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'We need politicians to protect us': Terminal patient slams euthanasia Bill

Vicki Walsh was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer almost eight years ago, and has defied her initial prognosis of 14 months to live.

Despite her diagnosis, she opposes the End of Life Choice Bill introduced by ACT leader David Seymour last year, which is due for its second reading in Parliament this week.

Speaking to Newshub Nation, Walsh sent a plea to politicians to oppose the Bill.

"We need them to protect us from this Bill because idealistically, it could look very appealing to some people. It's about what it opens up."

Walsh believes the End of Life Choice Bill could mean patients are pressured into ending their lives. (Read more about the current drafting of the legislation here.)

"I think they could be coerced into using it by family pressure. We see that with the elderly now."

She also says patients are often suffering worse from depression and loneliness than they are physically.

"I talk every week with people that are terminally ill...and the things that they say to me are, 'I am lonely. I am scared. I don't want to be a burden.'"

Walsh says there was a time during her treatment where she came close to ending her own life.

"And I [now] know that that would have been the absolute wrong thing to do, because I was actually suffering, I believe, from depression and exhaustion and the shock of finding out you’re dying."

The End of Life Choice Bill is expected to undergo its second reading next Wednesday, and Walsh will join other anti-euthanasia advocates in Wellington to meet with MPs as well as attend the debate and vote in the public gallery.

Watch the video for the full interview.

Newshub Nation.

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