Under the Commonwealth Criminal Code, it’s an offence to use a ‘carriage service’ — which includes phone, videoconferencing or email —for the purposes of conveying ‘suicide related material’.
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.
Terminally ill research participants wanted to have the option of assisted dying if they needed it, and felt they knew best when the time was right for them to die.
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.
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.
Speculative design highlights many of the questions we still need to ask when it comes to euthanasia.
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Many people might want to choose how, when, and under what circumstances they die – but diseases like dementia can complicate advance euthanasia directives.
Victoria will be the first state in Australia to legalise voluntary assisted dying.
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From June 19, Victorians at the end of their lives can request medical assistance to die. Voluntary assisted dying may offer a new option for some, but the practice will be strictly regulated.
The Victorian assisted dying laws are based on those in Oregon, which are quite conservative. Laws in the Netherlands, Belgium and Canada are more relaxed.
There were tearful scenes in the Victorian upper house after the conscience vote on the assisted dying bill.
DAVID CROSLING/AAP
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.
While fear suppresses talk about dying, marriage equality involves sex.
AAP/Danny Casey
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.
Medical assistance in dying has been legal in Canada since July 2016, but there are no ‘specialists’ responsible for doctor-assisted suicide and many doctors are overwhelmed with requests.
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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.
Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, University of Melbourne; Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford