Fifty-two Victorians ended their lives in the six months after Victoria’s historic voluntary assisted dying law came into effect in June.
The second report of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board, published on Wednesday, said between 19 June and 31 December 2019, 136 people began the assessment process to access the medication, and 81 people were issued with permits. Fifty-two people died from taking the medications subsequently prescribed, and all of those deaths were compliant with the law.
Victoria’s parliament passed the legislation in November 2017, after a conscience vote and a marathon 28-hour parliamentary debate in the upper house. The law allows a person in the late stages of advanced disease to take medication prescribed by a doctor that will bring about their death at a time they choose so long as they meet certain criteria.
Only Victorian adults who have an incurable, advanced and progressive medical condition and who have decision-making capacity can access voluntary assisted dying.
The law has dozens of safeguards, including to ensure any request to die is the person’s own decision.
The board is required to report to parliament every six months for the first two years. The latest report stated more than 370 doctors have either completed or are undertaking the mandatory training required to participate in the voluntary assisted dying program, with a third of those in regional Victoria.
Victoria’s health minister, Jenny Mikakos, said the laws were giving people a compassionate choice over the timing and manner of their death, while relieving them from their suffering.
“Among the most moving conversations I’ve had as health minister has been with family members who are grateful to have seen a loved one fulfil their wishes, and to have had the opportunity to say goodbye,” she said.
