Nurses are the front line of health care so their views on euthanasia matter a lot. That’s why it was so surprising to read an editorial in the Australian Nursing Journal by the president of the Australian Nursing Federation, Coral Levett, which endorses it wholeheartedly. It is a personal endorsement, but since her union has 200,000 members, her personal views are likely to influence policy-making within the Australian Labor Party, and even in the Gillard government.

And it was even more surprising when I discovered that the editorial was based upon a Powerpoint presentation by the vice-president of NSW Dying With Dignity, Sara Edelman.

I published an indignant opinion piece in The Punch, a News Ltd on-line magazine (they picked the image above). To quote myself:

The ANF has effectively become a ventriloquist’s dummy for the Dying With Dignity movement, echoing its distorted slogans and misconstrued research. For instance, both Levett and Edelman assert that Albania has legalised voluntary euthanasia. That will be news in Albania. They even get their facts wrong about voluntary euthanasia in Oregon, where, they say, it is “already legalised”. That will be news in Oregon. Oregon allows assisted suicide, but its health department says quite clearly that: “Euthanasia is illegal in every state in the US, including Oregon.”

With all the hoo-haa about out-of-touch union officials, I wonder how many of the ANF’s 200,000 members support Ms Levett? Has she polled them to see whether they are prepared to help elderly and depressed people to kill themselves? “Quality care for older Australians” is the slogan on the ANF website. Do Australian nurses really think that euthanasia constitutes “quality care”? …

Nurses are the backbone of health care in Australia. Their role is to protect the infirm and the elderly at the most vulnerable moments of their lives – not to stand back and say, “Sorry, love, I don’t really care whether you kill yourself or not.” By backing voluntary euthanasia, the head of the Australian Nursing Federation has betrayed her profession.