By CAROLINE STRAINIG
Group formed to end terminal suffering…
HASTINGS residents who believe people should have the right to a medically assisted death if they are terminally ill have started a branch of Dying With Dignity to further their cause.
Spokesperson Ann Quadroy said she was compelled to take action after watching people she loved suffer.
“My mother lingered for five long years in a nursing home.
“It was heartbreaking to watch her suffer.
“She often said she wished she was a dog because she would have been put down,” Ms Quadroy said.
“How incongruous is it that we show more compassion for animals.
“Someone would have been prosecuted for cruelty if she had been a dog and they let her linger in such pain.”
Ms Quadroy said she didn’t want to die the way her mother did.
“In the event I ever have a diagnosis of a terminal illness I would like the legal right to be able to choose physician-assisted dying,” she said.
“I do not want a prolonged, painful, undignified death, or to be in a position where I am incapable of doing anything for myself and totally reliant on others.”
Ms Quadroy said her experience was not unique and that this why the new group was already gathering strong community support.
Port Macquarie Dying With Dignity’s first meeting on 6 June attracted 41 people and 12 apologies. Another is now planned for Tuesday 5 August which will feature a talk by a solicitor about how people should get their affairs in order to which more than 100 attendees are expected.
This will be held at Panthers Hibbard Sports Club in Boundary Street, Port Macquarie, from 10am to noon.
The cost is $2 a head, which includes morning tea. Bookings essential on dwdpmq@gmail.com.
Ms Quadroy said she had expected some abuse from anti-euthanasia supporters when she became the public face of the group, but to date had experienced none and she hoped this would continue.
“I must stress we’re not dictating to anyone – we just want legislation to give people choice and if people don’t agree, they don’t have to participate, whether they are patients or doctors.
“No one is forcing anything on anyone else,” she said.
Dying With Dignity NSW has branches in Sydney and the Central Coast.
