The Nelson Institute presents a talk by Dr Katie Ben entitled: Unpacking the End of Life Choice Act – the practice of Assisted Dying within New Zealand.
2pm, Sunday, 2 March.
Cost: $5. Tickets at the door.
Katie will talk about the legal requirements for assisted death to be provided, some of the safeguards that have been built into the Act, and some of the suggestions for improvements with the legislation that she has submitted as part of the recent review. She will describe “a typical journey for an end-of-life patient”, with reference to a mix of cases and some details altered to preserve confidentiality. There will be plenty of time for questions at the end, and if you would like to ask something in confidence her contact details will be available.
Katie Ben is a UK-trained anaesthetist, who moved to Nelson in 2009 searching for better weather, a better place to raise a growing family, and a better work-life balance. 2 out of 3 isn’t bad! In addition to the “day job” of anaesthesia, she provides assisted dying services (both initial and second assessments, and the provision of the assisted death itself) for patients throughout New Zealand. She voted against the Act, but then decided to become involved with the service when it became law to “make sure it was done properly”. Since then, she has assessed over 100 patients and assisted more than 20 to have a peaceful death at a time and place of their choosing. She has taken up a long-lapsed hobby of flying, to allow her to provide timely assessments for patients living on the rural West Coast and enable them to have similar access to the service that the patients living in more metropolitan areas have.
Katie recognises that death and dying is a difficult topic for many. Some of the discussions are confronting, and some of them are hard to listen to. If you are affected by any of the content, you are encouraged to talk to someone about this- Samaritans 0800 72 66 66, - Lifeline 0800 543 354 - Freecall or text 1737
