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Widower of Lecretia Seales relieved after End of Life Choice Bill passes

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 14 Nov 2019, 2:55PM
Lecretia Seales with her husband Matt Vickers on their wedding day, April 2006. (Photo / Nicola Topping)

Widower of Lecretia Seales relieved after End of Life Choice Bill passes

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 14 Nov 2019, 2:55PM

The husband of a euthanasia advocate is proud of what she did, and the sacrifice she made at the end of her life.

The End of Life Choice Bill passed its third reading in Parliament last night 69 votes to 51.

Lecretia Seales had brain cancer and took her campaign for assisted dying to the High Court, but died naturally in June 2015.

Her husband Matt Vickers says his wife fought very hard, and since then it's been a drawn out and passionate debate.

"It's such a relief after almost five years to have reached something like the end goal, at least until we have the referendum next year."

It is now up to the public to vote on a referendum on it next year as part of the 2020 general election.

Vickers told Kate Hawkesby there's a lot of information coming out.

"Some of it will be misinformation, and there will be people that will want to mislead the New Zealand public into voting against this piece of legislation because of their own beliefs."

He says that the law has been changed to meet the concerns that were raised about vulnerable people being abused.

"A person that is disabled, a person that is a person that is suffering for some sort of psychological condition, they are not going to be able to access this law, the law forbids it."

Minister of Justice Andrew Little is promising the information on assisted dying will be monitored.

 

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