Bendigo Advertiser letters to the editor

As a Christian, I have deep compassion for people suffering with illnesses.

However, my conscience just cannot agree with euthanasia for we were bought at a price (1 Cor 7:23) and commanded not to murder (Ex 20:13 and Deut 5:17).

The Hebrew word for the verb “to murder” usually refers to a premeditated and deliberate act, which is what assisted suicide is.

I watched my late father suffer through stage four brain cancer but even though he suffered greatly, he still wanted to live and fought the terminal illness to the sad end. He didn’t want to die!

Even he acknowledged that it was God’s will and said, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away” (Job 1:21).

It is not up to us to decide when to end our life, but the Lord’s.

Moreover, euthanasia is a slippery slope because relatives might use it as an excuse to gain their inheritance a lot quicker.

Just because something is legal, doesn’t mean it’s going to be a perfect system.

Furthermore, we have a good palliative care system in Australia. My father was well cared for in the final days of his life and passed away peacefully on Easter Sunday 2007. Not a day goes by when I don’t think of him.

I understand that some people wish to die with “dignity” but what about the dignity of preserving the sanctity of human life?

In my father’s final hours he certainly died with dignity in the care of a great medical team.

Thanks to Orchestra Victoria, and it's many supporters in a range of venues, for a magnificent week of first class music in and around Bendigo.

We have all loved the blend of interesting programmes and venues, we have loved the extremely high standard of performances, and we have loved the friendliness and warmth of all of the OV players. Thank you all.

But wait … there is more. The excitement continues on July 30th in St. Paul’s Cathedral, Myers Street at 2.30pm when the Bendigo Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of internationally acclaimed conductor Wilfred Lehman, presents its winter concert.

If you loved OV you will love BSO.

I agree with the letter by Kylie Ruxton (“Lack of parking raises ire”, Bendigo Advertiser, July 22).

We have a lovely hospital with great doctors and staff. But the parking problem is terrible.

I have a disability sticker on my car, but what good is that when there is one disability park on each entrance to the hospital. One! And not once in the three months I have tried to access this has it ever been available.

It would have been better if all that garden area had been used for parking.

The cost alone runs into $30 to $40 a week trying to visit once a day and the car park is nearly always full.

I can't walk far with a stick so I usually drive around the area three or four times in the hope that someone will pull out somewhere near.

This is stressful for anyone, especially when they need to drop a patient there or pick one up.

I was talking to a friend who had to pick her mother up, who had a fractured hip. She had to park in the taxi rank and when told she could not, she said I will have to as there is nowhere else to pick her up, so she did.

What if she received a fine? Is that fair? Things need to change.

I have battled with this for three months and I am sick of it.