Seales Family Welcomes Proposed Bill

Media Release
Lecretia’s Choice

The family of Lecretia Seales today welcomed Louisa Wall’s Authorised Dying Bill, to be tabled at the Parliamentary Health Select Committee today.

Matt Vickers, the widower of Lecretia Seales said: "It is great to see an MP from one of the two major political parties willing to pick up this issue."

“Ms Wall’s bill is similar to ACT MP David Seymour’s but provides additional safeguards through an ethics committee review. Although those safeguards have not proven necessary in other parts of the world, if implemented in New Zealand they would make our laws among the world’s strictest and safest. The question is whether that extra level of protection is necessary, and perhaps the Health Select Committee’s current investigation will provide a perspective on that.”

"Ms Wall's idea of forming a committee which includes representatives from the disabled, elderly and Maori communities has merit and is worth discussion."

Earlier this year, former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer, speaking at the inaugural Lecretia Seales Memorial Lecture, suggested that the Family Court might be involved in assessing requests for access to assisted dying.

Mr Vickers said: “A Research New Zealand poll last month showed that support assisted dying laws remains high, with three for change versus one against. What we hope to see is any bill, whether it is Mr Seymour’s or Ms Wall’s, drawn and debated in the house, and to go to a select committee where all of the ideas for safeguards can be assessed on their merits.”

“The possibility of two bills in the members’ ballot, from ACT and Labour MPs, along with the Greens adopting a party policy in support of assisted dying legislative change, has created a great deal of forward momentum. We’re hopeful we’ll see legislation before the House very soon.”

Lecretia Seales took a case to the High Court of New Zealand in May 2015, seeking a judgment that would protect her doctor from prosecution should she consent to be assisted to die. Ms Seales passed away a year ago, on 5 June 2016, on the same day the judgment in Seales v Attorney General was delivered.

Ms Seales legal challenge has been documented in Lecretia’s Choice, a memoir written by her husband, Mr Vickers and was launched in August at the Lecretia Seales Memorial Lecture hosted by the Hon Nikki Kaye. It is available in bookstores.

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