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2014/19: Should voluntary euthanasia be made legal in Australia?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right:On July 24, 2014, the anti-euthanasia lobby group HOPE posted a compilation of news reports treating Dr Philip Nitschke’s suspension by the Australian Medical Board. If you cannot see this clip, it will be because video is blocked by your network. To view the clip, access from home or from a public library, or from another network which allows viewing of video clips.
...with the development of modern methods of palliative care, legalisation of euthanasia is unnecessary
1990 United Nations World Health Organisation expert committee
... even the best of palliative care cannot help all patients between 5-10% find their suffering so unbearable that they persistently request an assisted death
South Australian Voluntary Euthanasia Society
The issue at a glance
Toward the end of 2014 a number of events occurred which had some sections of the Australian media addressing the question of whether voluntary euthanasia should be legally available in this country.
In October, 2014, euthanasia advocate, Dr Rodney Syme, was interviewed by police after a confession he made in April 2014 that nine years before he had supplied a dying cancer patient with a drug the man then used to commit suicide. The investigation is still ongoing.
Between November 10 and November 12, 2014, the Northern Territory Health Professional Review heard Dr Philip Nitschkes appeal against his suspension by the Medical Board of Australia (MBA).
The MBA claimed that Nitschkes alleged support of what is sometimes referred to as rational suicide presented a serious risk to public safety. Dr Nitschke is accused of having provided assistance to a man who, though suffering no terminal illness, ended his own life. The appeal hearing has been temporarily concluded; however, no judgement has yet been made.
In October 2014, after a four month Senate Inquiry, a draft of Greens Senator, Richard di Natale's Medical Services (Dying with Dignity) Bill 2014 was tabled in Federal Parliament and is set to be debated early in 2015 when Parliament reconvenes.
The question of under what circumstances, if any, euthanasia should be available in Australia will obviously continue to be discussed.