Lady Winifred Stephen
In January 2016 Lady Stephen wrote Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull an open letter discussing problems of national importance. In it she conveyed her thoughts on medically assisted dying.
The right to die
"Almost all of my contemporaries have died. I visited friends who were in intensive care for a long time, connected to machines and being constantly prodded and poked, which no doubt cost large amounts of money. Many wanted assistance to die but instead were kept alive, many to face long, drawn out, painful and undignified deaths. How silly is that?
As a near centenarian, I know I will die soon, and I treat every day as a wonderful gift. However, I think terminally ill patients with their cognition in place have a right to be assisted to die a peaceful and dignified death."
Lady Winifred Stephen, published in The Damage Done, August 2016