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Coroner’s Court misses the mark

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Coroners Court of Victoria Website. Photo: Screenshot of CCV website, https://www.coronerscourt.vic.gov.au/.

There is a certain irony in the way the Coroner’s Court of Victoria undertakes its mission that, if it wasn’t so serious, would be amusing.

According to the Coroners Act 2008, part of the purpose of the coronial system is “to contribute to the reduction of the number of preventable deaths and fires through the findings of the investigation of deaths and fires, and the making of recommendations, by coroners.”

The Victorian Coroner’s Court appears to think the best way to reduce the number of preventable deaths is by advocating for an expansion of the state’s euthanasia regime.

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In an extraordinary recent finding, Victorian Coroner Simon McGregor seemed to advocate that euthanasia be made available to those who were not terminally ill and cited other coroners who shared his view.

Coroner McGregor was conducting a coronial inquest into the suicide death of an 82-year-old widower who, apart from a couple of issues that would be consistent with a man of his age, was in good physical health. In terms of mental health, the coronial report noted that the deceased had a “serious depressive illness” and “openly spoke about suicide,” including the possibility of seeking euthanasia in Switzerland.

The man was obviously suffering, and his death is a tragedy.

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The Victorian Coroner’s Court appears to think the best way to reduce the number of preventable deaths is by advocating for an expansion of the state’s euthanasia regime. Photo: Pexels.com.

However, instead of considering ways in which his death might have been prevented—as is the prerogative and mandate of the Coroner’s Court—Coroner McGregor focused instead on the possibility of expanding the euthanasia regime so that people like the deceased could have been eligible.

The coroner wrote of nine suicides in Victoria that had occurred since the implementation of the euthanasia regime where the deceased had applied for lethal drugs but “their efforts to access the voluntary assisted dying process were rebuffed because they did not meet the strict criterion of suffering a specific disease expected to cause death within six months (or 12 months in the case of neurodegenerative conditions.)”

“A recurring theme throughout many of these deaths was the impact that the voluntary assisted dying refusal had on the deceased,” he wrote. “When their access to voluntary assisted dying was refused, their consequent despair and frustration contributed to their decision to take their own life.” He then noted that he would send his judgment to the Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board in the hope that it might assist them in understanding where the euthanasia process “falls short of meeting the expectations of Victorians who are experiencing irreversible decline in their health and wish to exercise choice over the timing and manner of their deaths” and assist in consideration of “opportunities to improve the operation of voluntary assisted dying in the state.”

The coroner appears to be suggesting that the way to prevent these “preventable” suicides is just to provide a different avenue to suicide; one that is masked in the mirage of the medical and obscured by the employment of euphemisms. “Let’s avoid suicide,” he seems to say, “by offering voluntary assisted dying instead.”

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We don’t prevent death by promoting it. We don’t improve the operation of end-of-life laws by telling an even greater number of people that they would be better off dead.

No, sir.

We don’t prevent death by promoting it. We don’t improve the operation of end-of-life laws by telling an even greater number of people that they would be better off dead.

This is why, as Catholics, we oppose euthanasia in all its forms. It’s not about ideology; it’s about the lives of real people who are suffering and vulnerable.

I know you’ve likely read it many times before, but the Latin root of the word ‘compassion’ is ‘passio,’ to suffer. Joining it with the prefix ‘com,’ which means ‘together,’ we get the idea of compassion as “suffering together.” We show compassion by not leaving a person to suffer alone; we share in their sufferings and do our best to alleviate them.

How would a “preventable death” like this one be avoided according to a Catholic worldview? We would seek to wrap as many supports as possible around those who are vulnerable and experiencing a mix of physical, emotional and existential suffering. This would include not only appropriate medical and mental health care, but social supports as well. It is only by doing this that we will achieve the mission given not only to the coronial system but to all of us who care about life, that is, “to contribute to the reduction of the number of preventable deaths.”

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