Stories

Why Noreen Campbell chose assisted dying

Noreen Campbell was 71-years-old when she chose a medically-assisted death on Jan. 12, 2016. She was a nurse and was among the first in Canada to be approved for a medically-assisted death, submitting her application the day after the federal government legalized it in 2016....

Widow says its hard to travel to Zurich for VAD

[caption id="attachment_8579" align="alignleft" width="300"] Angelika Elliott with her husband John in Zurich, where Dr Elliott chose to end his life in 2007. Photo: Kate Geraghty[/caption] It was ten years ago on Sunday that Angelika Elliott left Sydney for Switzerland with her terminally ill husband, John, so...

Family release heartbreaking photos of mother begging to die

Flora Lormier died at home on 12 December 2016, aged 68. “We were all around her when she passed but it wasn’t peaceful.” Her daughter, Tracey Taylor, said the end came much too late - “My mum used to love her life. She’d get in...

Vale Sally Crossing

On 28 December 2016, Sally Crossing AM (nee Fletcher) died with her family around her. In 1995, at the age of 49, Crossing had been diagnosed with early breast cancer and was treated with surgery and radiotherapy. In 2004 Crossing's breast cancer reappeared and tumours...

The personal stories behind the Tasmanian bill

[caption id="attachment_8691" align="alignleft" width="200"] Gideon Cordover, son of Robert, at the 2017 Tasmanian rally in support of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill.[/caption] Behind the proposed Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill in Tasmania are real people, with real stories. We hear from Nica Cordover, whose husband Robert had...

Kylie Monaghan’s legacy

She was diagnosed with breast cancer on April 1, 2010. It was in the final year of her illness that Kylie really struggled – not that she ever complained. On the morning of her death, Kylie was so exhausted that she couldn’t even open her...

Video of Canadian explaining her decision to die

This video (10.47 mins) filmed by the Global Institute of Psychosocial, Palliative and End-of-Life Care (GIPPEC) is of an 82-year-old cancer patient (who preferred her name not be used) discussing with Dr. Gary Rodin, Head of Supportive Care at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto,...

Lawrie Daniel waited for death, alone

In the quiet hours while Lawrie Daniel waited for death, he wrote heartbreaking letters to his wife Rebecca and to the NSW Coroner describing his unrelenting pain from multiple sclerosis, calling for voluntary ¬euthanasia to be legalised to ensure people would not have to die...

It is not just about ending pain

Pain ranks near the bottom of a list of patients’ concerns in the first two states to legalize physician-assisted dying, Oregon and Washington, which provide the most complete details about people’s motivations....

Jay Franklin: likely to be excluded from VAD

Jay Franklin is a 40 year old Melbourne man born with a congenital condition known as Hirschsprung disease. He says there is no prospect of his condition getting better, and that he wants medical assistance to die at home with his mother Bertha there to...