Episode description

What do we do, as a society, with people who want to die? We’re talking here about those with a terminal illness, who know that the rest of their waking hours will be filled with much pain, and who want to choose when and how to end it. 

Do we have the right to end our life on our terms, or is life so precious that even we can’t extinguish it? And if we do open the door, what are the potential pitfalls? Could it be used against the vulnerable, manipulating those who feel like a burden? And are there other slippery slopes to be wary of which may open the door too wide? What's the most compassionate thing to do, and how does all of this feed into the medical professions’ duty of care?

There’s a lot at stake with legislation going through parliament in countries all around the world.  

To help us through, we have award-winning writer, performer, and producer Andrew Denton. Andrew has devoted this stage of his career advocating for Voluntary Assisted Dying through his organisation Go Gentle Australia. His two podcast series Better Off Dead have helped inform the debate around end-of-life choices. 

We also have Bernadette Tobin, a passionate advocate against voluntary euthanasia. Bernadette is director of the Plunkett Centre for Ethics at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, and Reader in Philosophy at Australian Catholic University. Bernadette has Honorary Appointments in the Medical Faculties of both the University of New South Wales (via the Clinical School at St Vincent’s) and the University of Sydney (via the Clinical School at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead). She is a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

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You can be part of the discussion @PofCharity on Twitter, @PrincipleofCharity on Facebook and @PrincipleofCharityPodcast on Instagram.

Your hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman.

Find Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked in

Find Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and Twitter.

This Podcast is Produced by Jonah Primo and Bronwen Reid

Find Jonah @JonahPrimomusic on Instagram. 

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