There are a few drugs that can end life, and how we want to die should be considered.
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The drug we know induces the best death for suffering patients is still illegal in Australia.
A Victorian legal precedent of how Nembutal can be used during palliative care provides more options for doctors to help their dying patients.
Among doctors, there seems to be broad consensus about the relevance of double effect in end-of-life care.
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Euthanasia and palliative sedation are categorically distinct, so the notion that we can use the latter to achieve the former is untenable.
Barbiturates have been used for several purposes including to treat sleep disorders, epilepsy and traumatic brain injury – as well as in anaesthesia and psychiatry.
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It is likely that, ironically, any legalisation of euthanasia in this country will actually hinder the care of those most in need.
ABC’s Q&A subtly but importantly changed the nature of the euthanasia debate.
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It’s possible the difference between Australia and the Netherlands (where euthanasia and assisted suicide are legal) lies more in the way we think about what we are doing than what actually happens.