Christianity’s long tradition of compassionate care for both the dying and the dead means it brings some wisdom and experience to the voluntary assisted dying issue.
Assisted dying legislation is likely to be introduced in Victorian Parliament within a month, and be based on a report launched today by Brian Owler and Jill Hennessy.
JOE CASTRO/AAP
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?
Existential suffering refers to an individual experiencing a lack of meaning or sense of purposelessness in life.
Zack Minor/Unsplash
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?
During a discussion on Q&A, author Nikki Gemmell said 80% of Australians and up to 70% of Catholics and Anglicans support euthanasia laws. Is that right?
There is no shortage of dubious slippery slope arguments.
from shutterstock.com
People are right to be skeptical when it comes to many slippery slope arguments used by those against euthanasia. But some of them are valid and shouldn’t be dismissed as ‘bullshit’.
Route forward? Oregon was the first place to license doctors to supply lethal drugs to terminally-ill people.
Christopher Boswell/Shutterstock.com
One paper reported that between 0.3% to 4.6% of all deaths are reported as euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide in jurisdictions where they are legal.
Flickr/Alberto Biscalchin
Health spent a lot of time in the spotlight in 2016. Medicare was a major issue in Australia’s federal election and numerous government reviews into health were announced and reported.
Among doctors, there seems to be broad consensus about the relevance of double effect in end-of-life care.
from shutterstock.com
Ben White, Queensland University of Technology; Andrew McGee, Queensland University of Technology, and Lindy Willmott, Queensland University of Technology
Victoria stands a chance of becoming the first Australian jurisdiction in 20 years, and the first ever Australian state, to have an assisted dying law.
Barbiturates have been used for several purposes including to treat sleep disorders, epilepsy and traumatic brain injury – as well as in anaesthesia and psychiatry.
from shutterstock.com
Andrew McGee, Queensland University of Technology; Ben White, Queensland University of Technology, and Lindy Willmott, Queensland University of Technology
A bill may be released soon in Victoria so we should examine why the South Australian bill did not pass to see if any lessons can be learned for future bills.
Desmond Tutu said on his 85th birthday early in October 2016 that he wanted the right to end his life through assisted dying.
Mike Hutchings/Reuters
Proponents of assisted suicide, such as emeritus archbishop Desmond Tutu, argue that as people have the right to live with dignity, they also have the right to die with dignity.
Intuitively, we believe offering someone options automatically expands their freedom. But that isn’t always true. Sometimes, more options can lead to less freedom.
Fewer than 3,000 thalidomide survivors are alive today.
David Shankbone/Flickr