Dr. Louise Campbell:

What happens most of the time in the Netherlands is euthanasia because they generally regard that as less susceptible to error or to errors of delivery or any kind of technical problem. The vast majority of cases of medical assistance in dying in the Netherlands are euthanasia but I was just talking about what is actually the case there regarding the societal shift.

I thank the Senator for putting me back on track.

I will call what is happening in the Netherlands medical assistance in dying for the purposes of this point. Both people I spoke to said there was a shift from assistance in dying being a treatment of last resort administered on purely compassionate grounds because there was no other way of relieving the person's suffering at that person's request, to being seen as something that somebody had a right to as part of their entitlement as an autonomous person capable of determining the timing and manner of their own death. That is a significant shift. I was also told that the idea of medical assistance in dying has become more normalised as a treatment at end of life. This can be seen in the titles of legislation around the world. It is becoming more normalised and that is increasing in jurisdictions where it is legal. I agree that is a significant shift.

The Senator is correct that if we want to be a just society that includes a multiplicity of different perspectives on this issue, we also need to include the perspectives of people who feel they are living lives that are absolutely at odds with who they are and what they consider important, and are condemned to do so, when we allow other people to request the withdrawal of treatment in very similar circumstances.