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Assisted dying is a health service available in New Zealand since 7 November 2021. These pages provide information about the assisted dying health service including information for the public, information for health professionals and health service providers, and contacts.

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Dying an Assisted Death - Tracy Hickman on Deciding to Die, Cancer Journey & Message for Others

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Alberta College of Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine 阿尔伯塔省中医学院

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How does Acupuncture work? Alberta College of Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine, Calgary

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‘It’s my life, it’s my death’: Meet the women who on Tuesday will apply to die

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At 1 minute past 6 on Tuesday morning, Michael Hooper will log onto his computer and begin his mother’s application to die.

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WHO's work on social determinants of health

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What Makes Us Healthy? Understanding the Social Determinants of Health

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This test will help you create ordered list of your most important life values. Compare personal values each other. Decide what is more important to you.

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3.1 One women went from non-smoker to vape addict

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3.1 One women went from non-smoker to vape addict

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My vaping habit was seeded on an autumn afternoon in 2021. I was cooking roast chicken in a friend's kitchen, where her partner was taking long drags from a tiny device. Plumes of vapour streamed from his nose like a cartoon dragon. It smelt like old sweets; nostalgic, oddly reassuring.

He was using a Juul. I was used to seeing those enormous vapes that look like school recorders. I had a couple of puffs on this elegant little thing and spluttered like a teenager trying to inhale for the first time. But the berry-flavoured nicotine "hit" on my throat was pleasing. I wanted more.

I've never smoked properly. To be clear, I have smoked, but I've very rarely bought cigarettes or smoked on my own. I was a social smoker for a long time; throughout university, in my 20s and some way into my 30s. I'm not a drinker, so can't claim booze as a gateway to nicotine. I just found smoking with other people delicious.

I've done a fine job of "forgetting" that I'm asthmatic along the way. Waking up with a thick wheeze would put me off for months. Then I'd be tempted again. This stopped in 2020, after I got Covid. I was really sick, and the memory is like a fever dream. Thankfully, I escaped any inpatient treatment, but sat in A&E on a nebuliser twice. My lungs were painful and tight for months. Doctors told me I had Long Covid. As the months rolled on, smoking completely left my frame of reference.

By that autumn afternoon, I was much better; in the depths of training as a psychotherapist and feeling healthy enough. I hadn't smoked at all. But I liked the Juul so much that I bought my own the next day, joining the 4.7 million people in Great Britain now regularly vaping. In the beginning, I only vaped three to four times a day, as a "treat". God, did that change.

The Juul cartridges were expensive, so I made them last days. As my compulsion to vape grew, the cost became silly. So, in late 2022, I switched to the cheaper, disposable ElfBars. I was initially bewildered by the flavours. The first time I said, "Can I have a Blue Razz, please?", the words felt like pebbles in my nearly 40-year-old mouth: hard to say, hard to swallow.

Fast-forward a couple of months and I was buying an ElfBar every three days. I wouldn't leave the house without one. I watched television with one laid across my thigh. Increasingly, I was aware of something I'd heard other vapers share, with a sting of remorse in their voice: it felt like a dummy.

My dependence had, of course, become physical and psychological. As a psychotherapist, I was more interested in the latter, until my partner told me that I sounded like a wheezing old accordion at night. "You need to cop on to yourself," she said, lovingly but firmly. An Irish accent magically helps a message land.

I started thinking about the psychological term "transitional objects": the material objects that children invest primal significance in as they begin separating from their primary caregiver. Teddies, blankets, dummies and so on, are sucked, stroked and played with, often becoming essential for falling asleep. Adults can have transitional objects, too: clothing or photographs carried between house moves or workplaces, for example. Transitional objects can be functional or dysfunctional. For me, the cycles of craving and self-flagellation were dysfunctional. Last week, I threw my dummy away.

Going cold turkey hasn't been quite the cliff-jump I expected. I read that the most intense cravings can happen two to three days in, when the nicotine leaves your system. This was true. From day three, I was imagining the hit several times a day, feeling irritable and yearning for a blast of berry mist as the antidote, feeling physically restless. But it's manageable.

I'm able to "observe" the thoughts and cravings and not act. It's possible my training may help. My chest already feels better and I'm using my inhaler less at night. Apparently, I'm not wheezing like an antique instrument quite so much. But I remain struck by how hooked I became, and how quickly.

"While a helpful aid for smokers to quit, if you don't smoke, choosing to put anything in your lungs that isn't clean, fresh air is ill-advised," says Professor John Hurst, a professor of respiratory medicine at University College London. I wasn't trying to quit smoking. I simply advised myself to choose putting mixed-berry nicotine vapour in my lungs.

In 2012, 700,000 people were vaping. The surge in popularity, like vaping itself, is relatively new.

This means there are no data about long-term damage. "But if someone starts in childhood and continues to vape for 10 years or more, they're likely to have some kind of lung harm," says Professor Nick Hopkinson, a professor of respiratory medicine at Imperial College London. He stresses that vaping is "much safer" than cigarettes and their "amazingly toxic smoke", because tar and carbon monoxide are "either not there at all, or at much lower doses".

"Even though we can't say what will happen to someone who vapes for 50 years, we know enough about toxicology to be confident about the risk," he continues. Nicotine is always risky. "When you look at measures of inflammation and scarring in the lungs, the evidence is that the same processes you see with smoking are also happening with vaping, just to a lesser extent."

If, like me, you have asthma, vaping really isn't smart. "It is going to aggravate asthma," says Hopkinson. "And asthma is one of the strongest predictors of getting long-term lung disease, like COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease]." These are links in a chain I don't want to make.

Only 1.1 per cent of never-smokers are current vapers. I was a sporadic smoker. But my physical dependence on vaping is less puzzling than the mental aspect. I vaped most often in front of the TV or my laptop, and while reading. In a habitual situation, we often crave the missing parts of that situation if they're not there. For me, that became a vape. I "needed" it in certain places to feel complete.

There are the emotional drivers, too. I would often collapse on the sofa, feeling overwhelmed by a work situation, and crave my vape like others may crave a drink. Ironically, research actually shows that nicotine can worsen anxiety. But habits can plough deep furrows in a psyche.

That so many people have become hooked on vaping warrants some deeper societal questioning. But there are also immediate issues to address.

Five million disposable vapes being discarded every week in the UK poses a serious environmental risk. Then there's how popular vaping has become among children. The number of children experimenting has grown 50 per cent year-on-year. The most popular brand is ElfBar, with its fruity flavours and bright packaging.

Many have called for an outright ban on disposable vapes, but Hopkinson isn't convinced: "Evidence from the US suggests that banning these flavours actually increases youth smoking." He believes an excise tax of £5 will make disposable vapes less affordable ("taking them out of pocket-money territory") and accessible. Plus, HMRC and Border Force will have more power in stopping disposables flooding into the UK.

"This is a fiscal measure that could be done very quickly. We asked Jeremy Hunt to put it in his budget in March," says Hopkinson. "So it's galling when the Prime Minister says, 'This is a terrible problem, we need to do something about it'."

Unfortunately, for many who become die-hard vapers, it's easy to become selectively attentive to the bigger implications. Maybe a price increase would decrease vaping rates across the board, like raising the price of tobacco did with smoking. Selfishly, I hope so, because the prospect of spending £12 on a Blue Razz if I ever cave is too much to bear.

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I went from being a non-smoker to a vape addict

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OPINION My vaping habit was seeded on an autumn afternoon in 2021. I was cooking roast chicken in a friend's kitchen, where her partner was taking long drags...

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Cameras and sensors are being installed in toilet corridors at Rangiora High School in a bid to crack down on vaping.

The growing vaping epidemic has left North Canterbury schools grappling with ways to manage it.

Rangiora High School principal Bruce Kearney said vaping had led to anti-social gatherings around bathrooms and the school was determined to stamp it out.

"Students often vape in our toilets in large groups and it can be intimidating for our students to actually use the toilets for their intended purpose."

Cameras have been installed in the main Rakahuri building in bathroom corridors, and more cameras and sensors will be gradually installed across the school.

He said the cameras and sensors were expensive and took money away from education, but vaping had got out of hand and schools were left to manage it as best they could.

Signs are being installed to indicate to students where there are cameras and vaping sensors.

"We should never have got into a situation where young people are addicted to a product which is supposed to help people stop smoking."

The school's board of trustees chairperson, Simon Green, said he had received positive comments from students since the announcement.

"We've had no concerns raised around privacy so far, and they are only being placed in the corridor and not in the cubicles themselves, so there is no privacy issue.

"The sensors are pretty good at picking up when people are using the toilet for a purpose other than what is intended."

Kearney said the school was exploring addiction programmes with the school nurse in a bid to support students addicted to vaping.

He also called on parents to get behind the school in allowing staff to "destroy" vaping products that were seized.

Kaiapoi High School principal Jason Reid said his school had investigated cameras and sensors, but found them "too costly".

"We have enough ways of monitoring when vaping is likely to happen, and we can have those discussions."

But he said vaping was a growing problem in schools and he had real concerns about the ongoing health risks.

While vaping, like smoking, was banned in schools, it was proving to be addictive, which led to anxiety, increased impulses and irritation as students craved their next hit, he said.

"We don't know enough about the long term effects of the chemicals, but we do know that it is a highly addictive substance.

"We now have students who are looking for support to give it up.

"They are identifying that it is controlling their lives, and it impacts on how they function in the classroom."

Reid said he would like to see vaping become a prescription only medicine for giving up smoking.

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Vaping epidemic prompts cameras in school

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Cameras and sensors are being installed in toilet corridors at Rangiora High School in a bid to crack down on vaping.

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Recycling truck fire likely caused by vaping device - Auckland Council

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A recycling truck load caught fire on Tuesday, prompting Auckland Council to remind people to be careful with what they put in their bins.

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Patrick Gower: On Vaping Patrick Gower: On Vaping | DOCUMENTARY | ThreeNow

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Vaping, is this just the latest moral panic or are we looking down the barrel of “Cigarettes - the sequel”? More people are vaping in NZ than ever before but is it safe? Made with the support of NZ on Air.

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A group of doctors who perform assisted dying in New Zealand have written an open letter calling on the government to change the current wording of the End of Life Choice Act which, they say, excludes Kiwis due to an arbitrary deadline.

The medical experts say the current law is failing the Kiwis it is meant to be serving and point out inequities in the access to the service.

According to the signatories of the letter, the issues are caused by the wording of the End of the Life Choice Act 2019. "In order to get the legislation through parliament, politicians were allowed to damage and weaken the text, removing the originally proposed "grievous and irremediable medical condition" clause thereby leaving only a 'terminal illness likely to end the person's life within six months'," the letter authors state.

A third of the ineligible patients who were declined assisted dying in the law's first year were declined because they didn't meet the criteria of having a terminal illness likely to end their lives within six months.

The doctors who signed and endorsed the letter call on the Government to broaden the law to remove the requirement that a patient has only six months to live in order to qualify for assisted dying.

The same criticism was previously raised by the law's architect, Act Party leader David Seymour who maintains that the law needs to change.

Seymour, who introduced the law to parliament in 2017, says what the doctors are calling for in the letter is "consistent" with what he originally expected the law to deliver.

"The six-month limit was put in place purely as a political compromise because there were some people unwilling to vote for it in the original form," Seymour told the Herald.

"I never resiled from the original position, which is the right one," he added.

Seymour also agreed that there are a range of illnesses that, despite not causing death in the short-term, "condemn people to long periods of suffering" and should be included in the law. He gives the examples of motor neurone disease and Huntington's disease.

In their letter, the doctors also call on the Government to change the act to allow dementia and Parkinson's sufferers, among others, the right to access assisted dying in New Zealand.

The End-of-Life Choice Society NZ says the current wording of the law means too many people are being left out.

They state that "a growing number of assisted dying practitioners, patients and families who would like to see the option of assisted dying extended more equitably to grievously and irremediably suffering patients".

You can read the open letter in full below:
Legislation creates inequity, entrenches unnecessary suffering. The first-year report on assisted dying No medical practitioner reading the report can fail to notice the enormous discrepancy between cancer as the leading cause of assisted deaths (68%) versus cancer as a cause of death in the general population (around 25%). On the other hand, cardiovascular disease which we have known for years to be the commonest cause of death in New Zealand features as the cause of only 5% of assisted deaths. The distortion of reality is caused simply by the wording of the This immediately created access difficulties for patients with a host of diseases. Among others these include neuro-degenerative disease such as Parkinson's, Huntington's, multiple sclerosis, advanced congenital disease, post infectious conditions such as post-polio syndrome, severe cardiovascular disease and advanced, irreversible lung disease. If the objective of legalising assisted dying as an end-of-life option was to relieve unbearable suffering that cannot otherwise be relieved, it has utterly failed these patients. So what needs to happen? Here are some thoughts based on the observation of well-regulated assisted dying medical practice in overseas jurisdictions. They include the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Queensland and Tasmania. Firstly, we need to remove the gag on doctors' initiating discussion about assisted dying as one in a range of options for care with their end-of-life patients. Rationale: The current requirement for the patient to raise the topic forces inequity into the assisted dying service. Only well-informed patients know this, and only self-assertive patients feel comfortable to do so. Denying patients equal access to medical advice is indefensible. Secondly, an eligibility clause that covers the "grievous and irremediable medical condition" category explained needs to be re-instated. The additional qualifiers of being "in an advanced state of irreversible decline in physical capability" and of "experiencing unbearable suffering that cannot be relieved in any manner tolerable to the patient" can remain as part of the essential safeguards. Rationale: "Unbearable suffering that cannot be relieved" should be the overriding reason for access to assisted dying. Limiting access to those with a 6-month prognosis inevitably leads to exclusion for some patients who are experiencing unbearable and unrelenting suffering, but who don't meet this arbitrary cut-off. Thirdly, we have observed the tragic repercussions of requiring a patient to remain mentally competent until the last minute. To address this, Canada has introduced a "Waiver of Final Consent" for patients deemed by their attending medical practitioner to be at risk of losing competency after being found eligible at both assessments, but before administration of the medication. We should do the same. Rationale: Some patients choose to forego pain-relief medication as it may compromise their cognitive abilities on the appointed date. It is unacceptable to require this already acutely suffering group to suffer more in order to qualify for assisted dying. Finally, we need to tackle the fraught issue of assisted dying for dementia patients by way of an advance directive. This is possible with a documented pathway that commences at the patient's request while they still have medical decision-making capacity. An advance directive form would clearly spell out the conditions under which the patient wishes assisted dying. Regular reviews would be required during the period of competency to ensure the enduring nature of the patient's wishes. Rationale: Many patients are concerned about a diagnosis of dementia, especially if they have personally witnessed its ravages on a loved one. Although it is possible for those living with dementia to experience a good quality of life in care, it should be the patient who decides whether a life of dependency and a loss of mental competence is acceptable to them or not. We confirm our unequivocal support for palliative care and for increased government funding to it. But we cannot overlook the fact that 77% of applicants for assisted dying were already receiving palliative care at the time of applying and yet were assessed by two consecutive and independent medical practitioners as "experiencing unbearable suffering that cannot be relieved in any manner tolerable to the patient". There is much suffering at the end of life that palliative care cannot relieve or remove. This may be because: End of Life Choice Act 2019 As the End of Life Choice Act currently stands, it is good for the fraction of patients who can jump though all the hurdles to access it. But too many who need it are left out. The authors of this article speak for a growing number of assisted dying practitioners, patients and families who would like to see the option of assisted dying extended more equitably to grievously and irremediably suffering patients. A review of the legislation will commence in November 2024. This is the public's chance to see law modified to help those deserving but ineligible patients - to grant them the option of turning their end-of-life suffering into a "good death". The law can, and must, do better. Signed: Dr Gary Payinda MD MA FACEM Dr Miles Williams MB ChB FRACP Dr Stanley Koshy MB BS FRNZCGP FRNZCUC Dr Navin Rajan MB BS FRNZCGP Dr John Duncan FRNZCGP FAMPA The End-of-Life Choice Society NZ wholeheartedly supports these recommendations from the assisted dying doctors. Specific endorsing members include: . In order to get the legislation through parliament, politicians were allowed to damage and weaken the text, removing the originally proposed "grievous and irremediable medical condition" clause thereby leaving only a "terminal illness likely to end the person's life within 6 months". in Aotearoa New Zealand has been released by the Ministry of Health. It shows that 257 people accessed assisted dying between November 2021 and November 2022. There were 661 applicants, with 74 applications still open at the closing date. A total of 129 were found ineligible and 140 died during the process of application. Cancer accounted for 68% of underlying causes and 77% were receiving palliative care at the time of making their application.

Palliative care occupies itself mainly with the relief of physical suffering, but loss of capability and loss of autonomy can induce suffering that cannot always be palliated.

Some medical conditions are beyond even the best options for physical pain relief. Fungating cancer lesions, bowel obstructions, nerve pain, unrelenting shortness of breath and many other conditions can lead to a "bad death", despite the best medical attempts at palliation.

Some patients will be unable to tolerate the significant side-effects caused by medications, including loss of mental clarity and cognitive function which increase their symptom burden.

1. Dr Jack Havill, Past President, retired intensive care specialist

2. Hon Maryan Street, Past President

3. Dr Mary Panko, Immediate Past President

4. Ann David, Current President

5. Stewart Brougham

6. Ashok Poduval

7. Tony Bengree

8. Suzanne Carruth

9. Frank Sanft

10. Dianne Cooper

11. John Watson

12. Carole Sweney

13. Dr Libby Smales, palliative care doctor

14. Olive Mitchell

15. Ann Mace

16. Christina and Barry Cairns

17. Trudie McNaughton

18. Robin Lieffering

19. Tess Nesdale

20. Elaine Pollock

21. Irene Rutter

22. Robyn Evans

23. Helen O'Shaughnessy

24. Philip Patston

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Doctors sound alarm over Kiwis missing out on 'right to die'

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A group of doctors who perform assisted dying in New Zealand have written an open letter calling on the government to change the current wording of the End...

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A group of doctors who perform assisted dying in New Zealand have written an open letter calling on the government to change the current wording of the End of Life Choice Act which, they say, excludes Kiwis due to an arbitrary deadline.

The medical experts say the current law is failing the Kiwis it is meant to be serving and point out inequities in the access to the service.

According to the signatories of the letter, the issues are caused by the wording of the End of the Life Choice Act 2019. "In order to get the legislation through parliament, politicians were allowed to damage and weaken the text, removing the originally proposed "grievous and irremediable medical condition" clause thereby leaving only a 'terminal illness likely to end the person's life within six months'," the letter authors state.

A third of the ineligible patients who were declined assisted dying in the law's first year were declined because they didn't meet the criteria of having a terminal illness likely to end their lives within six months.

The doctors who signed and endorsed the letter call on the Government to broaden the law to remove the requirement that a patient has only six months to live in order to qualify for assisted dying.

The same criticism was previously raised by the law's architect, Act Party leader David Seymour who maintains that the law needs to change.

Seymour, who introduced the law to parliament in 2017, says what the doctors are calling for in the letter is "consistent" with what he originally expected the law to deliver.

"The six-month limit was put in place purely as a political compromise because there were some people unwilling to vote for it in the original form," Seymour told the Herald.

"I never resiled from the original position, which is the right one," he added.

Seymour also agreed that there are a range of illnesses that, despite not causing death in the short-term, "condemn people to long periods of suffering" and should be included in the law. He gives the examples of motor neurone disease and Huntington's disease.

In their letter, the doctors also call on the Government to change the act to allow dementia and Parkinson's sufferers, among others, the right to access assisted dying in New Zealand.

The End-of-Life Choice Society NZ says the current wording of the law means too many people are being left out.

They state that "a growing number of assisted dying practitioners, patients and families who would like to see the option of assisted dying extended more equitably to grievously and irremediably suffering patients".

You can read the open letter in full below:
Legislation creates inequity, entrenches unnecessary suffering. The first-year report on assisted dying No medical practitioner reading the report can fail to notice the enormous discrepancy between cancer as the leading cause of assisted deaths (68%) versus cancer as a cause of death in the general population (around 25%). On the other hand, cardiovascular disease which we have known for years to be the commonest cause of death in New Zealand features as the cause of only 5% of assisted deaths. The distortion of reality is caused simply by the wording of the This immediately created access difficulties for patients with a host of diseases. Among others these include neuro-degenerative disease such as Parkinson's, Huntington's, multiple sclerosis, advanced congenital disease, post infectious conditions such as post-polio syndrome, severe cardiovascular disease and advanced, irreversible lung disease. If the objective of legalising assisted dying as an end-of-life option was to relieve unbearable suffering that cannot otherwise be relieved, it has utterly failed these patients. So what needs to happen? Here are some thoughts based on the observation of well-regulated assisted dying medical practice in overseas jurisdictions. They include the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Queensland and Tasmania. Firstly, we need to remove the gag on doctors' initiating discussion about assisted dying as one in a range of options for care with their end-of-life patients. Rationale: The current requirement for the patient to raise the topic forces inequity into the assisted dying service. Only well-informed patients know this, and only self-assertive patients feel comfortable to do so. Denying patients equal access to medical advice is indefensible. Secondly, an eligibility clause that covers the "grievous and irremediable medical condition" category explained needs to be re-instated. The additional qualifiers of being "in an advanced state of irreversible decline in physical capability" and of "experiencing unbearable suffering that cannot be relieved in any manner tolerable to the patient" can remain as part of the essential safeguards. Rationale: "Unbearable suffering that cannot be relieved" should be the overriding reason for access to assisted dying. Limiting access to those with a 6-month prognosis inevitably leads to exclusion for some patients who are experiencing unbearable and unrelenting suffering, but who don't meet this arbitrary cut-off. Thirdly, we have observed the tragic repercussions of requiring a patient to remain mentally competent until the last minute. To address this, Canada has introduced a "Waiver of Final Consent" for patients deemed by their attending medical practitioner to be at risk of losing competency after being found eligible at both assessments, but before administration of the medication. We should do the same. Rationale: Some patients choose to forego pain-relief medication as it may compromise their cognitive abilities on the appointed date. It is unacceptable to require this already acutely suffering group to suffer more in order to qualify for assisted dying. Finally, we need to tackle the fraught issue of assisted dying for dementia patients by way of an advance directive. This is possible with a documented pathway that commences at the patient's request while they still have medical decision-making capacity. An advance directive form would clearly spell out the conditions under which the patient wishes assisted dying. Regular reviews would be required during the period of competency to ensure the enduring nature of the patient's wishes. Rationale: Many patients are concerned about a diagnosis of dementia, especially if they have personally witnessed its ravages on a loved one. Although it is possible for those living with dementia to experience a good quality of life in care, it should be the patient who decides whether a life of dependency and a loss of mental competence is acceptable to them or not. We confirm our unequivocal support for palliative care and for increased government funding to it. But we cannot overlook the fact that 77% of applicants for assisted dying were already receiving palliative care at the time of applying and yet were assessed by two consecutive and independent medical practitioners as "experiencing unbearable suffering that cannot be relieved in any manner tolerable to the patient". There is much suffering at the end of life that palliative care cannot relieve or remove. This may be because: End of Life Choice Act 2019 As the End of Life Choice Act currently stands, it is good for the fraction of patients who can jump though all the hurdles to access it. But too many who need it are left out. The authors of this article speak for a growing number of assisted dying practitioners, patients and families who would like to see the option of assisted dying extended more equitably to grievously and irremediably suffering patients. A review of the legislation will commence in November 2024. This is the public's chance to see law modified to help those deserving but ineligible patients - to grant them the option of turning their end-of-life suffering into a "good death". The law can, and must, do better. Signed: Dr Gary Payinda MD MA FACEM Dr Miles Williams MB ChB FRACP Dr Stanley Koshy MB BS FRNZCGP FRNZCUC Dr Navin Rajan MB BS FRNZCGP Dr John Duncan FRNZCGP FAMPA The End-of-Life Choice Society NZ wholeheartedly supports these recommendations from the assisted dying doctors. Specific endorsing members include: . In order to get the legislation through parliament, politicians were allowed to damage and weaken the text, removing the originally proposed "grievous and irremediable medical condition" clause thereby leaving only a "terminal illness likely to end the person's life within 6 months". in Aotearoa New Zealand has been released by the Ministry of Health. It shows that 257 people accessed assisted dying between November 2021 and November 2022. There were 661 applicants, with 74 applications still open at the closing date. A total of 129 were found ineligible and 140 died during the process of application. Cancer accounted for 68% of underlying causes and 77% were receiving palliative care at the time of making their application.

Palliative care occupies itself mainly with the relief of physical suffering, but loss of capability and loss of autonomy can induce suffering that cannot always be palliated.

Some medical conditions are beyond even the best options for physical pain relief. Fungating cancer lesions, bowel obstructions, nerve pain, unrelenting shortness of breath and many other conditions can lead to a "bad death", despite the best medical attempts at palliation.

Some patients will be unable to tolerate the significant side-effects caused by medications, including loss of mental clarity and cognitive function which increase their symptom burden.

1. Dr Jack Havill, Past President, retired intensive care specialist

2. Hon Maryan Street, Past President

3. Dr Mary Panko, Immediate Past President

4. Ann David, Current President

5. Stewart Brougham

6. Ashok Poduval

7. Tony Bengree

8. Suzanne Carruth

9. Frank Sanft

10. Dianne Cooper

11. John Watson

12. Carole Sweney

13. Dr Libby Smales, palliative care doctor

14. Olive Mitchell

15. Ann Mace

16. Christina and Barry Cairns

17. Trudie McNaughton

18. Robin Lieffering

19. Tess Nesdale

20. Elaine Pollock

21. Irene Rutter

22. Robyn Evans

23. Helen O'Shaughnessy

24. Philip Patston

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Doctors sound alarm over Kiwis missing out on 'right to die'

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A group of doctors who perform assisted dying in New Zealand have written an open letter calling on the government to change the current wording of the End...

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Terri Schiavo Documentary: The Case's Enduring Legacy | Retro Report | The New York Times

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Article and Clip

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The Promise. In the middle of a long night, Lesley Martin took her dying mother in her arms, pulled a pillow across her face and hugged her…

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3.4 End of Life Choice / RNS & PMN debate

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3.4 End of Life Choice / RNS & PMN debate

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3.4 Vote 2020 Debate Euthanasia (NZ Herald) 

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3.4 Vote 2020 Debate Euthanasia (NZ Herald) 

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Vote 2020 debate | End of Life Choice Referendum

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3.4 Assisted Dying Service Ministry of Health

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3.4 Assisted Dying Service Ministry of Health

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Assisted dying is a health service available in New Zealand since 7 November 2021. These pages provide information about the assisted dying health service including information for the public, information for health professionals and health service providers, and contacts.

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3.4 The Euthanasia Question (Newshub) Documentary

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3.4 The Euthanasia Question (Newshub) Documentary

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Newshub's The Euthanasia Question with host Patrick Gower and panel | Decision 2020

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Qi - The Art of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Full Documentary)