During the parliamentary debate on assisted suicide in Victoria last year, I felt compelled to write a letter to the politicians involved outlining some concerns I have about the concept. The letter drew on my experience both as a doctor and as a patient with incurable cancer. While my concerns had been present for quite a while, they had crystallised somewhat since my melanoma diagnosis. A heavily edited version of this letter was subsequently published online by The Gospel Coalition, and it can be found here. However, I thought some might be interested in reading the unabridged version, so I’ve included the text of the letter below. You can also download it as a PDF here.
Tag: death
Rhys’ Story
This was a video my church produced last year to record part of my story, particularly the last few years of it. I hope you “enjoy” it!
Quick Thinking and Natural Disasters
I’m currently reading Daniel Kahneman‘s book “Thinking, Fast and Slow” and while reading the chapter on the “availability heuristic”, a real-world example popped up in my news feed. To explore this further, consider the following question:
Please rank the following natural disasters in order of the number of deaths caused in Australia:
•Floods
•Heatwaves
•Cyclones
•Bushfires
Diagnosis Revisited
This is another post from my old blog, which will give some background to where I am today.
Diagnosis
Debbie: Can i ask you a question?
The Grim Reaper: What?!
Debbie: How can we all have died at the same time?
The Grim Reaper: The salmon mousse!
Male Host: Darling you didn’t use canned salmon, did you?
Female Host: I’m most dreadfully embarrassed!
Monty Python, The Meaning of Life
I thought it would be good to document how my diagnosis came about…it really was one of those “bolts from the blue”.
