With euthanasia laws proliferating around the world, Caitlin Mahar’s The Good Death Through Time is a valuable exploration of the history of our shifting views on dying well.
It’s been a long time coming. But this latest news means the ACT and NT could draw up their own voluntary assisted dying laws, bringing them into line with the states.
House of Representatives members arrive in the Senate chamber during the opening of parliament last month.
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Tony Burke once worked hard to stop euthanasia becoming law in the Northern Territory. Now, he must usher through a new bill to allow the territories to debate the issue.
Several factors ranging from personal spiritual beliefs to patient relationships to medical legal issues can influence whether a health-care practitioner participates in providing medical assistance in dying (MAID).
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For people to access medical assistance in dying (MAID) requires health-care professionals willing to provide the service. The reasons health-care providers choose not to participate are important.
Ben White, Queensland University of Technology; Lindy Willmott, Queensland University of Technology, and Marcus Sellars, Australian National University
Interviews with 32 doctors who provided voluntary assisted dying services in Victoria found layers of bureaucracy made it difficult for patients to access the system. Some died while waiting.
Ben White, Queensland University of Technology and Lindy Willmott, Queensland University of Technology
Draft legislation which would see voluntary assisted dying allowed in Queensland will be introduced into the state’s parliament next week. So how does the proposed law compare to other states?
Bill C-7 seeks to expand access to medical assistance in dying (MAID) to people who are not terminally ill, including those who suffer solely from mental illness.
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The fundamental underpinning of all MAID requests is supposed to be the presence of an incurable medical condition, but it’s not possible to predict that a mental illness will not improve.
Assisted dying is often cast as an issue of individual autonomy, but an assisted death can have repercussions on many people — those left behind or others struggling with a chronic disease.
Over the first year of voluntary assisted dying in Victoria, about 400 people applied to access the laws to end their lives. There are lingering issues, but the system is workable.
A new report tells us in the first six months voluntary assisted dying was legal in Victoria, 52 people ended their lives. But the report doesn’t tell us everything we need to know.
The stress over their ability to swallow can provoke a great deal of anxiety in patients.
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Nine states and the District of Columbia currently have laws that permit assisted dying, but the laws are so restrictive that they are often more hurdle than help.
If the bill clears its final hurdle next week, Western Australia will become the second state in Australia after Victoria to legalise voluntary assisted dying.
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A marathon round of amendments and parliamentary debate will likely see voluntary assisted dying implemented in WA in around 18 months. It’s time to start preparing.
Critics of assisted suicide often raise moral objections while proponents focus on the trauma of terminally ill patients. But all arguments have a long history.
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