Cancer Patients Kills Herself Using New Law
For the first time in the world, an Australian woman battling cancer opted for euthanasia with a help of a new assisted dying law.
61-year-old Kerry Robertson from Victoria, Australia was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010. The cancer then spread to her bones, lungs, brain and liver. To fight the cancer, she went through Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy. She went through these for years. However, she reached a stage where the side effects and the pain became intolerable. Kerry then decided to stop the Chemotherapy in March 2019.
In Victoria, In 2017, government officials discussed to pass a law to allow terminally ill patients access to drugs to end their life. They discussed it for 26 hours at a stretch and finally approved it. The law came into effect this year in June 2019. When the law was passed many government officials were against it. However the law has many requirements that need to be fulfilled first. The law is specially designed for people who are in severe pain. There are 68 safeguards in the law that a person has to fulfill. A person has to make three requests to specially trained doctors to end their lives. They must be aged at least 18 years old and have less than six months to live.
When the law was passed in June, Kerry was the first to apply to use the law. With the help of the law she took the medication and ended her life. Her daughter, Nicole Robertson, said that her entire family was beside her. Her favorite song was playing in the background. She was surrounded by love. She spoke her final words and died a simple and dignified death. Her daughter said that she and her family did everything to make her mother happy in life and comfort her in her death. Western Australia and Queensland are considering similar laws. Laws allowing terminally ill patients to legally end their lives with a doctor's supervision have been passed in countries including Canada, the Netherlands and Belgium.
