An Australian man with Motor Neurone Disease has decided to end his life by euthanasia despite not wanting to die, due to being unable to access sufficient care and support from the state.
Tony Lewis, 71, from Queensland, was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease last year, but is unable to access Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) because he is over the age limit.
Tony has to rely instead on the My Aged Care scheme, which can provide a maximum of $78,100 per year in funding for care. HelloCare, a media platform dedicated to ageing and care, describes the My Aged Care scheme as having “funding levels and response times” which “are widely acknowledged as inadequate for fast progressing neurological conditions”.
Having virtually lost the ability to speak, eat, and move, Tony requires 24/7 care, but the funding he receives from My Aged Care is not sufficient, paying for only four showers and an hour of cleaning per week, with his wife, Gill, carrying out the remainder of the caregiver duties.
Decision to apply for euthanasia “not driven by a lack of will to live”
HelloCare, an Australian care sector news organisation, reported that Tony “has been clear that the decision [to apply for euthanasia] is not driven by a lack of will to live, but by the absence of appropriate care options that would allow him to remain at home with dignity”.
Gill said, “If he had appropriate care, and there was enough of it, he would be able to cope better”. Highlighting the financial difficulties of caring for her husband, she said “This month, I’m already over budget”. Gill added that the care system is slow to respond to her requests for reassessment, which are required due to her husband’s condition changing rapidly.
Critics have pointed to the contrast between the availability of assisted suicide and euthanasia and Tony’s struggle to access adequate funding and care for his condition. Wesley J. Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism, said “Lewis wants to go on living but believes his financial situation makes that impossible”.
He added, “This same kind of abandonment has happened in Canada, too. But euthanasia? Never a problem of access! Is it any wonder that disability rights activists oppose hastened death?”
Worries abound that similar cases will happen in the UK if assisted suicide is legalised
Commenting on Tony’s story, former Associate Professor of Bioethics at St Mary’s University, London, Dr Trevor Stammers said “It will happen here [in the UK] if assisted suicide becomes legalised”.
Tony’s story comes as the assisted suicide Bill for England and Wales continues to be scrutinised by Peers. On Friday 16 January, the Bill’s sponsor in the House of Lords came under intense criticism for his openness to people ending their lives due to financial constraints. Lord Falconer said, “I put forward the Bill on the basis that choice is the key thing. Your financial position might be an element in what makes you reach a decision”.
Seeking clarification, Lord Harper asked “Is [Lord Falconer] really saying that he is okay with poor people ending their lives, with the assistance of others, because they are poor?”.
Lord Falconer replied, saying that he was “strongly against saying poor people should not have that choice [to end their lives by assisted suicide]”.
Palliative care consultant Dr Jamilla Hussain called Lord Falconer’s comments “[p]etrifying”, saying “[T]he public, who keep being framed as demanding the bill be passed, have no idea this is what the sponsors think should happen for those asking for an assisted death due to poverty”.
Lord Moylan commented how “[I]t was notable that under scrutiny Lord Falconer gave answers about the implications of his Bill for the poor…that shocked peers with their callousness”.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “The tragic case of Tony Lewis in Australia illustrates one of the dangers of legalising assisted suicide. What individuals like Tony need is proper help and assistance to continue living as comfortably as possible, rather than a situation where they feel a hastened death is the only available option”.
“This sad story should be a warning to the House of Lords as it considers reckless assisted suicide legislation. We would be naive to believe the same thing would not happen here if assisted suicide were legalised. This dangerous Bill must never become law”.
