If harrowing deaths in New Zealand hospitals and hospices horrify you, please move on to the next article. Read on if this situation resonates with you or with your family.
Dying Badly – New Zealand Stories
This book, compiled by retired intensive care specialist Dr Jack Havill and Kāpiti writer David Barber, contains relatives’ stories of bad deaths suffered by their loved ones.
Dying Badly includes stories from personal submissions to the New Zealand Parliament’s inquiry into the issue of assisted dying for the terminally ill.
It illustrates the need for a compassionate change in the criminal law to allow medical assistance to die for those who choose to end their suffering safely and peacefully in a loving environment without risking a jail term for relatives and friends with them at the time.
Access and distribution to MPs
The e-book can be accessed free of charge online at: https://yestodignity.org.nz
Former MP Maryan Street who is the current President of the End of Life Choice Society in New Zealand will present paperback versions of the book to all MPs on the steps of Parliament at 12.45pm on Thursday 1 February.
This book is a shocker! Admittedly I was always in favour of a change in the law to permit assisted dying but this collection of true stories from our own time would sway most readers, I think. It would take a cold heart indeed to reject this collection as merely “a few hard cases”.