Dr Mary Brooksbank AM is chairman of Palliative Care SA (PCSA). She retired at the end of 2008 from her positions as Director of Palliative Care at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Medical Director of Mary Potter Hospice, Director of Central Adelaide Palliative Care and her role as lecturer, University of Adelaide. She was a long standing ex-officio member of the Board of PCCSA and retains a deep commitment to palliative care. The opinions expressed below are her own.
I’ve spent about 40 years looking after people who were dying. I was a burns surgeon for the first half of my career and I have since worked for 20 years in specialist palliative care.
I’ve watched many people die peaceful deaths which could easily have been traumatic and painful, including my father. So I’m interested in the euthanasia debate which has recently sparked again.
I can understand why people want to alleviate suffering at the end of life, and why they think voluntary euthanasia might be a compassionate way of achieving that. But with good palliative care, no-one needs to die in unbearable pain, whether they die at home, hospice or hospital. I’m not sure that advocates of euthanasia really understand that.
Sadly, in Australia, a small number of people do experience pain while dying expected deaths. There is no denying that painful deaths occur. There are complicated cases, where people have pain that is generated in ways that are very difficult to turn off. There are times when people will need a palliative care specialist and a full palliative care team to help support them through. But no-one dying an expected death needs to die in extreme, agonising pain. If they do, it’s because they haven’t had access to good quality palliative care. They should have had that access.