“What are our Rights when it Comes to Dying?”  (SBS Tuesday April 3rd.  Insight TV Program)    A fair question which boils down  to another question which impacts directly on the answer.  It depends on who one believes owns your life….Do you own your own life or does “God” own your life? and again the answer is dependent on a belief system which cannot and never will be substantiated:

I’ve tried to cover the question briefly across a range of viewpoints but in no particular order of importance:

(1)    The Right to Life Christian viewpoint, loosely explained:

When we receive “communion” that is the body and blood of Christ (an act of faith in itself) Christian believe their bodies becomes the Host or the Hostess of God himself.   That the piece of bread is actually the body of God in mystery….The priest says the words “The Body of Christ” while reverently distributing the bread,  to which the recipient responds “Amen” (so be it!)…It comes down to faith that a person believes their body is a vessel in which God himself now resides.    Heavy stuff -  which places a great burden on the individual to them look after that body which is now sharing itself with the most holy of holies,  “the Body of Christ”

That explains in part and perhaps the most important reason why some Christians do not believe in a hastened death.   The human body is a cradle for the Sacred Body of Christ.   And Christian cannot hurt “The Body of Christ” within, to relieve their own bodily distress.  Hence, the “All for Thee, Oh Lord, all for Thee” so often heard recanted by people in severe pain.  

In addition, people who believe in an after life regardless of which “hat”  they wear….believe that to hasten death is to defy “fate”   What is meant to be, is!    Buddhists, Hindus, Christians are among the predominant religions that believe we live our life for a purpose to be served regardless of our own selfish wants and needs…   We are merely passing through this life to somewhere else, so we need always to be respectful of the disastrous consequences of not adhering to the strict teachings of our particular “belief” system.

So, in theory, serious religiously inclined people have no rights when it comes to dying. 

It is always left to God to decide death, according to the RTL.  To hasten death is against God’s Will, even though Christ himself is recorded as having hung on the cross for some six hours, not six days, six weeks, or six months….And Christ had God as his father…

 And medical intervention denies God’s Will be done, by technology preventing the death itself from occurring, but we conveniently forget that aspect of God’s Will because it is human nature – not to want to experience pain unnecessarily and death can be a very painful experience……. 

“life” itself is always precious by all human beings but we hold varying differences on what constitutes “a life”.

The sanctity of a life  is selective depending on your ethnicity and “friendship of Governments”,  yet the value of a frail Anglo Australian can’t be more valued in the eyes of God than an Iraqi Muslim.  Bombs kill people! just the same as an injection!

Faith alone has been known to heal the physical body in some “believers” but I don’t have this gift granted to me, that is the gift of faith….I lost it many years ago and have ceased to rely on its possibilities for myself.  Every fiber of my being denies the doctrine taught by the Christian Churches. 

I strongly believe that “ownership” of my own body in this one human life is more important to me in the here and now, than any possibilities in other lives….I remember nothing of previous existences and expect nothing of any more to come.   So simple for me to concentrate to live, love and enjoy this life without any fear of retribution in another life if there one!  I try to live by the maxim of “doing unto others as I would have them do to me” to keep me reasonably ok with liking myself, and I don’t sexual abuse small children….. I am very comfortable with a Humanist lifestyle.

(2)    The Slippery Slope Mentality:  Sometimes you’ll come across a person who fears a hastened death because they genuinely believe in the “slippery slope” concept of the hackneed Nazi Germany.   They believe the Government will start “knocking people off” to cut down on the budget…If one looks at some folk in nursing homes even today…it could be agreed that they have “already died” in every sense of the word except they breathe.   The quality and purpose in life has long ago left their tired, weary and mostly unconscious body…..And there is no reversal possible along that road to death.   It is the intention of Mother Nature that we humans died usually about three score years and ten – give or take a decade.  Choice for the individual by the individual should be the legal position to adopt.

(3) My (Humanist)  Viewpoint

Then there are the Rest of Us…the Heathen, Atheist, Agnostics, lapsed and cancelled Christians, and the non conformist religious.

We don’t hold the same views as the Religious person…..we mostly don’t believe that God in her infinite mercy would want any living thing to suffer unnecessarily.   It is the reason why animals have more protection against maltreatment in law,  than a human being.

We believe it is our Right as a free thinking or an indoctrinated group of people to make decisions about our lives,  for ourselves.

A thousand times I’ve stated “doing nothing, means nothing happens” but if I say I want,  Do Not Resuscitate,  written onto my medical file, I don’t expect to be treated as if I am stupid, ill-informed or depressed.   Even if I was all of those, I still believe it is my decision to make.   My life, my choice.  If I do nothing then I am delegating responsibility for my life to another person, and this I cannot do willingly. 

Thousands of people ignore risk management when they take on death defying feats….like walking across the Antarctic, jumping out of an airplane, or joining an army which trains one specifically to take lives of others but the Right to Life Lobbyists ignore those specific healthy people who do everything to ensure their life is at risk for fame and fortune.   Do the RTL genuinely believe God meant us to continually go to wars and kill innocent “enemies”, in these days of enlightenment where diplomacy and education are meant to work?

Yet, those same moralist folk, so bent on denying a terminally or chronically ill person a good death, are silent when it comes to the waste of a good and healthy life.   The Right to Life Campaign appears to target people who want to die because of ill health, yet does nothing to lobby governments about record seeking athletes or our participation in wars of invasion!

Who could not understand Steve Guest’s reasoning throughout the recent SBS Documentary, DO NOT RESUSCITATE.?

Legislated protection for the individual would solve everyone’s problems,  without offending anyone.  I own my body for me alone.

I want to leave the world a better place for my having been here at all. A  Catholic or two, have told me bluntly I belong in Hell…but fortunately those same Catholics don’t get to make the rules about my possible assignations in the next world…..I want no part of their bigotry and bloody compulsiveness about telling others how to live their lives.   I want only control over my own life.

4.    The Legal Response to the question “What are our Rights when it comes to Dying?”.

In Victoria we have the Medical Treatment Act 1988: (an abbreviated cut and paste effort on my part)

How the Act works (http://www.health.vic.gov.au/mta/works.htm)

Refusal of medical treatment certificate: Competent Person (180k, pdf)
In the course of treatment for a medical condition, a patient may decide that having a specific or general course of treatment is not wanted. If a patient determines they do not want a procedure or medical treatment for a medical condition or illness they currently have, they may create a refusal of treatment certificate as a safeguard for both themselves and their medical practitioner in order to make their wishes known and followed.
The patient must:
- be informed about the nature of his or her condition to the extent that they can make a decision about treatment,
- be of sound mind without clinical signs of cognitive impairment or potentially reversible conditions such as depression,
- be over eighteen years of age and
- nominate whether their refusal of treatment is specific or general.

The certificate to refuse medical treatment must be witnessed by two people - one must be a medical practitioner and may also be the treating doctor.
Enduring power of attorney (medical treatment) (88k, pdf)
Refusal of medical treatment certificate: Agent or guardian of incompetent person (296k, pdf)

To appoint an agent to make medical decisions on their behalf, a person makes a provision for an enduring power of attorney (medical treatment). The enduring power of attorney (medical treatment) names the agent, and an alternative agent if required, whom the person trusts to carry out their wishes about having or refusing medical treatment.
An enduring power of attorney (medical treatment) requires both the person appointing the agent and the agent to be of sound mind and over eighteen years of age. If a person is not able to appoint an agent, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) may appoint a guardian to act as an agent.

An agent or a guardian appointed by VCAT may enact a refusal of medical treatment certificate on behalf of a person if the agent believes the person would make a similar decision about refusing medical treatment when presented with complete information about their condition or if the agent believes the medical treatment would cause unreasonable distress to the person.

—————————

Limits of the Act and instruments created under the Act (http://www.health.vic.gov.au/mta/limits.htm)

The refusal of medical treatment certificate ceases to operate once the circumstances that gave rise to it are no longer relevant. As the refusal of medical treatment certificate applies only to a current condition and not to an illness or condition that may occur in the future, it may not be used as an “advance directive”.

In addition, the refusal of medical treatment does not cover medical procedures or other procedures that would be considered palliative care. Palliative care includes reasonable treatment for the relief of pain, suffering or discomfort and the provision of food and water.
When a patient cancels a certificate or their medical condition has changed to such an extent that the specific or general provisions in it no longer apply, the refusal of medical treatment certificate is no longer in force.

The enduring power of attorney (medical treatment) does not allow an agent to make decisions about a person’s affairs other than those about medical treatment. A general power of attorney, an enduring power of guardianship and an enduring power of attorney (financial) are all created and administered by other laws.
An enduring power of attorney (medical treatment) does not come into effect until the patient is no longer able to make their own decision. A patient retains the responsibility to make their own decisions if they are able to do so.
An agent can only refuse medical treatment on behalf of a patient when the medical treatment would cause unreasonable distress to the patient or they believe that the patient, if they were still competent, would refuse the treatment.

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Supreme Court decision on the Medical Treatment Act (http://www.health.vic.gov.au/mta/decision.htm)

On 29 May 2003 Justice Morris of the Victorian Supreme Court handed down a landmark judgement in a case brought by the Public Advocate. It clarifies a contentious part of the Medical Treatment Act that deals with the refusal of medical treatment and ensures that people with a disability are not treated as having lesser rights than competent persons who can refuse treatment.
The case involved a woman (known as Mrs BWV) with severe disabilities, including a lack of cognitive capacity, as a consequence of a progressive form of dementia. Before she became unwell she had told members of her family that should she ever become so disabled she would not want medical treatment that would artificially and unnecessarily prolong her life.

The Court proceedings were initiated to obtain a definitive ruling on whether Artificial Nutrition and Hydration delivered through a PEG tube (which is surgically inserted in to the stomach) is either:
- “medical treatment” which may be refused, or
- “palliative care” which may not be refused. The definition of “palliative care” Act includes “the reasonable provision of food and water”.

The Court decided that it was “medical treatment” and could be refused by a guardian or an agent holding an Enduring Medical Power of Attorney on behalf of a person with a disability that prevented them from making or expressing a decision.
This decision does not affect everyone with a disability but only those who have previously expressed wishes about their medical treatment. The Judge stressed the many safeguards in the Act that protect the interests of people with a disability. They include, most critically, the fact that a guardian or agent can only refuse treatment if there is evidence that the person with a disability would themselves, when fully informed, have considered that the treatment was unwarranted. (Treatment could also be refused if it would cause unreasonable distress.)

The decision, which carefully balanced the competing moral and ethical values of the sanctity of life and the right to self-determination and dignity, is important because:
- It allows Mrs BWV’s wishes to be respected and for her to be treated with dignity.
- It ensures that people with a disability are not treated as having lesser rights than competent persons who can refuse treatment.
- It should provide for greater clarity for doctors and therefore greater consistency in the way treatment is provided.

A copy of the full judgement in the case which is cited as Gardner;
re BWV may be obtained from – Full judgement in the case, cited as, Gardner; re BWV

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5    The Political Viewpoint according to Labor: (page 37 of Labor: Listens then Acts)

The dignity of life and death:

4.33 In keeping with the existing bi partisan policy, Labor will allow terminally ill people to refuse active treatment intended to prolong life.

Labor has:

o Improved funding for palliative care services across the state; and
o Ensured that Victorians have the right to a say, directly or indirectly, in every decision that affects their lives.

Labor will undertake an education and information campaign targeting health professionals, to improve knowledge of the workings of the Medical Treatment Act.

Choice comments:  The article above was received in response to my asking for a copy of Labor’s Policy on Voluntary Euthanasia.

I am advised that recently the State Government has completed an educational program on the MTA and I will be very curious to see what mechanism is in place to ensure the education is resulting in more patient’s being heard to the exclusion of the Healthcare Workers and the patient’s relatives.

Furthermore,  I will follow the Minister for Health up on this matter,  remembering a nurses’ comment that dead people can’t sue and they don’t vote……Litigation Fears -  that is why so much focus in on what every one wants before the patient themselves.   Russian Roulette in Health.

——————

6    The Resolution .  Withdrawn at the recent March 3, 2007 State ALP Conference due to an incorrect “error” not explained to the audience,  and now subject to questioning of the Administrative Committee of the Vic ALP , and its Executive….A copy has been provided to my ALP Representative and Member, The Premier, The Health Minister, and the two Labor incumbents in the Southern Metro Upper House.  I am yet to receive a formal response from any of them but will keep my readers fully informed.

Attachment (1 of 1)
Health Policy Committee

Terrie Seymour addressed the Conference

Heather Wellington spoke Medicare Treatment act and amendment put

“To make appropriate provision for people’s wishes about the management of their future medical
conditions to be respected. Labor will

a) Give statutory recognition to enable competent Victorians to refuse treatment, or request treatment, for a future condition by way of an advance healthcare directive;

b) Limit Statutory recognition of advance healthcare directives to apply solely to patients in the terminal phase of a terminal illness or who are in a persistent vegetative state and who are incapable of making decisions about medical treatment when the question of administering the treatment arises.

c) Create a register recording medical enduring power of attorney and advance healthcare directives completed by Victorians;

d) Provide for regular reviews of advance healthcare directives and validation every twelve months. This process must include advice to individuals on advancements in medical technology.

e) Require all heathcare institutions to record any existing medical enduring power of attorney and advance healthcare directives on admissions of patients;

f) Require all healthcare institutions to advise patients, in consultation with their GP, of their rights under the Medical Treatment Act 1988 and of the option completing an advance healthcare directive, informing patients that there is no compulsion to complete an advance healthcare directive; and

g) Labor will consult with key stakeholders and the community concerning amendments to the Medical Treatment Act 1988.

Moved: Terrie Seymour Seconded: Heather Wellington

Motion was put as amended CARRIED

 

7    Public Opinion   On the question of “numbers.” in achieving an 80% “in favor of medically assisted dying with strict guidelines”

“The Newspoll survey was conducted nationally over 2423 respondents.

Newspoll are in the business of polls and their results should be very representative of the population. The respondents are carefully randomly
selected to give a good overall representation and the questions are as neutral as possible.

Newspapers & TV polls cannot be said to be as accurate because there is no control over the selection of respondents and may often be associated with an emotional article. Also, certain groups can hijack them if they have a good phone network. However, they can be a good guide”.

In addition recently, The Age conducted a similar poll and the response was 89% and the SBS survey underway as I write is 75% so any figure one chooses to look at is strongly in favour of regulated dying for those who wish to end their lives without undue and unnecessary suffering.

———————-

Choice comments: Delaying tactics is in place!   One could think Politicians would be happy to see the back of people like me just to shut me up and allow me my legislative protection to ensure I don’t get Rusticated by mistake.   The sooner they listen to us, the sooner they’ll they be free to do other important tasks on behalf of the broader healthier community that don’t have an impending ‘used by’ date zooming in on the horizon…..I want to be remembered as a person who lived and died well – unlike the memories I hold very close some 25 years after my mother’s own death.  Mum lived well, and died badly! -that is what I remember.  I just want the law changed to protect my rights to die well.  Is that so difficult to achieve?

(to-day is definitely my day for political speak it seems…..but I had wanted to address the question being asked by Jenny Brockie in her Discussion Forum on SBS Tuesday Night 7.30 pm….The Question?  What Are Our Rights when it Comes to Dying?….perhaps tomorrow….in the meantime……

I have just undertaken a complete cut and paste from http://seeking-utopia.blogspot.com/  almost without comment,  to another form of discrimination:  My brief incursions into Jewish morality lead me to believe “Hermann”  is not the norm!  Most are pleasant enough people unable to be held responsible for their Government’s actions, much like the average Australian (Is that Muslim, Jewish or Christian Australian?)   Perhaps we are one and we are many!….

Thursday, March 29, 2007
…LYING MUSLIM C#%T!

Friends, this colourful description of me came in a comment on the Bethlehem post. It was in response to my statement in a previous comment to Betmo that I’d once supported Israel (I didn’t publish the comment from someone called Hermann because I deplore filthy language and will not allow it to cheapen my blog).

However I was interested in the attitude of Hermann who obviously sits somewhere in a dark corner and sends off emails dripping with hate to anyone who dares to question his narrow, pro-Israeli view of the world.

Taking the three insulting words separately, the first is that I’m lying. Hermann, I still remember going over to the local cinema seeing Exodus and feeling roused by the sentiments which the movie presented. Those poor little Israelis, just trying to get a homeland. Of course I was young and rather naive then. They were entirely one-sided sentiments and took no account of the terrible injustice that was done to the Palestinians and is still being done to the Palestinians by their cruel Israeli oppressors.

Next is that I’m a Muslim. Hermann, if you had bothered to read a few of the posts on my blog you would’ve known that I’m an atheist. Hermann, it is difficult to be an atheist and a Muslim at the same time. But it’s not hard to be a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, etc, and have a tiny, confused mind, one that sees everything in black and white: white for one’s own religion and black for anyone who has another belief – or no belief. That’s why I’m against all religions, Hermann!

To the third word, well, Hermann, the gutter word which you chose to describe me, one used by common people to describe a female’s genitals, is usually only employed when extreme hate is being expressed. That you feel hate for me is unfortunate, Hermann. We have never even met yet here I am, the object of your extreme hatred.

Well, I forgive you, Hermann. I don’t hate you in return because hate is a destructive force, one that, like cancer, eats away at whatever goodness is inside a person. Hate turns humans into beasts.

The photograph I used in the Bethlehem post shows what hate achieves, Hermann.

Love and Peace!

Posted by Daniel at 11:22 AM 5 comments

Stop reading right here and now if you are not interested in politics!  Hopefully, you’ll be both Alert & Afraid if you read on and seriously consider where Australia may be headed……Given our Government Pro Israeli and Pro American leanings at the expense of Pro Australian interests!

This morning I was awake at 4, up at 5 and watching videos until 7am……my mind has trouble switching itself off.  In the wee small hours I think and mull over really deep and meaningful subjects…..like where Howard is taking Australia, what will happen if and when America and Israel attack Iran….what is it that makes people terrified to criticize Israel, afraid to be seen as Anti Semitic at the expense of the rest of the Arab World….Is being Jewish a religion or a race of people?….having met an Atheist Jew, I am confused.

I’m not really confused…I understand the convenience of having a foot in both camps but it annoys me that discrimination can be used as a tool to prevent open and free discussion when it involves Jews but the same courtesy is not given to Muslims!  My own Catholic childhood is the most invaluable tool I could have acquired to help me understand why voluntary euthanasia can be so repugnant to a Christian….(80% Pro VE – 50% Atheists = 30% balance of Religious folk however who do believe in the principals of VE) 

It seems like so much of what we see and hear in the world today is selective according to circumstances in a particular incident.  In my local paper, the Port Phillip/Caulfield Leader,pg16,  March 27, 2007 there is a small article which is headed

• Muslim Party Backlash.  

• A Caulfield based anti defamation agency has criticized plans by controversial Mufti Sheik Taj el Din al Hilaly to create a Muslim political party.   B’nai B’rith Anti Defamation Commission executive Manny Waks said the concept should be discouraged.  “We do not want to reach a situation where we have a Muslim party, a Christian Party or a Jewish party”. Mr Waks said.

“This would play into the hands of those who would like to perpetuate religious and cultural divisions in Australia”  Mr Waks said he was “astonished” Sheik al-Hilaly was leading the charge to establish the Party.

In the same paper there is pictured children with the caption “Students in perfect harmony”….

Students celebrated diversity last week and discovered they had a lot more in common than they thought….Elsternwick Primary School hosted students from King Khalid Islamic College last Wednesday as part of Harmony Day….With three students was a young Muslim girl with the head scarf…… 

(Perhaps we should leave the running of the Middle East to the Children, they would then ensure their own peaceful co existence)……. 

I wondered whether it was a worthwhile exercise to write to Mr Waks and point out that his remarks could be seen as discriminatory, given the Democratic Labor Party is Catholic to a Member!…   Why shouldn’t Muslims be allowed to have a political party which would unite them in an obvious way against the combined forces of most other political parties which support a Pro Israeli stance.  I have heard and seen evidence of this personally.   To be fair, any one section of the community has a right of association to protect itself from being ostracized from the political process.   The Christian and Jews don’t need separation because they are in unison with their accord.   Muslims, however, I feel are not treated with the same respect by either major parties.

Mr Danby was one of only three Labor MPs who did not sign the letter urging the United States Congress to try and get David Hicks repatriated.    Mr Danby represented his own Jewish interests in not signing the letter, at odds with both the Labor Party and his constituents…..one of his own, in  Mr Will Kimpton of Albert Park, (constituent that is, not a Jew one can imagine)  is asking for a “please explain”….I am deeply aware that it is only within the last two years that David Hick’s dilemma was picked up by either party in a meaningful way…which meant he had already been incarcerated three years before any one did anything to help him.  

A while ago there was a Jewish gentleman, whose names escapes me just now,  walking with his three children was bashed by three drunken footballers…The drunks were “bad” men acting out of racism – alcohol does it every time (even to good Christians like Mel Gibson) …. ..The Jewish gentleman’s  story of one day of brutality got front page news everywhere in Victoria but David Hick’s five years of brutality raises hardly an eyebrow.  We saw the victim’s face puffed and swollen is a full color photo – but no one has seen a photo of David Hicks in five years that I can recall!….. Do we need a sense of balance between the two incidents?  

According to Russian Intelligence America and Israel are preparing to storm Iran with heavy artillery including a warship with 3200 defence force on board…..What is the reason again?   Ah yes, weapons of mass destruction in the form of potential nuclear weapons of mass destruction!!!       Given the scenario played out in Iraq where democracy and the “American Way” was the only way, I feel all hell is about to break loose within the world as Muslims fight back with the one weapon they have….their bodies.

“Defence Force” is the wrong description – it should be “Offense Force”….Once again they will invade a Sovereign State claiming God is on their side….But as Allah and God are one, if one “believes” in either – who will actually win?    

Not God or Allah – he is too distraught with his creations in mankind – warriors to the death!…..Bring on the women into Governments (we painfully,  but joyfully give birth) and bring on the children (they want to live regardless )

Just today, The Age headlines screams Howard’s U-Turn on India – “Embargo on Australian uranium sales to subcontinent could be lifted, the PM signals”….India has 15 nuclear reactors, nine under construction and more planned….India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty because it has a nuclear weapons program…..

As Hindus are not entirely Pro Muslim would this then create a drama with Pakistan?   Or will Pakistan become a causality further down the political track when their usefulness has diminished for the United States?

The article informs us that UK, Canada and France  are also interested in nuclear cooperation with India…..and that there is a proposed cooperation agreement with the US for technology sharing and uranium supply, conditional on power plants being inspected by the international Atomic Energy Agency…..

I feel pain for my unborn grandson that my generation are leaving a legacy of world disruption as varying countries vie for control over the rest….neutrality will not protect countries in the future because respect for each other’s sovereign rights have been eroded by  America, Israeli, English and Australia.

I wonder what forces Mother Nature will bring into play to force mankind to respect Her creation?

Only the smart whites get euthanasia, says Professor:

Mar 27th, 2007 by ergo (an American Information Source) 

Taking assisted suicide out of the criminal code in the Netherlands has created an “avalanche” of strict legal controls on how the Dutch can end their own lives with medical help, says a leading legal expert on euthanasia in Europe. 

Dutch doctors who carry out assisted suicide face a deluge of official reviews and investigations that didn’t exist before the Netherlands legalized euthanasia in 2002, said John Griffiths, professor of sociology and law at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. 

Griffiths, speaking at Carleton University at a conference on physician-assisted suicide, said every doctor carrying out an assisted suicide must consult with a second doctor as well as be green-lighted by an independent review committee. In 2005, that committee looked over 2,883 cases to ensure all required conditions were met, including “unbearable suffering.”

 Griffiths said it’s “very difficult” to get euthanasia in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium or the U.S. state of Oregon, jurisdictions where it’s legal.

 “You can only get it if you are considered better educated, more with it or a Sue Rodriguez type,” said Griffiths, referring to the B.C. woman who fought unsuccessfully to have Canada’s assisted-suicide law struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1993.

Opponents of the Dutch euthanasia law argue legalizing the right to die will prompt those who are elderly, poor and chronically ill to end their lives. 

But in 2001, the overwhelming majority of the 3,800 Dutch people who had a doctor-assisted suicide were elderly, well-educated men in the final stages of cancer, said Griffiths, co-author of Euthanasia and the Law in the Netherlands.

“The whole question about discrimination against the vulnerable is, in practice, a non-issue,” said Griffiths.

Physician-assisted suicide has been legal in Oregon since 1997. According to the most recent statistics, 97% of those who took advantage of it were white, 92% had hospice care and 62% had some form of college education.

 Choice Comments:  Listening to Dr Nitschke over the years I think he has the same opinions as the Professor Griffiths has expressed.  Once we legalize voluntary euthanasia the ill can be bogged down in the bureaucracy of administration to ensure that they’re not really faking their fatal illness and can’t possibly be seen “as depressed” due to the fact they soil themselves, can’t feed or bathe themselves,  or pop outside inside into the sunlight for an hour or three, to feel the cool fresh of genuinely fresh air….That lying attached to a drip waiting to die should be a signal to become accepting of ones circumstances and smile bravely for the onlookers…..

As a time when grievously ill people are faint with exhaustion we are expected to talk to two psychiatrists rationally so we won’t be seen as “non compus mentus” (without rational thought!)…deal with new doctors assessing the findings of our own doctor to make sure they know what they’re doing…..

Probably also expected to deal with a Counselor that is an undercover Right to Life Advocate who sees it as her moral duty to convince us to continue living because it is “God’s Will”….the fact we don’t agree with her viewpoint would be irrelevant and she wouldn’t care regardless,  because “God’s Will” is the only “Will” that matters!   We have to be saved from ourselves!  

The fact that Christ himself is reportedly said to have suffered on the cross no longer than six hours would be a nonsense to her.  Given we may have suffered weeks, months or even years due to technology advancements beyond the widest dreams of those men, ordinary men, who wrote the Bible on which she bases her own living and dying and insists we join in the fun with her…….Two thousand years ago….is irrelevant to me.  I live in 2007 not year 7!

I am happy to advocate for the legalisation of a person’s last wishes to be not only “respected” but binding in law.

 

Postscript article by Seamus Bradley (Sunday Age March 25th)

Howard in mid-air scare

There’s an old joke.   How can you tell that a politician is lying?  Answer: Their lips are moving.

Of course, it is not funny and it is just not true.  There are plenty of politicians who can lie without ever moving their lips.

You don’t have to be a philosopher to know that the best way to lie is to tell the truth – mostly.  And that the best place to hide is in plain sight. (like sitting at your desk playing with the Internet).

But , as a federal election looms and pollies constantly assault the radio and television waves, it is good to know that – during those interminable debates – there are only 38 ways of pulling the wool.

We know that because a philosopher has worked it out.  That philosopher was one of Europe’s greatest but he was so ashamed of his discovery that his work on the subject wasn’t published until after his death.

Arthur Schopenhauer, credited with being one of the first European philosophers to realise the value of Eastern philosophies, didn’t want to be remembered as a Machiavelli, “purveying dark arts of dishonest argumentation”.

He was simply describing what was. And the key to winning when you are wrong is convincing the audience that you have won. Sometimes it is as simple as declaring victory after your opponent has swept the floor with you, in the hope nobody will notice.

So all that interminable waffle in parliament and on telly is to convince you, the “voter”, that Howard has beaten Rudd on such and such a topic, or vice versa. Hence, for example, lan Campbell quits/is sacked, and the Liberals – with one voice -keep saying you can’t trust Labor with money and Labor infers you can’t trust the Libs with government.

So how do pollies, and others, achieve such dark results? They muddy the waters: a specific question gets a general answer; opponents are needled to the point of bewilderment or, better still, anger; questions are begged; the audience is persuaded rather than the opponent; opponents’ views are turned against them; or – when at the point of absolute defeat -attacks get personal.
The attacker will look bad but might get an angry reaction that makes the other guy look worse.

It’s no surprise, then, that hardly anybody trusts politicians with anything much at all, especially money.

Readers don’t even take PM John Howard’s mid-air near-mishap at face value. ‘Twas all a con, some say. That’s cynicism for you – or realism.

Choice comments: And in keeping with that cynicism let me share a letter to the Editor written on the same page.  I thought it a classic!  And I remembered a little baby pictured, being held over the side of a boat in mid ocean,  under the screaming headlines along the lines…”Muslims throw their children overboard”….Wonder what that photographer was doing this year? cynical? who me?

PM’s Media Mission:

You really expect me to swallow “Howard in Mid Air Scare” 18/3? It is so obviously a stage managed event designed to boost Howard’s flagging election appeal.   “The flight was part of a risky visit by Mr Howard to Tallil and Baghdad.” gushed David Crowe.

Heroic Howard came with bomber jacket and smoke machine and got all the photos he needed.   Front Page News.

Mission accomplished.

Roger Gotch: Scoresby

(ROTI)  Rights of the Terminally Ill Act of the Northern Territory….The Law was changed only 5 months later by a Private Member’s Bill put forward by Kevin Andrews in Canberra Federal Parliament.  It was made possible because the Northern Territory was not a State of Australia.  Had the same Law been enacted in Victoria or any other State,  the Federal Government could not have overturned a democratic process undertaken on behalf of its citizens.  Both Liberal and Labor supported the Andrews Bill which was brought to immediate prominence for debate, extremely unusual for a Private Member’s Bill, but with the combined power of both Mr. Beazley (who?) and Howard (and soon to be “Who”? and being pressured by the all powerful  “Right to Life”  lobbyists,  what hope did a terminally ill person have to be heard…already weakened by illness we had to rely on Senator Bob Brown’s powers of persuasion, which unfortunately was not sufficient on the day….But Marshall Perron, Philip Nitschke and Bob Brown certainly gave it their best shot!.  

Ah Canberra’s Commemoration Day of Shame 10 years on   Not a day of celebration but of mourning the loss of our innocence to believe that Australians ever really had choice about their living and dying processes……..a joint initiative of Exit International and the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of NSW with the kind assistance of the Canberra natives who made us extremely welcome.  The harassed staff of Exit who,  through I feel sometimes gritted teeth,  managed to smile and be helpful to 200 plus individuals of varying stages of health and ill health, and of extreme youth (40 is the new 30, I’m told)  and extreme age (the eldest being 96 y.o.)  My heart went out to so many,  who struggled from all points of Australia (with the exception of Tasmania) to be there and be heard.   People in chairs, on sticks, on the aged arm of their frail spouse, some wobbling independently or just leaning quietly in a secluded corner….a few of us could kick up our heels and did so!

We visited Parliament House where Books of Condolences for the loss of our choices were given into the hands of Carmen Lawrence representing Labor, Perennial Bob Brown for the Greens, and of course Victoria’s own Democrat,  Lyn Allison who has never ceased to work for the voluntary euthanasia cause.   I thought I saw Senator Sandra Knack but wasn’t sure if it was her across the crowded foyer.  As many people were to realize, the ageing process brings also hard of hearing problem,  so most of us would have missed the messages conveyed to us by the politicians due to the acoustics in the foyer.

We were indeed fortunate to have the services of not only a trained retired opera singer but also another equally talented singer in Marion,   to lead us into a rousing rendition of the following (with poetic license) to Advance Australia Fair:

Skillfully reworded by John and Julie:

We’re Aussies, but we can’t rejoice,

In old age, We’re not free,

For we’re denied our basic right

To Die With Dignity.

We plead with politicians

“From Pain give us Release

Please treat us like vets treat sick pets.

Please Let us die in Peace!

Show us compassion, if you please,

And let us die in peace”.

 chorus:

We’re plagued by men like Andrews,

Egged on by priests like Pell

Who tell us how to live and die

and threaten us with Hell.

Our land abounds with bigots

Lets fight them without cease.

If their God’s a god of mercy

Why can’t we die in peace?

If their God is really loving,

JUST LET US DIE IN PEACE!

I noticed one of the security staff winching slightly at our singing efforts but it was not a performance to entertain but rather to encourage people to make an analogy between the words of both songs….

Australia’ s all, let us rejoice, for we are young and free, We’ve golden soil etc etc..of beauty rich and rare etc etc in joyful strains etc And knowing the words are directed at the landscape, it is the people that inhabit that landscape that we talk of here….

Australians can no longer rejoice, because we are neither young nor free, we’ve neither beauty rich and rare and there is nothing joyful about our strains…. And there is nothing rich or rare about growing old….we are doing it too fast for the system to cope!.

We are an ageing population where the young and free do not want to be burdened with either the responsibility of their ageing relatives, nor the expense of maintaining them in nursing homes.   Neither do the young and free want to spend their working days actually caring for the aged once they gone beyond the mobility stage……Jobs will be plentiful enough for more cheerful environments than is warranted caring for the aged.   The Aged drugged up to the eyeballs, existing but not actually living!  Certainly the professional Doctors and Nurses won’t make geriatric health their first choice in careers.   There is already a severe shortage of proper nursing care of the elderly and infirmed.  And compounding all this, we as a group, don’t want the lingering decay of excessive old age and its inherent health problems.

 

Then we had the unfortunate demonstration of BURNING 15O copies of the now BANNED BOOK.  The Peaceful Pill Handbook written by Fiona Stewart and Philip Nitschke.   I intend to write a requiem to a book elsewhere and later addressing the harsh emotions that came alive in Exit Members as we pleaded not to burn the book!   But of course Drs Nitschke and Stewart wear the responsibility and consequences of the books, and Fiona was heard to say “It must be done!”…..The books had to be destroyed!!!  Australians have developed a Fascist mentality in book banning when the book itself is neither pornographic or racist!  In times we are encouraged to be informed about absolutely everything why can’t we be informed in one of the most crucial stages of our lives, the actual dying process and its possibilities to have a quick and painless one or a long drawn out painful affair! 

Governments and Right to Life are not welcomed in my end of life choices if they can’t be compassionate in their forward thinking.  That one day, they too will be a health statistic sitting in a nursing home,  rotting slowly from the inside out as the body breaks down and forces us through the dying process whether we like it or not!

Book Burning…..one of my more potent painful memories….I felt physically ill watching the flames, feeling the pain of the cinders burning into the words so carefully written for a particular market of need.    The book need not have been banned.  It could have been made available for purchase from those same organizations that fully understand their own Members needs because they hear their stories and watch their suffering first hand.   Book Banning…….a blemish on Australia’s history and its only the first blow!

Scary stuff and just a hint of Stalin and Hitler, not to mention Howard….who allowed an Australian Citizen to be jailed for five years without trial and did nothing!  I hope Mr Howard realises David Hicks “confession” is a very hollow victory brought on by years and years of torture and depravation of unknown but imagined horrors.   An Australian!   Not an African, or a Chinese National, or a Russian dissident but a young Australian who may or may not have been guilty by association of a crime….We’ll never really know the truth because the evidence has been lost in the mist of time.

Getting back to the Exit Day of Shame, our Guest Speaker was Phillip Adams, and god love him, he did his magic.   He was able to restore Dr Nitschke’s positivism by pointing out and reminding all of us…..that nothing really worth fighting for, necessarily comes easy….The ROTI came to pass once before and it will come again -  because all good ideas do – in the end!!!  

Fiona Stewart spoke of her dismay at seeing 18 months of work going up in smoke and asked the very valid question….will gatherings of people of like minded ideals be the Government’s next target??  

Eventually we’ll have to become some sort of secret society in which outsiders have no place….a bit like the Exclusive Brethren who have managed to get the ear of the Prime Minister in spite of being “exclusive”……I wonder if the Exit Executive have looked at ways of developing into a “Religion” and getting all the perks that accrue from that benefit……Exit  could put God’s name in their title to give the organisation respectability and then claim discrimination such as others  have done, every time some one has a go at them…

Big drive today.  Off to Canberra to participate in the Exit’s Day of Shame tomorrow.   I’ll write more on my return on Tuesday.

Another activity I’ve undertaken this week will be of equal importance in the political arena.  And yes! politics in just an “arena” for games that people play.  

Before I became an Activist and a “self styled” lobbyist I naively believed the ALP was a Party for the People and perhaps it is “when it suits them”….Mostly though its about the “games” and the one-upmanship.   Our ALP as a political force to be reckoned with,  have moved so far to the middle of the bed, we are as a married couple with the Liberals.  Yuk!    S11 Rally memories.

Seven years on and I am still expecting “better of Steve Bracks government”.    As an activist for legislative change for patient directed dying with medical assistance I am still feeling “shortchanged” by a Government that prides itself on being a Party of Reform and Innovation.

Instead of just “bitching” about it though I have done something practical in order to promote that sense of reform and innovation.  I want it to happen in reality, not just politicking words when there is an Election to be fought.

I’ve spent a week composing a three page letter with the infamous “Resolution” attached….the one that got away from State Conference and left me feel furious and impotent about how Party politics actually works in real terms.  

That is the problem with being an “Idealist”.   You expect certain standards of behavior from the Officers elected or paid to represent you as an individual and although you don’t always get what you want, you should at least be left with a sense of fair play and justice.   (Exactly how I felt at the end of a recent VCAT Hearing on a local issue with Council!…That sense of “being heard” with an open balanced exchange of ideas….as with government, the other side had all the “expensive big guns” but the Chairman ensured “the little man in the street” was given equal time to challenge the other’s initiatives.)

The recent State Conference,  and for that matter not one of the previous four or five I attended as a “Visiting Member” left me,  feeling “being heard” as an initiator of an Motion at the Branch Meeting.

Accordingly I have written to the entire membership of the Administrative Committee outlining my perceptions of how I feel cheated of “being heard” along with 80% of Victorians, in addition to the apparent lack of good manners to speakers within the Conference. 

I understand that as an Ordinary Member of the Labor Party in the eyes of many I am a “nobody”, no one of importance or with influence.   Neither rich, nor famous, nor influentially powerful but I am one person and if we can multiply my angst along with many other disillusioned ALP Members, eventually there will become a ground swell away from the ALP and towards one of the other smaller parties like the Greens and then we may get democracy. 

For the record letters have been or will be posted not only to each individual Administrative Committee Members, some 36 members, plus three “Young Labor” Observers Members,  also my five FEA elected Goldstein Delegates to Conference, my Sitting Member for Oakleigh, my two Labor Representatives for the Upper House, Messrs. Lenders and Thornley, Mr Steve Bracks as the Premier, Ms Bronwyn Pike as the Minister for Health.  I hope I haven’t missed “anyone”…

I thought it appropriate to send my letter full of questions to young minds (Young Labor)  not yet fully tarnished with “she’ll be right mate” philosophy so prevalent in some more mature Members who’ve ceased to demonstrate the fire in the belly enthusiasm needed to implement change.  After all, these young Labors will be left with the legacy of a Government who sat on its hands doing nothing practical to address the issues of an ageing, unproductive, excessively ill group of people who want choice about whether to catch the early or the late train.  A sitting time bomb waiting to explode in the bowels of the health finance budget.   

Left for young Labors, since then matured into old Labors,  to struggle with in years to come, long after I’ve ceased to be “as a flea between the shoulder blades”.   A flea to the incumbent group of Laborites caught up with the religious belief of a two thousand year old book.   I’ve moved on in that time and I want my fresh approach to existing,  given respectful time!!

We need people with a vision for the future and we need to implement legislation now to allow for the crinkles to be ironed out with time…At least we need to start somewhere……There is a large section of the unproductive workforce quite willing to hasten their own death when living ceases to have purpose or meaning and death is a viable alternative.  Legalize Living Wills Please!

Please, please listen to us!  In Victorian that is 80% of the population….check in out on the DWDV website on my links page.

 Of course I will table a copy of my letter with suggestions and questions at my Branch Meeting, where it all began.   My concerns are not a reflection of my attitude to Members of my Branch who have worked and supported each other’s agendas in a variety of interests from refugees to forests and canteen food.  My fellow Members have listened each year in our Branch Meetings,  to my observations now it is time to step outside the comfort zone.

I was asked wide eyed by the only person who’s read the letter whether I intend to post it on my website,  but that depends on the outcome over the next two weeks or so……I’ve been asked to participate in a television debate, which may or may not happen,  so it comes at a crucial time for me.  Being a person driven by emotions rather than hard nosed realities makes it awkward for me sometimes to see the rationale behind the political agenda of the conservatives.   And the Conservatives within the Labor Party have crossed the line in losing sight of the 80% they’re elected to represent.

Loyalty is not a word I bandy around loosely but as a crossroad I am looking at where my loyalties should be,  if I am to make a decision about competing forces.   Choices for patient directed dying or politics….I am a lot closer to dying than I am to making a difference in a political sense.  I’m not terminally ill….just “fed up”….with a system that is selectively democratic.

Perhaps the Administrative Committee will not appreciate my constructive criticism of their esteemed State Conference and will expel me accordingly.   Honestly having been a foot soldier for the cause at a very practical level I haven’t too much to lose, and time to gain.   It’s their call.

Legalized choices for end of life decisions, through legislative change to the Medical Treatment Act 1988,  has to be my number one priority.

—————————————

I so wish I could sleep like the average person!!!!   I went in on the comments line in China,  about the article below and told Li Yan I do hope she is granted the gift of the long sleep soon, the one in which we never wake up.  The ultimate gift, a good death. 

Severely disabled woman appeals for euthanasia law
By Jessie Tao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-03-16 12:45

Li Yan, a 28-year-old terminal cancer patient, has been in the spotlight lately after popular CCTV investigative news anchor woman Chai Jing posted a message from her, conveying Li’s wish that the NPC (National People’s Congress), which is convening for the annual session, considers a draft on peaceful death, or euthanasia.

(Li Yan was pictured, sitting in a wheelchair, uses the computer in her room. [Information Times])

Li, from north China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, has been suffering motor neurone disease, known as a “super cancer”, since she was an infant. Now 28, she has “lost motor function in her whole body” and is incapable of performing basic bodily functions unassisted. She can only slightly move her head and several of her fingers.

“My mother has been tending to me over the past 27 years, feeding me, carrying me to the toilet, and helping me turn around a dozen times during the night.” said Li in her message left at Chai’s personal blog, which was typed out through a chopstick held in her mouth.

Li said she believes she can live to 40, but she has fears. “I must die before my parents; otherwise I will live a miserable life after their pass-away — dirty, stinking, and sick. The thought of such a life and death is unbearable.” she wrote.

Li has been writing a blog named “No where to go”, calling for the legislation of euthanasia. In one of her posts, Li wrote about an interview by a reporter from Ningxia Daily, who asked her whether she felt her wish for a peaceful death was irresponsible to her parents.

“I was stunned. I am irresponsible, but what should I do when both my parents turn 80 or leave me?” Li wrote. Instead, she told the reporter to try lying down in bed for 24 hours without moving. “People have the right to live, as well as the right to die.” she said.

“I treasure life, but I don’t want to live.” Li wrote in her blog on August 19, 2006.

The eager for a peaceful death caused her to draft a motion for legalizing euthanasia. “I hope that a pro-euthanasia NPC delegate will propose for a draft on euthanasia law for me.” she continued.

“Euthanasia will not only put an end to my pains, but also provide a way out for those suffering the same or more than me.” Li wrote in her blog.

Legal experts, however, say the time is not ripe for the passage of such a motion on euthanasia, which may be abused to achieve other ends and cause chaos. But Li said she believes the legislation on euthanasia is a matter of time.

“As long as my computer works and my fingers can move, I will keep trying. If failing, I will kill myself through a hunger strike, the only way I can die.” Li said in response to a question on what she would do if her efforts to push for the law come to nothing.

An editorial run on Eastday.com expressed sympathy for Li Yan’s situation, but said a proposal by NPC or CPPCC representatives would be an “abuse of rights”: “I deeply understand the pain that illness has brought to this 28 year-old woman. I also respect her right to express her innermost feelings. But this is merely sympathy, an involuntary sympathy. If we really have NPC representatives or CPPCC committee members making a proposal on euthanasia in China today, this is clearly an inopportune abuse of rights.”

and another article about Li Yan

China’s Terri Schiavo

Blog posting by ‘Foreign Policy’

 Two years ago in the United States, Terri Schiavo brain-damaged woman in a persistent vegetative state made headlines with her famous euthanasia case. Her husband and her parents were battling over whether she should be unhooked from her machines so she could die peacefully. 

Now the debate over euthanasia is raging on the opposite side of the planet, in China.

 Typing with a chopstick held in her mouth, 28-year-old Li Yan has been writing a blog called “Nowhere to go” that calls for China to enact legislation on euthanasia, or “peaceful death.” Li Yan has suffered from terminal cancer since she was a baby. She can only move her head slightly, along with several fingers. Her mother must feed her, take her to the toilet, and turn her a dozen times during the night. 

“I treasure life, but I don’t want to live,” she writes.

 Schiavo and Li are unusual cases, but controversy over when to pull the plug is bound to grow more common as the world population ages.

My hunch?

Euthanasia will become more accepted as terminal illness hits closer to home for more people.

 And although it’s repugnant to make human life a matter of money, crippling financial costs will be an unspoken factor that makes euthanasia more accepted. When U.S. President George W. Bush was governor of Texas, he signed the Texas Futile Care Law. It allows hospitals to discontinue life-sustaining treatment if the patient is so sick that all care is, well, futile. Families get a 10-day notice before the plug is pulled.

While the Schiavo debate raged, a Texas baby was unplugged against his mother’s wishes.

 As the world grays and financial resources remain finite, some tough decisions will have to be made. So let the worldwide debates continue. 

——————

Choice comments: This article was sent by email from a good friend, but I have since discovered its source……I’ve discovered Marcia Purse operates a Bipolar Disorder Website     http://bipolar.about.com …….yet further investigation may mean the site is operated by a pharmacetical company and that there really is no such person as “Marcia Purse”, but perhaps I am just paranoid about deceptive marketing ploys which start as as information sites to channel people into specific target audiences…..Mind you I didn’t dig too deep and if it helps people,  “so what”  I mumbled unconvincingly to myself….I appreciated this particular article regardless…..

“Toxic people”  I’m sure,  can sometimes lead others to suicide or even to commit murder.  Avoiding them is absolutely necessary if you want to avoid having “bad hair day”.   Pardon the pun.    Toxic=chemotherapy=bad hair day.

I once worked with a “toxic person”  but didn’t recognize the trap in which I was ensnarled…..It costs me dearly!  It allowed me to let myself become run down and open to infection……I worried about others without seeing the dangers for myself…….But we are responsible for ourselves and our actions……We are responsible for how we react to any given circumstance and not giving your “enemy” power by reacting how they want is just half the battle.  The other half, is to learn how to cultivate the skill of walking away in the face of a natural feeling to retaliation….of learning that sometimes it is better to lose the battle and win the war! (if only for your own individual peace of mind)…..

Just then I went back and changed my wording from “we can be responsible” to “we are responsible”, which shows how far I’ve personally come myself!

Toxic People by Marcia Purse

What They Are and Why to Avoid Them

Long ago, before I was even diagnosed with depression (my first psychologist had said I was “highly neurotic”), I was a transcriptionist at an insurance company in Iowa. The woman who sat in front of me would sometimes become upset about something that happened and start to talk about quitting. This frightened me because she was the senior transcriptionist and I was a raw beginner who needed her help frequently.

I would try to calm her down but she would rant about everything that was wrong in our department, all of it true because it was not well run. I’d grow more and more unhappy listening to her until she went back to work leaving me feeling bad for some time.
Eventually, I noticed that after she unloaded her anger onto me, she was cheerful. She had successfully transferred all the negativity to someone else and could continue her day in a better frame of mind. This was the first time I recognized toxicity in another person.
This woman wasn’t entirely toxic. She could be gracious and helpful, and in fact, when I had surgery on my arm a few years later, she was the only one of my co-workers to offer assistance with my household chores (she did ALL my accumulated laundry). And once I knew not to absorb her negativity, we had few problems working together. But I’d begun to learn a valuable lesson: there are toxic people in the world.

Who are the severely toxic people?

They are the ones who complain all the time. They are the ones who always blame you. They may always turn things around so things you felt they had done wrong are suddenly your fault. They overreact to bad events.

They drain your energy. It may be that they get you to spend a lot of time and emotional strength trying to cheer them up. They may bombard you with their negativity so that you have to spend energy trying to fend it off. Perhaps their constant pessimism infects you, or they always make you angry. They may be leeches who feed themselves by making you give them your positivity.

People with mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, major depression or even depressive tendencies are particularly susceptible to toxic people. We are more easily triggered than others. When manic or hypomanic, we may be less sensitive to depressive triggers – or we may not. During mixed or depressive episodes, or when we’re more or less stable, we are more likely to have a somewhat weaker grip on emotional stability than most people, making it easier for a toxic person to affect our moods. That’s not to say that people who do not have mental illnesses can’t be affected by the toxicity of others. But we are more vulnerable.

Toxic People in Your Life

Do you know someone who always makes you feel depressed, angry or just plain tired? Think about this person. Is he or she a complainer, or someone who always expects things to go wrong, or someone who constantly finds fault with you? Does he or she always seem more cheerful after ranting to you? If any one or more of these is the case, you likely have a toxic person on your hands.
If you have an easy way to get this person entirely out of your life, you’ll be better off instantly. Of course, often it is not so easy, when the toxic person is a co-worker or family member or even a long-time friend. If it’s a co-worker, is there a good excuse like “I’m right under an air vent that’s chilling me” to get your desk moved? Perhaps you can say, “You really ought to talk to the supervisor/manager about this” and calmly return to doing your work.

With family members and friends, it may be more difficult. A seriously toxic friend may require that you gradually decrease the time you spend with this person over a period of months so it isn’t particularly noticeable. When the toxic person is a family member, it may be possible to get the person into therapy, which is often needed to solve the underlying issue behind the negativity. If not, you need to train yourself to “tune out” when the complaining, fault-finding and energy-draining behavior starts.

Toxic Situations

I had a supervisor who used to bring me a pile of two days’ worth of work and tell me she wanted it done by 2:00 p.m. I’d look it over, tell her it was impossible, and the fight was on. Sometimes we screamed at each other so loudly that people down at the other end of the floor would stand up to see what was going on. This happened again and again.

When I spoke to a social worker about it, she asked what I was doing to set the supervisor off, as opposed to what the supervisor was doing to set me off. Well, I was always telling her the truth – that there was no way I could get the work done that quickly. But after discussing the situation for some time, we had devised a plan.

The next time my supervisor brought me an impossible stack and said she wanted it done by 2:00 p.m., I said, “I’ll try.”
And that solved the problem. Never mind that the work wasn’t done by the deadline. The important thing was that I had not said “impossible.” My supervisor and I never fought over work again.

This supervisor actually wasn’t a toxic person, but in this case, the situation was poisonous. In cases like this, the solution may be at your fingertips.

Ultimately, the answer is that you can’t change the other person’s behavior, but you can change your own. If someone you know always triggers depression, anger or tiredness in you, examine how you react when the negativity starts and see if changing your reaction helps. If your reaction doesn’t contribute to the problem, or you can’t make such a change, find a way to lessen this person’s presence in your life. It will be good for your health.

Updated: March 16, 2007

(a bit closer than Switzerland)

2007-03-21 From: STUFF.co.NZ
Havens for planned departure

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/eveningstandard/4000558a6502.html

By JANINE RANKIN -
Manawatu Standard
Wednesday, 21 March 2007

The voluntary euthanasia group Dignity New Zealand wants to set up Dignity Havens as hospice alternatives where end of life decisions could be made and carried out.

But trustee Lesley Martin says before the havens could work, there had to be a law change allowing voluntary euthanasia as a legal choice.

Working for a law change is the group’s medium-term focus following a conference in Palmerston North last weekend. Havens were a vision for the long term, Ms Martin said.

Havens would offer palliative care both for in-patients and for terminally ill people in their own homes, much as hospices did.

But patients would also have the option to be fully informed about voluntary euthanasia in a safe and open way.

“Not that they would have that idea thrust on them, and havens would not exclude those who did not wish to explore the voluntary euthanasia option.”

Ms Martin said the idea was probably ten to 20 years away from becoming a reality, and as well as requiring a law change, the movement would need to attract scarce palliative care specialists who support the option of voluntary euthanasia.

“But we can’t decide not to have this vision just because it’s not feasible now.”

In the meantime the group has agreed some short term goals which will become public during the year as they are translated into action.

Albert Einstein: The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing

There is a guy who operates a blog site ” http://seeking-utopia.blogspot.com/ ” who despairs most days of the weeks in frustration and desperation because good men stand by and do nothing while evil exists everywhere…..He highlights the mega evils of the world….the George Bush’s unnerving belief in his own superiority that America’s way of doing things is the only way. 

I feel frustration much closer to home with our own Mr Howard and his Ministers who treat the electorate as imbeciles.  Most of us can read the current newspapers and marvel at the audacity of our elected representatives to “get away” with so much and for so long.  If it wasn’t for inquisitive journalists Australians would learn nothing about how our Ministers abuse their portfolios for insider trading.   We’re asked to “go easy” on the guilty…..as easy as David Hicks as an “innocent until proven guilty”…

———————-

Taken from a book entitled The Skilled Helper  (p270-1)  2002: Gerard Egan

The only article dealing with Death and Dying so perhaps a “Skilled Helper” is not really needed for the dying process…I thought  this one may be of interest to those who are  weigh up the pros and cons of life and death and tend to plan!

…and right up there on top, is the insurance policy enquiry,  even if only paying the first premium – contacting a religious leader just in case there is a “Heaven and Hell” to deal with after death.  Quite right too! if that is what is needed to calm the troubled soul……Personally I would have wanted to “hug my mum”….but I didn’t need to do that either. 

My house is in order…both physically and mentally.

The Case of Brendan: Dying Well

Brendan, a heavy drinker, had extensive and irreversible liver damage and it was clear that he was getting sicker. But he wanted to “get some things done” before he died. Brendan’s action orientation helped a great deal. Over the course of a few months, a counselor helped him to name some of the things he wanted before he died or on his journey toward death. Brendan came up with the following possibilities;

• “I’d like to have some talks with someone who has a religious orientation, like a minister. I want to discuss some of the ‘bigger’ issues of life and death,”
• “I don’t want to die hopeless. I want to die with a sense of meaning.”
• “I want to belong. You know, to some kind of community, people who know what I’m going through but are not sentimental about it. People not disgusted with me because of the way I’ve done myself in.”
• “I’d like to get rid of some of my financial worries.”
” “I’d like a couple of close friends with whom I could share the ups and downs of daily life- With no apologies.”
• “As long as possible, I’d like to be doing some kind of practical work, whether paid or not,  I’ve been a flake.  I want to contribute , even if in just an ordinary way
• “1 need a decent place to live, maybe with others”
• “I need decent medical attention.  I’d like a doctor who has some compassion.  One who could challenge me to live until I die.”
• “I need to manage these bouts of anxiety and depression better”.
• “I want to be get back with my family again.  I want to hug my dad.  I want him to hug me.”
• “I’d like to make peace with one or two of my closest friends.  They more or less dropped me when I got sick.  But at heart, they’re good guys.”
• “I want to die in my home town.”

Of course, Brendan didn’t name all these possibilities at once.  Through understanding and probes, the counselor helped name what he needed and wanted and then helped him stitch together a set of goals from these possibilities and ways of accomplishing them

As given in the Book of Exodus the Ten Commandments are as follows:

I am the LORD your God….you shall have no other God before me.           

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.                       

Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy                                                 

Honor your father and your mother                                                       

You shall not commit adultery                                                               

You shall not steal                                                                               

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor                           

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house                                              

You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.                                               

I reckon on balance I live as good a life as a Humanist, as most Christians I’ve come up against live according their dogmas – I just believe the age old rule…Do unto others, as you would have them do to you!  Christianity doesn’t have the exclusive rights of being a good person because they “believe in Jesus”………Looking up the Merriam Webster Thesaurus for the definition of “Sect” as a derogative term (?)  I was referred to the word “religion” which details the following :- Church, Communion, Connection, Creed, Cult, Denomination, Faith, Persuasion, Sect…..I guess every person in the world could be classed as Religious if all of these terms are based on the word “Religion”….

Therefore when I say I am discriminated against as an Atheist because of a very strong belief in – A non belief in a God, or A Christ, or a Lord God, or Allah.  My end of life choices should be based on my own religious belief that there is no after life and I should be allowed to kill myself with medically assisted poison should I wish to do so. My belief that there is nothing after death is no more ridiculous that the concept of a beautiful however boring “after life” or a fire and brimstone horror.   I prefer my version!

Brazil’s TV gospel preachers in court over $9000 in Bible
By LARRY ROOTER
SAO PAULO
ONLY a few months ago, Estevam and Sonia Hernandes were the Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker of Brazil, on television preaching a gospel of material success and living a life to match.

But that was before (hey were arrested in Miami in January and charged with smuggling cash into the United States, including $US90QO ($A11,300) concealed in a Bible.

All told, American authorities seized $US56,467 that the couple and other family members had hidden on their bodies and in luggage, according to the US indictment.

Brazilian authorities, who have charged them with money laundering and fraud, are seeking their extradition.
Because the Hernandeses are so prominent and controversial in Brazil, their travails have focused new attention on not just their own church but also the growing wealth and power of the religious movement they are part of and the fastest-growing in Brazil; pentecosialism.

Estevam Hecnandes, originally a marketing executive, and his wife, formerly a boutique manager, founded the Rebirth in Christ Church in the mid- 1980s.

They now preside over a religious and business structure that includes more than 1000 churches, a television and radio
Estevam and Sonia Hemandes: Escorted from a US court In Miami. network, a recording company, real estate in Brazil and the United States and, according to Brazilian news reports, a horse-breeding ranch and the trademark on the word “gospel” in Brazil.
On television and at their home church here — which has been defaced with graffiti saying “You don’t carry money in the Bible, thief!” and other slogans — Estevam Hemandes, 52, and his wife, 48, preached a “theology of prosperity”, often accompanied by her singing and sometimes by his saxophone playing.

Each year, the Rebirth in Christ Church also sponsored a March for Jesus down the main avenue of Sao Paulo, South America’s largest city, mobilising as many as 3 million people.
Coverage of the Hernandeses and the charges against them has been uniformly negative in the Brazilian news media, with many newspapers and magazines belittling their denomination as a “sect”.

“This is not just a religious issue, but one that involves media, political and commercial interests,” said Luiz Flavio Borges D’Urso, a lawyer for the Hernandeses.

“The truth is that television is very competitive, and since the church has a network of its own, the growth of their Gospel Network has generated antagonisms and confrontations with other media organisations whose interests are affected.”

The Hernandeses’ troubles became public late last year when prosecutors froze several bank accounts. When the couple Failed to appear at a hearing, an order lo detain them was granted.

In early January, after a judge set aside the detention decree, the couple decamped to the US.

They were stopped at customs because Brazilian authorities had issued an alert in their names for “suspicion of money laundering and fraud related to Brazilian organised crime”, according to an affidavit filed by an agent of the US Bulk Currency Smuggling Task Force.
“It was a misunderstanding, an inadvertently erroneous declaration,” said Mr D’Urso.
NEW YORK TIMES