AUSTRALIA / New South Wales – Where do we stand on Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD)?
10 February 2022
Guest comment by Ian Wood*
Five states in Australia have now passed a Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) Law. The law has been operating in Victoria since June 2019 and in Western Australian since July 2021. The states of Tasmania, Queensland and South Australia each passed their VAD law in 2021. New South Wales (NSW), now the only state without such a law, has passed a Bill, with amendments, 52 votes to 32 in the Lower House, and it is due to be debated early 2022 in the Upper House, after the Report of a short Inquiry by a Committee of the Upper House is received in February.
NSW has been able to improve some aspects of the current Draft Bill, compared with the Victorian VAD Act, if it is passed without further amendment. These include the medical practitioner can raise the subject of VAD, provided that the practitioner at the same time also discussed all other options such as palliative care. Nurse Practitioners can also be involved in the administration process. Queensland and South Australia have legislation that restricts the ability of entities such as hospitals, retirement villages and residential health care to refuse access to information about VAD and provides that they must allow residents access to VAD. These provisos are included at present in the NSW Bill but have yet to be accepted and passed by the Upper House.
Key criteria to access VAD in all states include the applicant must be over 18 years old, a resident of Australia, have decision-making capacity, be acting without coercion and diagnosed with an illness or medical condition that is advanced, incurable, progressive and will cause death. All states also require the person has suffering (that they find intolerable). Most states require that death is expected within 6 months, or 12 months for a neuro-degenerative condition – for Queensland, it is 12 months regardless. Tasmania has provision for an exemption allowing a shorter time frame.
Personally, I would prefer no time limit to access – if a person is terminal and has suffering they find intolerable at say 13 months or longer, it is cruel to refuse access. In addition, such time frames are hard to predict unless death is getting very close, in which case there may not be enough time to go through the rigorous application process, to see the two doctors involved and get the necessary approvals.
Official Reports on the two years of operation in Victoria clearly demonstrate the value of access to VAD. Deaths are described as peaceful, even beautiful. Some problems relating to access have become evident. One is the “gag clause” – a patient must specifically initiate any discussion or request for VAD with their doctor. Another is a Commonwealth restriction on discussing suicide using telehealth.
Speeches made during the NSW debate have again emphasized how important language is on this issue. Those MPs opposing continually used the concept of the patient accessing VAD were taking ‘poison’ and even though the Bill specifies the act is not suicide, suicide and killing were spoken of. My suggestion is other countries considering the VAD issue do not use the word suicide and retain that word only for the death of a person who would normally have a life ahead of them. VAD is a rational choice between two ways of dying made by a person who cannot choose to live because of their illness.
Despite strong vocal opposition from the conservative religious hierarchy in every state, our five other states have passed legislation, and we hope this continues for the final NSW votes.
The group for which I am Spokesperson and National Co-ordinator is Christians Supporting Choice for Voluntary Assisted Dying. Our belief is: “We believe that as a demonstration of love and compassion, those with a terminal or hopeless illness should have the option of a pain-free, peaceful and dignified death with legal voluntary assisted dying.” Our key role is to lobby Members of Parliament for this end-of-life choice, in addition to palliative care, particularly from the aspect of Christian support. We are aware that around 75% of Australians who designate themselves as Christian support the issue. Our other roles include to rebut, where possible, media publicity from church hierarchy against the VAD choice by quoting facts and evidence and make submissions to the Inquiries into VAD held in our various states.
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* Ian Wood is a co-founder and national coordinator for the Australian right-to-die group Christians Supporting Choice for Voluntary Assisted Dying (formerly Christians Supporting Choice for Voluntary Euthanasia). He had long supported assisted dying choice but became public in support in 2009 when Rev Trevor Bensch, a retired Minister and hospital chaplain at the church he attended, decided that Christians who supported VAD needed a voice. Together they formed the group.
