Doctors fight to kill South Australian euthanasia bill

Lifesite News 5 June 2013
A group of Australian doctors opposed to the introduction of euthanasia and assisted suicide has written to all House of Assembly MPs condemning Hon. Bob Such’s ‘Ending Life with Dignity Bill’ 2013.

Senior South Australian neurologist Dr Timothy Kleinig, the chair of Doctors Opposed to Euthanasia (DOE), said the bill confuses the deliberate killing of a patient through euthanasia with the withdrawal and withholding of treatment at a patient’s request.

“[A]s the AMA (Australian Medical Association) and others have pointed out, (this) is not euthanasia,” said Dr. Kleinig, “but the refusal of medical care, the legality or ethics of which is not in dispute.”

..The AMA has said the bill shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the role and intention of palliative care. In describing both bills, AMA (SA) President, Dr Patricia Montanaro said:

…these Bills have major elements that are ill-conceived, indicate a fundamental lack of understanding of current concepts in end-of-life care, and show a confusion in understanding of the critical difference between palliative care and euthanasia. They therefore have the potential to confuse and compromise the provision of good end-of-life care, with resulting distress to patients and their families.

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