#VoluntaryEuthanasia #MyPetition: • My Petition & And A Write Up On My Story: change.org/en-AU/petitions/australian-federal-governmet-voluntary-euthanasia-dying-with-dignity-ve-law-reform?recruiter=91642182&utm_campaign=twitter_link_action_box&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=share_petition • VE Letter: I was born with an incurable, chronic bowel disease and have been suffering my entire life. I have had to endure over 100 operations throughout my life and have had all my large intestine and majority of my small intestine removed. Due to complications from my abdominal procedures I also have a lot problems with my urinary system and I am in constant pain. I suffer from very severe, chronic pain due to abdominal adhesions and complete or incomplete bowel obstructions. Since 2007 my chronic pain has increased severely which greatly affects my day to day living. When I required surgery for a bowel obstruction and to try to clear out my abdominal adhesions, the surgery lasted for 18 hours. I was then rushed back to theatre for a further 6 hours, due to potentially life threatening complications from the first round of surgery. I’m on a lot of heavy narcotics to try to help my chronic pain but these aren’t completely effective. I’ve been told on multiple occasions that there is nothing more they can offer surgically and that I’m not a candidate for an intestinal transplant due to all my abdominal adhesions. All they can do is try to manage my pain the best they can at home and because they don’t class my situation as terminal there is no help that I can receive from palliative care services. Last August I was accepted to travel to Dignitas in Switzerland to end my life peacefully and on my terms when I feel the time is right for me. I don’t feel that I should have to travel to the other side of the world to end my life and wish I could do this in my own home, at a time of my choosing. It doesn’t look like voluntary euthanasia laws will be changed in Australia in the near future despite many failed attempts in various states. If voluntary euthanasia were legalised again, like it was in the 1990s for a short time, there would obviously need to be a lot of checks and balances put in place but this could very easily be done, just like at Dignitas in Switzerland for example. Obviously, I believe that you would have to been proven to be of sound mind and competent to be able to make such a decision and secondly, I feel that a person must be either terminal, or have an unendurable, incapacitating disability, or unbearable and uncontrollable pain. This is where I meet the criteria. When it comes to end of life choices, I believe anyone who meets the criteria outlined above should have the right to end their suffering and go out on their own terms. This isn’t just for me but for all Australians with uncontrollable pain and immense suffering. Voluntary euthanasia should not just be for people with a terminal illness such as cancer, but for anyone with unbearable and uncontrollable pain or suffering, like me who has been suffering for almost 38 years. Kind regards, Jay Franklin.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 06:25:21 +0000
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