When it comes to social movements, there tend to be two essential characteristics required for their success and effectiveness. One is effective strategic alliances with allied professionals, who can present evidence-based research to assist them. The other is strategic unity. At the moment, New Zealand’s euthanasia reform movement has neither.

Last week, TV3 broke the story that Audrey Wallis (49), who suffered from chronic pain related to previous prescription drug abuse and was depressed about same, was allegedly assisted to die by an American, Susan Wilson. Wilson appears to be a member of “Compassionate Chaplaincy,” a US direct-action euthanasia group that actively assists people to die- even if they’re not terminally ill. Wilson has connections to Phillip Nitschke’s Australian Exit International direct action group, and appears on one of their promotional DVDs.

Unfortunately for euthanasia reformers, this tends to be a perennial faultline within their movement. There are  moderates, like Dignity’s Lesley Martin, who favour rational, evidence-based debate around the issues, and legislative reform. They abhor the activities of the direct-action fringe of their movement, and often dissociate themselves from their activities, pointing to them as a hazard of an environment where desperate people cannot access legal and regulated voluntary euthanasia and/or physician assisted suicide.

There are also the firebrands of that movement, like the aforementioned Phillip Nitschke and possibly Susan Wilson, as well as her mentor, Pittsburgh gay Unitarian minister George Exoo.

Unitarianism tends to be a sedate middle-class liberal faith, and while it does support the decriminalisation of physician assisted suicide in the United States, there is certainly no impetus for the activities of Exoo. As I perused a UK Guardian article about this controversial figure, I could see few ties to his denomination of origin, or any evidence that the Pittsburgh LGBT community backed what he was doing. Indeed, his own peer community appears to be that of other direct-action euthanasia proponents, and no-one else. Exoo has been subjected to extradition requests from the Irish police after he allegedly assisted the suicide of Rosemary Toole, an Irishwoman.

However, a West Virginian US federal court judge refused their request, ruling that the United States’ constituent state legislatures have no uniform prohibitions against assisting suicide.

Oh yes, and predictably, the (NZ)  Society for Promotion of Community Standards is gabbling about the tragedy that took Audrey Wallis’ life. Perversely, they’re highlighting Exoo’s sexual orientation, which plays little role than an incidental one in Jon Ronson’s original Guardian article.

 For their information, lesbians and gay men have a range of opinions about the ethics and morality of voluntary euthanasia and physician assisted suicide. Some favour decriminalisation on libertarian grounds. I’d say that the majority position might well be a qualified approval, which hinges on the ability of PLWAS and lesbian and other breast cancer survivors to be able to access life-saving palliative drugs like protease inhibitors and Herceptin, which leads to debates about whether the current Pharmac/Medsafe pharmaceutical regulatory system provides adequate and optimal access to aforementioned and other meds. Evidently, the Access to Medicines Coalition doesn’t think so, for one.

Still, this is the sort of stupid vacuous drivel that one expects from the Christian Right anti-euthanasia zealots, who talk the talk about palliative care but never seem to get into the details of what a meaningful palliative care policy might mean.

Recommended:

Dierdre Mussen: “Police Ponder Charges in Euthanasia Case” Sunday Star Times 25.05.08: http://www.stuff.co.nz

Jon Ronson: “I Make it Look Like They Died in Their Sleep” Guardian 12.05.08: http://www.guardian.co.uk

Not Recommended:
http://www.spcs.org.nz

Society for Promotion of Community Standards