Excruciating pain at the end of life is extremely rare. The evidence shows pain and other symptoms, such as fatigue, insomnia and breathing issues, actually improve as people move closer to death.
Lindy Willmott, Queensland University of Technology; Andrew McGee, Queensland University of Technology, and Ben White, Queensland University of Technology
The main arguments used by those who voted against assisted dying – including that the bill has insufficient safeguards – in Victoria’s upper house, deserve further scrutiny.
Australia has few public rituals around death, leaving people to figure out how to process grief alone. But Mexico’s Day of the Dead, with its focus on art and community, could help us cope better.
One would think governments would do all they could to ensure palliative care is available to all who need it. This is not the case in Australia today.
More than 2,000 Canadians have chosen medical assistance in dying (MAID) since legalization in 2016. But palliative care doctors aren’t embracing assisted suicide as part of their job.
The Victorian law provides if a child has made a valid advance directive including instructions to refuse a particular medical treatment, a health practitioner must not provide that treatment.
Ben White, Queensland University of Technology and Lindy Willmott, Queensland University of Technology
Public opinion, shifting views in the health profession and international trends allowing assisted dying mean it will be lawful in Australia at some point. But will it be lawful in Victoria soon?
Imagine this situation: a person has no medical illness but wishes to end his or her life purely because he or she no longer wishes to live. Should they be eligible for euthanasia or assisted suicide?
We use euphemisms about death and dying to soften the blow of the real words, or because we feel awkward being direct. But this can lead to misunderstanding and confusion.
Better technology to diagnose, treat and manage the disease early enough is needed to improve the survival rates of childhood cancer in sub Saharan Africa.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne