Assisted dying in New Zealand: what is known about the values underpinning citizens' positions?

In New Zealand, aiding and abetting a person to commit suicide or euthanasia even with consent, is unlawful. The introduction of a third Bill on assisted dying to the House of Representatives following a high profile court case, afforded an opportunity for examining how assisted dying is discussed i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mortality (Abingdon, England) England), 2021-01, Vol.26 (1), p.66-82
Main Authors: Jaye, Chrystal, Young, Jessica, Lomax-Sawyers, Isabelle, Egan, Richard
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
assisted dying
assisted suicide
Discourse analysis
euthanasia
New Zealand
social media
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Summary:In New Zealand, aiding and abetting a person to commit suicide or euthanasia even with consent, is unlawful. The introduction of a third Bill on assisted dying to the House of Representatives following a high profile court case, afforded an opportunity for examining how assisted dying is discussed in the public sphere. Social media postings include the voices of citizens who may not participate in formal public consultation processes. Contributors' posts reveal deeply held socio-cultural values, as well as tensions about the relationship between citizens and the apparatus of government. In this article, we report on a discourse analysis of a selection of social media postings to illustrate the values that underpin the positions taken by contributors to these fora. These illustrate what many New Zealand citizens perceive to be at stake. The social media debate over how we should die reveals deeper issues about the nature of the society we want to live in, and the relationship between the State and citizens.
ISSN:1357-6275
1469-9885
DOI:10.1080/13576275.2020.1771295