Professor Julian Savulescu (pictured, Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics and Law, Melbourne University, University of Oxford) provided a piece for The Conversation 'Sex versus death: why marriage equality provokes more heated debate than assisted dying' 18 October 2017, which includes the following interesting observations: "One major...
A NSW ReachTEL poll commissioned by Fairfax media, found that 69 per cent of NSW voters support a law that would give the terminally ill the right to end their lives with a doctor's assistance. The poll was conducted on 5 October and results are based...
Profesor Brian Owler, Neurosurgeon and the immediate past federal president of the Australian Medical Association, gave the address to the National Press Club on 12 October 2017. He spoke about voluntary assisted dying and, more specifically, the Victorian Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill (2017). Amongst other things, Profesor...
"VAD [voluntary assisted dying] is not part of palliative care as it is currently practiced in Australia...
Professor Rufus Clarke (pictured), from Doctors Supporting Assisted Dying Choice, refutes claims made by the current Australian Medical Profession (AMA) President, Dr Michael Gannon in a recent article in the Huffington Post. Professor Clarke's article included the following: "As doctors we are committed to the wellbeing of...
Today three judges in the UK High Court ruled against Noel Conway's application to enable doctors to help him to end his own life. Noel was too weak to attend the court in person for the hearing or for today's decision, but said "As I approach...
"As a clinician, I firmly believe that people have the right to choose how they live, which includes having choices about how they die...
On 20 September, the NSW Opposition Leader, Luke Foley, tweeted the following "Personally, I will vote against. I oppose the state sanctioning the taking of human life. Opposed to capital punishment & euthanasia". Apparently, Foley's comment was retweeted by several senior Catholic figures, including the Bishop...
On 23 August 2017, the Western Australian Parliament established a Joint Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council to inquire and report on the need for laws in Western Australia to allow citizens to make informed decisions regarding their own end of life...
The Oregon assisted dying law has been providing comfort at the end of life to Oregonians for 20 years. Their Death with Dignity Act officially took effect on October 27, 1997. According to the Death with Dignity National Center “the simple fact is that the Act works...
On 21 September, NSW Nationals MLC Trevor Khan formally presented the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2017 to the NSW Legislative Council. The Bill has been prepared over the past two years by the NSW Parliamentary Working Group on Assisted Dying (PWGAD), consisting of the Hon. Trevor Khan...
A survey of 500 Victorian adults, conducted in late July by research company Review Partners on behalf of Go Gentle Australia, found that 72% of Victorians supported the right of adults “to choose to end their lives if they are suffering from a terminal illness”....