Federal Member for Curtin Kate Chaney has warned that doctors are at risk of being prosecuted if they use telehealth to discuss voluntary assisted dying with patients.
The Teal MP has introduced a Private Member’s Bill to the House of Representatives to ensure all Australians have equal access to VAD, which is now lawful in all Australian states.
But due to a decades-old amendment, the Commonwealth Criminal Code prevents people from promoting suicide using a carriage service, with the Federal Court ruling last year that this included online VAD consultations.
Ms Chaney said she had heard stories of terminally ill people travelling long distances in agony to see a doctor in person, or both doctor and patient travelling for hours to have a consultation halfway in a carpark.
“VAD practitioners are being forced to choose between compassionate and convenient care for their patients and the risk of being prosecuted,” she said.
Member for Kooyong Dr Monique Ryan seconded the Bill, which makes a change to the Criminal Code by making it clear that VAD is not suicide and said that it will not negatively impact the intent of the original amendment.
“Suicide is the act of deciding to take one’s life,” Dr Ryan said. “Voluntary assisted dying is the act of assuming control over one’s inevitable and imminent death. They are not the same thing, and their conflation by the existing legislation is wrong.”
“Decades ago, this section was inserted to prevent a person from causing another to take their own life. As an unintended and unfortunate consequence, it is now preventing eligible patients from accessing legal end-of-life options, simply because of where they live.
“Australia should not be a country in which people living in rural and regional settings receive worse end of life care than those living in the cities. Terminally ill people should not be required to travel long distances for a 10-minute in-person appointment, or to pick up a prescription, because of outdated legislation.”
Last year in WA there were 757 first requests (up 4.3% on 2021-22), 474 first assessments (up 23.4%), 397 consulting assessment (22.5% increase), 283 substance supplies (up 19.4%) and 255 VAD deaths – a 33.5% increase.
At these deaths, 45 were self-administered while one of the State’s 97 trained practitioners was present and responsible for administration in 210. Just over 70% were in Perth, with 28.9% conducted in regional WA.
Dr Cameron McLaren, from Voluntary Assisted Dying Australia & New Zealand, said telehealth assessments for VAD eligibility continue to be conducted in NZ and other jurisdictions around the world, with no evidence to suggest that this jeopardised patient safety.
“Every Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board in the country has recommended allowing telehealth assessments for VAD eligibility. Legislators should listen to these experts whose primary purpose is to ensure the safe operation of VAD legislation,” he said.
The existing legislation, Criminal Code Amendment (Suicide Related Material Offences) Act 2005, can be viewed at: https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04868/latest/versions