Assisted dying in New Zealand: what is known about the values underpinning citizens’ positions?

Abstract

In New Zealand, aiding and abetting a person to commit suicide or euthanasia even with consent, is unlawful. The introduction of a third Bill on assisted dying to the House of Representatives following a high profile court case, afforded an opportunity for examining how assisted dying is discussed in the public sphere. Social media postings include the voices of citizens who may not participate in formal public consultation processes. Contributors’ posts reveal deeply held socio-cultural values, as well as tensions about the relationship between citizens and the apparatus of government. In this article, we report on a discourse analysis of a selection of social media postings to illustrate the values that underpin the positions taken by contributors to these fora. These illustrate what many New Zealand citizens perceive to be at stake. The social media debate over how we should die reveals deeper issues about the nature of the society we want to live in, and the relationship between the State and citizens.