ACT Right to Life Association MEDIA RELEASE

Giving patients uncontrolled access to pain relief is bad for their health

President of the ACT Right to Life Association, Jeremy Stuparich, said that the ACT should be cautious about Michael Moore MLA’s suggestion that the Medical Treatment Act be amended to allow patients, rather than a ‘health professional’ as defined in the Act, the final say as to how much pain relief they require. Mr Moore announced on 2CN’s Elizabeth Jackson show this morning that he intends to introduce an amendment to the Medical Treatment Act.

"The Medical Treatment Act is written to allow patients to have a full input into their treatment - but it recognises that pain relief is a complex issue and requires the expertise of a trained health professional. Any doctor who ignored their patients’ advice about pain would risk a malpractice suit. Michael Moore’s amendment may in fact lead to a poorer level of pain relief for patients.

"For example, it is well recognised by palliative care workers that patients can reach a point where injecting them with more morphine does not lead to more pain relief. It takes a skilled health professional to recognise that this point has been reached, to counsel the patient accordingly and reduce the morphine dose to an appropriate but lower level.

"There is also the danger that changing this legislation will conflict with the Crimes Act prohibition of counselling, aiding or abetting suicide. This would, for example, expose patients suffering from depression to the danger of assisted suicide."

Issued: 15 July 1996

Contact: Jeremy Stuparich, president of the ACT Right to Life Association.

|ABORTION||ABOUT US||EUTHANASIA||NEWS||REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY||SEARCH||HOME|