the option of ending his life if his condition deteriorated to a point where he was suffering, but in New Zealand he faced a death he could not control.

He believed it was time for a law change so people facing death could have the comfort of knowing they could control the end. He said many doctors were already practising euthanasia.

A 2003 survey of doctors showed a third had taken measures that would lead to a quicker death.

Previous efforts to introduce legislation to permit euthanasia in New Zealand have failed despite several high-profile court cases in which people have been convicted for helping terminally ill loved ones to die.

Questions around legalising euthanasia will be discussed at a conference in Wellington on October 14-15 run by the Dignity New Zealand Trust.

The trust was founded by euthanasia campaigner Lesley Martin. In 2004 she was sentenced to 15 months' jail after being convicted of attempting to murder her mother, who was dying of cancer.

- © Fairfax NZ News