Voluntary euthanasia laws in Australia: are we really better off dead?

Ethical and moral implications make euthanasia a complex question

I sat alone in a windowless room for a week at a time reading coroners’ case files about how nursing home residents had died by suicide. There were times when I had to clock off early for the day because I was emotionally drained and I wanted to preserve my own sanity. There were times when a seemingly minor feature of someone’s story made me stop and shake my head in disbelief, and even brought me to tears. Some of the stories were tragic. Some were relatable, even understandable. Some were political statements, others a statement of the deficiencies of our aged care and mental health systems.