Newly proposed amendments to the End of Life Choice Bill, which is set to have its second reading in Parliament, have been strongly rejected by the New Zealand Medical Association, with its chair saying it "goes against the ethics of our profession".
Dr Kate Baddock told TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning under the new bill doctors would still be the ones administering the injection for those choosing to end their life through voluntary euthanasia.
"Doctors are still the ones that would be involved in assisting people to die. It goes against what a doctors role is," Dr Baddock says.
She says the reason the Medical Association is opposed to the Bill in its entirety is that it doesn't address the social issues it needs to.
"Particulary those of coersion, competence and vulnerability. It doesn't protect the vulnerable, the weak, the lonely, those in pain and those that are suffering. It doesn't protect them from a wrongful death."
She says elder abuse is happening and this Bill only encourages it.
"Apparently approximately 50 per cent of those who choose euthanasia in the Netherlands do so because they feel obligated to die. They feel their continued existence is a burden either financial or emotional to their families and to society at large. They choose euthanasia even though they don't want to die," Dr Baddock says.
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