5 October, 2017
As a clinician I firmly believe that people have the right to choose
"As a clinician, I firmly believe that people have the right to choose how they live, which includes having choices about how they die...
News
26 September, 2017
Suffering family offended by Luke Foley MP
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...
25 September, 2017
W.A Inquiry into assisted dying calls for public submissions
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...
22 September, 2017
Oregonians still satisfied with their law after 20 years
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...
21 September, 2017
NSW Bill presented in Parliament
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...
21 September, 2017
Victorians overwhelmingly support voluntary assisted dying
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”....
21 September, 2017
Bishop says Christianity should not be used to oppose assisted dying
A Victorian Anglican bishop, Bishop Andrew Curnow, has delivered a startling rebuke to those demanding he oppose marriage equality and assisted dying. Bendigo Bishop Curnow argued Australia was no longer a Christian nation and using Christianity as grounds to oppose equal marriage and voluntary assisted...
19 September, 2017
7.30 Report: The suicide of a palliative care leader was a message to politicians
Clive Deverall's suicide on 11 March 2017 was "a devastating final paragraph in a remarkable life story". At age 75, Clive Deverall, took his own life after suffering for two decades from a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Deverall’s final violent act on the day...
5 September, 2017
NSW Premier doesn’t think she can support the bill
The NSW Premier and Member for Willoughby, Gladys Berejiklian, was interviewed by 2GB's Ben Fordham on 5 September about the issue of voluntary assisted dying. It seems that Ms Berejiklian has decided to vote against the NSW Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill (2017) which has not yet...
2 September, 2017
Registered Nurse: Some patients do suffer in the end
By Tara Nipe, a registered nurse, nursing academic, and Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (Vic) project officer. The overwhelming majority of patients die well: without pain or agitation, with loved ones present or recently visited. But as even experts in the field acknowledge, a tiny number...
31 August, 2017
Swiss law means Dignitas takes too long for some sufferers
In April 2015 the doctors confirmed that she had an aggressive pancreatic cancer that was eating into her liver and making its way through the rest of her body...
27 August, 2017
Rising support for assistance in dying by Canadian doctors
Informal polls conducted at the Canadian Medical Association's annual general meeting on August 23 show rising support among doctors for medical assistance in dying (MAID). The CMA represents about 85,000 physicians, residents and medical students, and previously was not a keen supporter of MAID. "The mood is...