Dr. Greg Mewett:

The point I was making there is that when I started working, I figured that these people – the word “control freaks” is often used, as I said, pejoratively – were people who had a lot of control over their life, their business and sometimes their families. They are used to being in control and therefore want to control everything, including their death. However, only a very small minority would fit into that. I would not use a diagnosis of OCD, to which the Senator referred. The majority of these patients are not control freaks but have firm views about things, as I said in that sentence. They have formed views often over many years and often prior to when assisted dying was even discussed and then came into legislation. They form views, if you like, and their own philosophy about life and death. They become firmly of the opinion that if they have an advanced progressive illness and will die, they wish to have some control of the timing and manner of their death. That is what I was getting at in that sentence. They are not control freaks but are actually normal people who are very determined. They are not wishy-washy or people who are bending in the wind because someone is pushing them in a particular direction. In assisted dying, it is often feared that people will be coerced. We see mainly people being coerced out of assisted dying, not into it. We do not see coercion in that direction and we discussed that broadly in our community of practising doctors in VAD in Victoria.