Hospice Malta Confirms It Is Against Voluntary Euthanasia
Hospice Malta, the leading NGO providing palliative care in the nation, has come out against a proposal to legalise voluntary euthanasia.
“Hospice Malta would like to clarify and reiterate that its mission is the preservation of life in a dignified manner until its natural end,” a statement read.
“The opinion of individuals who in the past were associated with Hospice Malta, are solely theirs and do not reflect the ethos of the organisation.”
The NGO spoke out after its co-founder Peter Muscat, a psychiatrist, endorsed the government’s proposal.
Muscat said that while palliative care should be widely accessible, some patients might choose not to live till their final breath in agony.
Muscat recounted when his own wife Helen, a palliative nurse who helped found Hospice Malta, passed away in 2013 after weeks suffering from terminal cancer.
“The hardest bit was the last few weeks, when she asked her oncologist how much time she had left and he informed her that she would die in six to eight weeks,” he said.
“There was no talk of euthanasia back then, only palliative care and the support of loved ones and medical professionals. My wife did her utmost to make this path as easy as possible for herself and her loved ones, but the final weeks were very tough and it could be that she didn’t want to continue living.”
“I don’t know for sure, but she had said that she was tired of waiting for death. Friends of mine who are also terminally ill have told me the same thing. They are suffering both physically and emotionally as they wait for death.”
“The only way to help these people is to ensure that their wishes are respected in a dignified manner. This is why there must be all the necessary safeguards that this White Paper is proposing – they must be in their right senses, there must be no coercion, and they must be ready for it.”
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