Andrew Denton: ‘The Damage Done’ – how the ad industry can help introduce an assisted dying law

Writer and broadcaster Andrew Denton ~ who created the popular ad show The Gruen Transfer ~ has released an e-book which for the first time documents the horrific ways people are suffering in Australia because of the absence of a law which allows them to opt for a peaceful death. 

Called ‘The Damage Done’, the collection of testimonies comes from patients, families, coroners, nurses and doctors – some of whom write candidly about their own role in the death of a loved one.

Denton has also unveiled a new organisation, called Go Gentle Australia, to campaign for voluntary assisted dying laws and will call on politicians to pass laws in line with the wishes of the vast majority of voters. 

To supplement an online campaign already underway, Denton is hoping the advertising and media industry can help run full page ads, created pro-bono by Cummins & Partners, to promote  the e-book. If you can help contact Go Gentle Australia campaign strategist Tanya Jones.

Says Denton (below): “Under Australian law it is legal to jump in front of a train to end your life. You can shoot yourself with a nail gun. You can starve yourself to death in a hospital. But you can’t request medical assistance to pass away peacefully with your family by your side – even if you are terminally ill and dying anyway.”

Says Denton: “Opinion polls consistently show 75-80% of Australians want voluntary assisted dying laws. This is a mainstream issue, which crosses class and political allegiance. It matters to middle Australia but politicians have pushed it to the margins. Go Gentle Australia is apolitical. It is backed by leading names in Australian business.  

“One of these is Peter Joseph AM, a former chairman of St Vincent’s Hospital and currently chairman of the Black Dog Institute, who says: ‘It’s simple: a good life includes a good death. Just as we should live free from needless suffering, so we should die. In my opinion the suicide rate in this country would drop significantly if assisted dying was seen as part of assisted living.'”

GGA’s immediate focus is on South Australia and Victoria, two states which are considering assisted dying laws.

“The Victorian Government has before it an excellent set of recommendations made by an upper house committee which has set out a clear path and cogent reasoning for reform.”

It is significant that the scale of suffering detailed in ‘The Damage Done’ was also revealed to exist across Victoria in evidence presented to the committee.

“To politicians weighing a law I put this question: ‘Which is greater: The hypothetical risk someone may be harmed by a carefully written law – or the real damage documented here that will only continue if our laws don’t change?'”