Multimedia: A prayer from the dying
Authors: Jeremy Anderson
Journal: BMJ (1999)

June Burns, a 59 year old woman with terminal bladder cancer, wants to die before her pain becomes unbearable. In an attempt to persuade others of her right to die as she chooses, she has appeared on Australian television in an advertisement sponsored by the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of New South Wales.

The advertisement features Mrs Burns speaking from her hospital bed, appealing for legal sanction to kill herself. “If I was a dog, by now the RSPCA would be on to my husband for cruelty and would have me put down straight away,” she says. “I feel life is very precious and I've enjoyed every moment of it and I wish I could go on, but I can't and I'd like to die with dignity.”

The advertisement has had a major impact both on the public and on Mrs Burns. Carmel Marjenberg, coordinator of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of New South Wales, explained that the advertisement was intended to influence public opinion to support legislation allowing voluntary euthanasia. She said the society was “overwhelmed” by the response to the advertisement, which had generated more positive reaction from the public than any other activity they have organised.

However, some media reports have questioned whether the advertisement has had negative consequences for Mrs Burns. On 16 March, just before the advertisement was screened, the Australian newspaper ran a story under the headline, “Euthanasia ad takes toll on dying woman.” The story claimed that Mrs Burns had been “so traumatised” by the experience that “she may have to withdraw from the landmark advertising campaign.” Spokespeople for the advertising agency and for the euthanasia society denied this account. Ms Marjenberg reported: “June hadn’t anticipated the interest the advertisement would create ... She’s not well, and something like this takes a hell of a lot out of you. But she’s a fighter. She’s recovered now, and she wants to do as much as she can.” Nevertheless, a decision has not yet been made on whether she will continue in what was originally intended to be a series of advertisements.

The advertisement is the latest in a series of events over the past few years that have galvanised Australians’ interest in voluntary euthanasia. Advocates claim that recent surveys show that 70-80% of the population support the practice. The world’s first voluntary euthanasia law was passed in 1996 by the local legislature in the Northern Territory. Four terminally ill people died by suicide under the terms of the law—using a remote controlled intravenous infusion device supervised by a doctor—before it was overruled by the national government eight months later.

The national government still does not support euthanasia nor, formally, do any of the states. But they are not keen to apply legal sanctions. In Victoria seven doctors publicly acknowledged their participation in voluntary euthanasia without attracting intervention by the state authorities. The subject continues to attract considerable public attention and parliamentary discussion. 

Groups opposed to euthanasia tried to ban the advertisement, but it was cleared for transmission by the Federation of Australian Commercial Television Stations. The federation decided that the advertisement was political in nature and allowed it to be screened, subject to the regulations required of all political advertising.

After the commercial was first shown on Channel 9 television in New South Wales, it was the subject of an extended story on the channel’s current affairs programme Sixty Minutes. In an interview, Mrs Burns strongly denied suggestions made by some media commentators that she was coerced into making the commercial or that she was depressed. In particular, she was keen to emphasise that her views were not a consequence of receiving inadequate palliative care. After the interview, comments from members of the public in an online discussion on the programme’s website were almost universally positive. Subsequently, another television station, at yet unnamed, has agreed to broadcast the advertisement free of charge as a “community service.”

Mrs Burns became aware of the euthanasia issue at the time of her father’s death, also from bladder cancer, 25 years ago. She joined the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of New South Wales 10 years ago. The society established a relation with the advertising agency Ammirati Puris Lintas that enabled it to produce the commercial at a reduced cost. When Mrs Burns was approached to participate she readily agreed.