Debra Hall - A good life, and a good death
All I want is a future where we can truly celebrate that our parents, our friends and, eventually, ourselves had not only a good life, but a good death.
This is my story of three undignified deaths, from my submission to the Select Committee.
This is my submission to the Parliamentary Health Select Committee, currently considering a petition to change the law in New Zealand to support ‘physician assisted suicide’, or, as I prefer to term it, giving people choices at the end of their lives.
This is a personal story – please do not read it if you think you may be upset or offended. It is my view, and only my view, of three undignified deaths in my close family in recent years. To other family members – I truly recognise that your experiences of these deaths are different from mine, and that you may feel that these are not my stories to tell. Everyone involved has their own perspective – this is mine, respecting that you almost certainly have a different view, and irrespective of that, mostly importantly, celebrating that we all, each one of us, cared very deeply.
So here is my plea to the legislators – exhorting them to lead, not follow, to a better more compassionate society.