Sisters hinder ambulance officers reviving their parents

Here’s a modern moral dilemma for you. You
pay a visit to your aged parents and find them unconscious. You ring the
ambulance. But then you find a note explaining that it was a suicide pact –
what do you do then?

This was the dilemma faced by two sisters
in the Australian state of New South Wales last month.

The sisters visited their parents, aged in
their 80s, last month in their retirement village. They found them in a coma
and close to death, so they called 000. Ambulance officers arrived, but by that
time the sisters had found notes by their parents requesting not to be revived.
The daughters are alleged to have then engaged in an altercation with the
officers.

Police are debating whether to charge them
with hindering ambulance officers. The elderly couple are in hospital in a
serious condition. ~ Sydney
Morning Herald, Nov 7

Jared Yee
assisted suicide
Australia
euthanasia
human drama

• Author
• Recent Posts

Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

Latest posts by Michael Cook (see all)

• How long can you put off seeing the doctor because of lockdowns? - December 3, 2021
• House of Lords debates assisted suicide—again - October 28, 2021
• Spanish government tries to restrict conscientious objection - October 28, 2021