A QUADRIPLEGIC man yesterday won a landmark court decision allowing him to die by having a feeding tube in his stomach removed.
Australian Christian Rossiter (49), who developed spastic quadriplegia after being hit by a car, was given the approval on the condition that he understands the consequences of his actions.
Mr Rossiter was a keen bushwalker, rock climber and cyclist before his accident.
But he described his life now as a “living hell”.
“I’d like to die, I am a prisoner in my own body; I can’t move. I can’t even wipe the tears from my eyes. I have no fear of death – just pain. I only fear pain,” he said.
The chief justice of Western Australia’s supreme court, Wayne Martin, said the Brightwater nursing home which cares for Mr Rossiter would not be criminally responsible if it stopped providing nutrition and hydration for him. This is done through a feeding tube to his stomach.
Mr Rossiter said he was relieved by the court’s decision. “It’s comforting to know that when you say you’re going to starve yourself to death no one’s going to come along in the night when you’ve lost consciousness and keep you alive to suffer a bit longer,” he said.
Dr Scott Blackwell, vice-president of Palliative Care Australia, said the case had set a precedent. “It’s . . . good that the law has been tested on this issue,” he said. “It’s good that we’ve had a sane and reasonable decision made, and it makes caring for people in these circumstances more straightforward for those who have that responsibility.”
Dr Blackwell said it was not uncommon that terminally ill or disabled people who were “very depressed” sought to end their life.
“And when you treat the depression they change their mind,” he said. “I understand that’s not so in this specific case.”
Dr Blackwell said that if Mr Rossiter proceeded, he would slowly die over a period of one or two weeks.
“People think that’s a terrible way to die but it doesn’t involve a lot of suffering, as long as proper palliative care measures are put in place to keep him comfortable.
“There is not a lot of pain involved, or a lot of distress involved. He will ultimately sink into a coma and he will die,” said Dr Blackwell.
Mr Rossiter’s case is likely to lead to the reopening of the legalised euthanasia debate in Australia, which made world headlines in the mid-1990s.
On July 1st, 1996, the Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill became law in the Northern Territory. On September 22nd prostate cancer sufferer Robert Dent (66) became the first person in the world to die under euthanasia legislation. But on December 10th the law was overturned by Australia’s federal parliament.
The premier of Western Australia, Colin Barnett, told ABC radio he does not support euthanasia, but does support a person’s right to refuse food and treatment.
“I don’t support euthanasia but I do support families . . . the doctor to be able to deal with the situation, individually in their own privacy,” he said.