Members of Dying with Dignity New South Wales were deeply disappointed and frustrated at the failure of the Legislative Council to pass the Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill.

Yesterday, the Bill was voted down by 23 votes to 13 (4 abstained).

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NSW parliament has voted against a bill giving people with a terminal illness the right to end their own suffering by choosing the manner and timing of their death. "They will be screaming out in frustration," said Greens MP Cate Faehrmann, who introduced the bill to the NSW upper house last week.

As if on cue, a man in a wheelchair yelled out from the public gallery: "You people have no right, you’re all gutless."
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GABRIELLE Brown believes everyone should have the right to die with dignity after witnessing her mother’s courageous fight against breast cancer. Ms Brown, of Ashfield, lost her mum Margaret Brown, 67, in 2005.

Now working for Dying with Dignity NSW, she is a strong supporter of Greens MP Cate Faehrmann’s voluntary euthanasia Bill, which is before the NSW Parliament’s Upper House.
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Legislation to allow voluntary euthanasia in New South Wales has been defeated in the state upper house.

The Rights of the Terminally Ill bill, which was introduced by Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann, would have let terminally ill people who still retain their decision making capacity request assistance to die.
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If you think all ministers of religion are against assisted dying, think again. It is true that the religious hierarchies are against it, but a growing number of Christian and Jewish clergy have a more nuanced view and now think it can be appropriate in certain circumstances. The once uniform religious response of 'no, it's ungodly and wrong' is no longer the only response.
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A discussion from the Alan Jones Breakfast Program with Cate Faehrmann on her Bill 'Rights of the Terminally Ill'

Click to listen to this discussion on 2GB with Alan Jones - Cate Faehrmann

RECENTLY all NSW parliamentarians have received a lot of correspondence on voluntary euthanasia and it has mostly been in support, with many people sharing very personal stories about themselves or a loved one.
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WHEN the US state of Vermont approved a "death with dignity" Bill for terminally ill patients this week, legislators were hailed for "embracing the high margin of public support for end-of-life choices nationwide".

The applause came from Barbara Coombs, of Compassion and Choices, although the 75-65 vote for the End of Life Choice Bill was not quite as tight an embrace as polling showing 70 per cent of Americans support voluntary euthanasia.
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Vermont is poised to join three other states permitting doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medication to terminally ill patients after the state House approved a compromise bill similar to Oregon's 1997 law.
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Legislators in the US state of Vermont have approved a "death-with-dignity" bill, enabling terminally ill patients to take their own lives with lethal medication requested from their doctors.
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