20 August 2025
It’s not just the use of
sedatives – it’s the neuromuscular blockers designed to
ensure those watching the death only see peace and calm when
the reality could be quite different.
Family First
is today releasing a podcast
that highlights the reality of what happens when drugs are
given for assisted suicide and euthanasia.
In the
podcast interview with Sharon Quick MD – a retired
American paediatric anaesthetist and critical care physician
– she talks through the drugs used overseas, and likely
here in New Zealand, and what they actually do to the human
body.
From the use of lethal drugs to paralyse
patients so they cannot speak or respond, to sedatives which
wear off quickly, to declaring a person dead when it’s not
clinically possible – her insights are disturbing and
clearly why pro-euthanasia groups do not wish to discuss the
reality of the lethal drugs used, and why New Zealand
authorities do not disclose what lethal drugs are
administered. Her insights from clinical experience are
disturbing yet importantly contribute to a deeper
understanding of what euthanasia / assisted suicide actually
involves.
As New Zealand continues to see an increase
of euthanasia deaths and a push for expansion, it is more
important than ever that people understand the reality of
what is happening when lethal drugs are
administered.
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With news
that a New Zealander was euthanised without proper
sedation, the timing of this podcast is
important.
Dr Quick notes how the use of sedatives
such as propofol are frequently used and even though highly
dosed, patients can often wake within 30 minutes of the
drugs being administered. Alongside this, sedatives can
cause hypoxia which in turn can lead to seizures, unusual
breathing patterns, and gasping. As she notes, this is
difficult to watch and why in the executions of prisoners,
the use of neuromuscular blockers became standard – and
now in euthanasia / assisted suicides.
Disturbingly,
Dr Quick notes that the frequent use of neuromuscular
blockers during euthanasia are designed to keep the family
happy, not the patient. Neuromuscular blockers paralyse the
patient so that family and others can see no movement at
all. As Dr Quick herself notes, neuromuscular blockers
“causes the person not to be able to move any voluntary
muscles so they can’t move their arms or legs. They can’t
breathe, they can’t speak, they can’t even
blink.”
Dr Quick says, “I am concerned that
someone’s propofol, their anaesthetic has worn off and they
are paralysed and they’re unable to speak. They’re unable to
move. They’re unable to say, I can feel everything I
can.”
“I want to breathe, but I can’t breathe….
so they may be dying in agony. But the protocols are to
prevent them from moving so that there aren’t any
uncomfortable, like seizures or uncomfortable looking
motions for the families to witness. And yet we have no idea
what’s going on in the heads of those patients who are
taking that long to die.”
She also calls out
pro-euthanasia advocates who say that people can be dead
within a minute or two. From her clinical experience, she
notes that it is impossible to confidently say a person is
dead in such a short space of time.
The full podcast
and transcript can be found here: https://familyfirst.org.nz/2025/08/20/family-matters-sharon-quick-md-on-what-assisted-dying-is-really-like/
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