A new Medicare proposal would reimburse doctors for appointments to help patients plan what care they would want if they are too ill to speak for themselves. It’s about time.
We all die eventually, of course, but these days it’s very hard for doctors and loved ones to let patients and relatives die without doing “whatever it takes”.
Conversations around end-of-life medical care can be challenging. Consider someone I’ll call Mrs. Jones, an elderly patient with advanced heart disease. When her doctor asked her to discuss the kind of…
The diagnosis of a palliative illness in a child or adolescent is devastating for all involved: parents, family members and the children themselves, as they grieve for life they had planned and believed…
More than half of Australians have a will (59%) to determine how their property will be divided after they die. And 30% have appointed a power of attorney to make financial decisions if they lose the capacity…
Have you thought about how you would want to be treated if you cannot make your own decisions? You may be unconscious after car accident, you may be so ill you cannot communicate, or you may be dying and…
The baby boomers are growing old and in the next 25 years the number of Australians who die each year will double. People want to die comfortably at home, supported by family and friends and effective…
We need to do more to ease the pain and suffering of terminally ill patients and allow people to die comfortably, with dignity, and at peace. This is the issue being debated today in the House of Lords…
Hard cases, it has been said, make bad law. They also prompt us to ask deeper questions about wider causes and longer term ethical consequences - and this is particularly pressing when it comes to assisted…
The death of 83-year-old Jean Tulloch is to be officially investigated after her son’s claims that doctors attempted to speed up the end of her life by withdrawing food and fluids. Once again we see more…
It’s not always easy to talk to someone who is dying. Conversations about future plans and wishes may appear insensitive and fuelled with great pain and distress when it’s somebody we love. For some, not…
Mobile phones should be used to express and store our end-of-life medical care preferences, experts say. Advance care directives (ACDs) are legal documents that allow people to detail the quality of life…
Recently on The Conversation, legal academic Neera Bhatia drew attention to two recent Australian court cases of withdrawing of life-saving medical treatment from infants with severe brain damage. She…
We know that most Australians would prefer to die at home, but we also know that most don’t. In fact, most of the people reading this article will eventually die in a hospital. A peaceful death at home…
South Australian MPs will tomorrow debate a bill which could see euthanasia legalised in the state, paving the way for other jurisdictions to follow. The bill has been criticised by the South Australian…
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne