Doctors often overestimate the time a patient has left to live. In the case of Victoria’s assisted dying bill, an optimistic prediction could deny the patient the peaceful death they deserve.
The assisted dying bill in Victoria – complex and significant – is engendering less heated debate than marriage equality although both tap into some of our most fundamental fears and motivations.
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.
Ben White, Queensland University of Technology; Andrew McGee, Queensland University of Technology, dan Lindy Willmott, Queensland University of Technology
There is now a reputable body of research evidence from places that have introduced assisted dying, and MPs must examine that evidence before deciding how they will vote.
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.
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?
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.
Proponents of legalising euthanasia claim it’s needed to ensure dying patients don’t experience unbearable suffering. But in fact, this is the one setting in which law change isn’t needed.
Broadcaster Andrew Denton, an advocate for assisted dying law, told the Q&A audience it was not correct to say 550 newborn babies were killed last year under Dutch euthanasia laws. Is that right?
The Australian public supports legalising euthanasia and bills are introduced into state parliaments every year. Yet governments continue to resist legalising euthanasia or assisted suicide.
A Senate inquiry into legalising voluntary euthanasia for terminally ill people has recommended a conscience vote on the proposed bill after technical matters, such as what constitutes a “terminal illness…
People who operate on the edge risk falling over it and into the abyss. And euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke has been in freefall since it emerged he had email contact with a healthy 45-year-old West…
When it comes to legislating voluntary euthanasia in Australia, success is rare and short lived. The Tasmanian Voluntary Assisted Dying bill is the latest such piece of euthanasia legislation to be defeated…