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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-06-21 Daily Xml
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Euthanasia

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (15:45): In April this year, Canada introduced draft legislation on doctor-assisted suicide, which applied to adults suffering incurable illness or disability. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is quoted as saying on this matter:

It's a deeply personal issue that affects all of us and our families and all of us individually as we approach the end of our lives…The plan we have put forward is one that respects Canadians' choices while putting in place the kinds of safeguards needed.

Under the law, patients would have a written request for medical assistance and have a designated person to do so if they were unable to. There is a mandatory 15-day waiting period and also an opportunity for the person to change their mind and withdraw the request. Patients would also need to be experiencing enduring and intolerable suffering and death would have to be reasonably foreseeable. Trudeau has also said that other aspects of physician-assisted dying that are not included in the legislation should be put onto the agenda for further consideration.

I also read the findings of the Australian Victorian parliament's Legal and Social Issues Committee. They had a 10-month inquiry into end-of-life choices. The report makes some 49 recommendations covering assisted suicide and protecting doctors who prescribe legal drugs. On page 217, the report states:

The Committee's recommended framework allows an adult, with capacity, who is at the end of life and has a serious and incurable condition which is causing enduring and unbearable suffering to request assisted dying.

I was also heartened to read in the report:

It is essential that the patient must be experiencing enduring and unbearable suffering that cannot be relieved in a manner which the patient deems tolerable…in the shift towards patient‑centred medicine the Committee believes it is not for others to decide what is and is not tolerable for a patient.

The committee heard from more than 100 witnesses, including doctors, legal experts, terminally ill people and their families. These people all gave evidence to the committee. It is interesting to note that a recent article in The Age reported that more than 50 Australian bills have been introduced with regard to assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia reform since 1993. Sadly, only one has become law, a Northern Territory bill and then act, which as we know was deleted by the federal government.

Looking at this issue, it is interesting that people are considering the need for this assistance. While we value and hope that palliative care is available to everybody, other jurisdictions are actually looking at circumstances where palliative care is not enough.

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