The DWDV 2010 Committee

Mr Neil Francis, President and CEO: I am proud to serve as President and CEO of Dying With Dignity Victoria alongside our other Committee members. We are fortunate indeed to have a strong and capable team of high integrity. Having seen loved ones die under circumstances they found harrowing and abhorrent because the law denied them the choice they sought, I am pleased to work for law reform to respect choice and autonomy.

I bring to the team expertise spanning thirty years of medical research, information technology, management, marketing and education.

Communication is critical to effective law reform; our polititicans need to make decisions based on solid, factual evidence, good judgement and according to the wishes of the electorate they represent. DWDV does not resort to hysterical fear campaigns as some opponents of choice do. While dying is not a happy issue to discuss, we will all die at some time and it is a safe and necessary topic to talk about.

Dr Rodney Syme, Vice President: In 1972, I treated a woman with incurable cancer in the spine. Her nerve and bone pain was persistent and unbearable. At that time there was no effective way to relieve her pain. I was left in no doubt that I, had I been in her position, would have ended my own life. As a doctor, I had the knowledge and access to the means to achieve this in a dignified way, but I could not help her.

From that time, I began to think carefully about intolerable suffering and dying with dignity. I found myself inevitably drawn into helping others in a range of circumstances. My conscience and my respect for other human beings would not allow otherwise.

I soon realised that law reform was essential, as the law was opaque and led to extremely arbitrary and often cruel end of life experiences. I joined VESV, now Dying with Dignity Victoria in 1991, and served 12 years as president.

Mr Mark Newstead, Secretary: I joined the DWDV committee to offer my services especially in helping to organise the 2010 World Federation of Right to Die Societies biennial global conference: I have many years of experience in assisting with the National Conference of Australia’s Market and Social Research Society conferences.

In my full-time working life, I operate a media consultancy, MediaMARK, covering the intersection of market research and the marketing of media. From starting with 3AK and GTV 9 to being with 101.9 FOX FM at its birth to working in radio in Europe and for a decade with the official TV and Radio ratings company AGB McNair. I'm also involved in the internet to bring Global AM /FM radio stations to mobile devices.

I am delighted to work with my passionate colleagues on the Committee of DWDV, and I pledge to work diligently to help achieve the change in legislation required to set right a serious flaw in the way the law fails to acknowledge our last right.

Mr Mike Tinsley, Treasurer: My background is in the securities industry as a stock broker, financial planner, and the marketing of investment products. In the late 70’s I became involved (and with part ownership) in the development of some of the earliest resident funded retirement villages in Victoria.

This close association over some 25 years with the aging process had a profound influence on my attitude towards those approaching death. We are all heading in that direction but in some cases, continual aggressive medical treatment keeps a near-death sufferer alive much longer than they wish.

I bring to the Committee my commitment because of the drawn out death of my sister, as well as other experiences. I have a particular interest in furthering the public’s knowledge of the Victorian Medical Treatment Act of 1988—knowledge that after nearly 20 years is still inadquate.

Mr John Hont, Committee: Several close family members diagnosed with advanced cancer, facing the possibility of an agonising death, prompted me to join DWDV in the mid-1990s. We all strongly believed that prolonging life in the face of incurable, unbearable suffering was pointless at best, torture at worst.

I firmly believe in personal autonomy and self-determination of the individual. The values and beliefs of others should not be allowed to impact on the choices an individual might make about his/her own life matters. I am giving my support to have that view codified into law, particularly as it relates to people affected by intolerable, incurable suffering. In addition, I am also interested in communicating to the wider community the provisions of the current law and other measures dealing with end-of-life matters, which are generally poorly known and poorly understood.

Having trained as a professional electrical engineer, most of my career has been in the telecommunications industry, originally in research and development, and later in industry analysis and marketing in my own consultancy practice. I bring to the committee of DWDV a strong goal-oriented approach to project management.

Ms Judith Hoy, Committee:It is an honour to be a member of the committee of DWDV, after many years of membership of the organisation, which reflects my deeply held belief that an individual has the right to die with dignity and in circumstances consistent with their own beliefs about life and death. End of life decisions, like similar decisions about life major transitions and development, such as partnering, parenting and work choices, are in essence personal and individual. To be able to request and receive the support of the health system and medical assistance to end what is, for the individual, intolerable pain and suffering seems to me to be a fundamental right, one which must be supported by legislation in a just and humane society.

I bring to DWDV the experiences of nearly 40 years work in public health, in promoting community education in areas of health such as sexuality, blood borne viruses including HIV and hepatitis C, and disabilities. Communication is the key to effective education, and I see our main task as that of presenting to our law makers the reality that legislative reform, which provides end-of-life choice for the individual, reflects the beliefs of the majority of Australians for personal dignity in dying.

Dr Max Sutherland, Committee: Have you ever seen a loved one die slowly…and in great distress? In their mind's eye the final act is now playing progressively stripping them of any personal dignity in a relentless procession of nurses, doctors and medical tests while the ravages of their disease rolls on. If you have, then you will know why I support DWDV!

Along with 80% of Australians, I, believe that terminally ill individuals should have a right to seek and obtain medical assistance to end their life with dignity. That’s why I serve on the committee of DWDV…to bring about law reform. Our society needs it and it is long overdue.

Communication psychology is a key part of effecting change and bringing about law reform. I am a registered psychologist with a background in business and education and have held adjunct professorial appointments at various universities in Australia and the USA.

Ms Lyn Allison, Special Advisor: The right to end our lives as and when we see fit, with the assistance of the health system and with of course appropriate safeguards, is to me central to the concept of being fully human. It’s a decision that is up there with the profoundly life-determining human rights — the rights to form relationships, to marry, to bear children, to choose careers and the like.

So it was alarming when, within months of entering the Senate, I was debating the Kevin Andrews bill that would halt the great progress made by the NT Government on giving Territorians this right. It taught me that our parliamentarians are much more socially conservative than the general population and put up a tough fight on these issues which is why the work of DWDV is so important and why I choose to be part of it.

Office Manager
 

Mrs Rowena Moore

The DWDV Committee is exceptionally lucky to have a wonderful office manager like Rowena. Her dedication, enthusiasm, professionalism and compassion are an inspiration to us all.

It is Rowena who keeps us organised, takes the difficult calls from our members and the pubilc when they are in distress, and manages our services to the community.

Thank you Rowena! The committee is profoundly grateful for your contribution.

Thank you too to all our wonderful volunteers, who help out at the office and with workshops, meetings and other services. We couldn't do it all without your generous support.

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Eighty five percent of the community believes the terminally and hopelessly ill with profound suffering should have the right to request medical assistance to die peacefully on their own terms. Public support has been in the majority for more than 25 years, yet politicians continue to avoid the issue because a vocal minority deliberately make it unsafe to discuss.

We absolutely endorse the wishes of any sufferer whose desire is to persist as long as is possible with medical support. We equally expect those who wish to persist to respect the wishes of others, who do not.