following a public referendum<\/a>.<\/p>\nFrom mowing lawns to being \u2018bedridden\u2019<\/p>\n
Cook said her uncle had been very independent before his diagnosis, and was \u201cstill mowing his own lawns\u201d.<\/p>\n
His illness, however, left him \u201cbedridden\u201d and \u201crobbed him of his appetite\u201d, meaning he was suffering from malnutrition.<\/p>\n
Cook said Kelly had support letters from his physician and the assisted dying service team to verify his application needed to be \u201caccelerated because of his physical condition\u201d and suffering.<\/p>\n
Cook said Kelly\u2019s Permanent Resident Visa application was submitted on January 20 and approved on January 29.<\/p>\n
She acknowledged this \u201csounds reasonably quick\u201d but in the circumstances, it felt like \u201ca very long fight\u201d and a \u201cfrustrating\u201d process. <\/p>\n
![\"Taup\u014d]()
Taup\u014d terminal cancer patient Ned Kelly with his niece, Kylie Cook. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cNumerous\u201d issues came up, including technical difficulties submitting a photo and Kelly\u2019s passport being inactive in the immigration system because he had not travelled for 25 years \u2013 holding up identification checks. <\/p>\n
Cook acknowledged she missed some things, including checking a box that she could act on his behalf and downloading the wrong form.<\/p>\n
She said two people had checked the application and did not notify her the wrong form had been uploaded.<\/p>\n
While they understood the necessity to have criteria, Cook said she had hoped it would have been \u201cpushed through\u201d sooner.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe shouldn\u2019t spend his time worrying \u2026 whether a visa\u2019s going to come through just so he\u2019s got the option to go out on his own terms.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just an added layer of suffering, really, when he\u2019s already going through so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Application was \u2018escalated and prioritised\u2019 <\/p>\n
Immigration New Zealand operations director Dominic Forde said it acknowledged how difficult and stressful this situation would have been. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand the frustration expressed by Mr Kelly\u2019s family and recognise that navigating immigration processes can be especially difficult during serious illness, adding pressure at an already challenging time.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said all residence applications included standard identity and character checks to ensure the correct person was being granted immigration status.<\/p>\n
The average processing time for permanent resident visa applications was about one week, with most completed within two.<\/p>\n
Immigration NZ considered requests for urgent processing case\u2011by\u2011case where there were \u201ccompelling circumstances\u201d, including serious medical conditions.<\/p>\n
Forde said a request for urgent consideration was first raised on January 27 by Cook.<\/p>\n
Following the provision of further information on January 28, the application was escalated and prioritised, all required checks were completed and a decision was made on January 29, Forde said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile this is a relatively short timeframe, we recognise that for someone in Mr Kelly\u2019s circumstances, this can feel significant.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe encourage all applicants and their representatives to engage with us as early as possible and ensure applications are complete and accurate to help minimise avoidable delays.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why is permanent residence or citizenship required? <\/p>\n
A Ministry of Health spokesperson said it acknowledged Kelly\u2019s death and recognised the uniqueness of his situation.<\/p>\n
The choice to access assisted dying was \u201cdeeply personal\u201d and meaningful, and it was essential that statutory decision-making processes for assessing and authorising that choice were done in a safe and careful manner.<\/p>\n
Assisted dying had a \u201chigher threshold\u201d than other public health system services \u2013 a decision made by Parliament when the End of Life Choice Act was being considered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand that the intent of this provision was to prevent people from travelling to New Zealand from other jurisdictions with the intention of receiving assisted dying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similar clauses featured in assisted dying legislation in Australia and Canada.<\/p>\n
In the 12 months to March 31 last year, seven applicants were found ineligible for assisted dying because they were not a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident.<\/p>\n
Megan Wilson<\/a> is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cook, who also has power of attorney for Kelly, spoke to the Rotorua Daily Post while supporting him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,54694,1135,2534,22477,42834,56607,169472,2082,29716,18220,1357,111,43,139,69,1597,1852,30331,10708,1530,80],"class_list":["post-311480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-assisted","tag-australian","tag-cancer","tag-citizen","tag-dying","tag-electing","tag-endures","tag-for","tag-hurdle","tag-kelly","tag-lived","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-patient","tag-taup","tag-terminal","tag-visa","tag-years","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}