An expert panel has recommended that from 2019, Victorians with advanced or incurable illnesses be allowed to seek a medically assisted death.
Dr Brian Owler led the committee which made 66 recommendations for the drafting of an assisted dying law. They will now be considered by Victorian Parliament, with a conscience vote to take place this year.
If legislation passes, it would come into effect 18 months later.
“In essence this reform is about alleviating the suffering of people who are dying and it’s about respecting their choice about the manner and the timing of their death,” said Dr Owler.
“I’m sure that this topic will be debated in the coming weeks and months.
“We think that this model, which we acknowledge is the most conservative model for assisted dying in the world, is the right model for Victoria.”
Under the new law, patients would have to make three requests for a medically assisted death to two doctors, one of whom must be an expert in the patient’s illness.
The person must live in Victoria, be an Australia citizen or permanent resident, and be over 18 years old. They must be of sound mind with a condition expected to cause death within 12 months and causing considerable, intolerable pain.
Dementia patients will not qualify, although people with a mental illness or disability will be able to make a request – so long as they are suffering a separate terminal illness.
The system should work as follows:
- A patient makes an initial request to their doctor
- The doctor makes an initial assessment
- A second doctor makes an independent assessment
- The patient makes a written declaration of an enduring request, to be witnessed by two people, one of whom must not be a family member or beneficiary from the person’s death
- The patient makes a final request to their doctor.
- This process should take 10 days from the first request to the last.
- Then, once the request is granted, the medication is dispensed, but not before the doctor ensures that the patient is fully informed of the following:
- diagnosis and prognosis
- other possible treatments
- palliative care options
- what happens when they administer the lethal dose
- possible risks
- that the patient can withdraw from their request at any time.
- The lethal dose will be self-administered, except in the case where a patient is incapacitated, in which case, a doctor would administer the drug.
Also recommended was that those seeking a medically assisted death maintain their rights to insurance and annuities, with death certificates recording the underlying disease as the cause of death, and not assisted suicide.
Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy believes that we have ‘denied death’ for too long and the new recommendations will protect the rights of those who wish to die with dignity, as well as health practitioners.
“It is my very firm, yet personal view, that we need to do better by those that are dying, those that are terminally ill, those [who] are bearing suffering that is unspeakable for them,” said Ms Hennessy.
Victoria’s efforts to legalise assisted dying could encourage other states to attempt similar legislation.
Read Dr Owler’s full report and list of recommendations.
Do you think this is good news? Do you hope that the other states follow suit? How do you feel about people with dementia being denied the right to make a request?
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