Monday will mark the start of the fifth year of the state’s euthanasia laws,but advocates say Victoria has fallen behind other states.
Dementia is the most common cause of death for Australian women and the second most common cause overall,but the nation has no provision for people living with it to choose their time of death. Our readers shared their thoughts and experiences.
Older Australians should not have to choose between doctor-assisted death and a reasonable standard of care.
As Victoria’s landmark voluntary assisted dying legislation comes up for review,doctors,families and patients are calling for the scheme to be expanded to include people with dementia.
Our dog Denis had a good,long life. And we had a good life because of him.
Descending through dementia’s seven stages into a “catastrophic vegetative state” is a terrifying prospect. Yet Voluntary Assisted Dying is not an option.
Objections to voluntary assisted dying by palliative care and health institutions are causing serious harm and emotional suffering to dying Victorians. Some have been left scrambling to be transferred in their final days,so they can take the lethal medication.
Doctors are pushing for a major reform of Victoria’s voluntary assisted dying laws,including the scrapping of a gag clause prohibiting them from instigating conversations about euthanasia with the terminally ill.
Hundreds of Victorians who have qualified for euthanasia medication have not used it. For some of them,it’s about having the choice to take it.
Australia is a step closer to having nationwide voluntary assisted dying laws after the Territory Rights bill passed the Senate on Thursday evening.
While the scheme opens to terminally ill residents next month,efforts to dump federal laws banning doctors from remotely aiding suicide are yet to deliver.