Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott urged Catholics to write to their local state legislators because proposed euthanasia laws in New South Wales would fundamentally undermine the relationship between doctors and patients by legitimising doctor-assisted suicide in the state.
“It would turn doctors from healers into killers, and that would be a tragedy for the medical profession and a diminution of our society,” he said.
Alex Greenwich, a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, plans to introduce a Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill, which would allow for two doctors to approve a euthanasia procedure with no mandatory psychological assessment.
Under the proposed bill, the two doctors do not need to be independent of each other, and they do not need to meet and examine the patient in person.
Speaking to an online forum of more than 100 mainly university students August 20, Mr Abbott said the bill is fundamentally flawed and directly contradicts sound ethical principles in health care.
“It legitimises suicide. We should remember that state and federal governments spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year on mental health programs, essentially to stop us from getting to the point where we feel our lives are worthless and pointless,” he said.