The Democratic Labor Party (DLP) opposes euthanasia as the deliberate intent to kill another person, whether through lethal injection, ingestion of a drug or poison, or failure to provide minimum necessities of life such as nutrition or hydration.
The DLP believes that euthanasia proposes the elimination of a person in distress in preference to eliminating the distress of the person. The DLP instead supports the use of hospice and palliative care for the seriously ill, dying and disabled and supports legislation to encourage greater provision of research into these services.
However, the Party’s concern is not to preserve life at any cost. The withdrawal of burdensome or futile treatments, or the administration of pain relieving medication, which may as a secondary effect, hasten death, is not euthanasia. It is therefore recognised as not being within the domain of this statement.