In an Australian first, the legalisation of allowing a terminally person to be granted euthanasia may come in to effect as early as 2017.
Numerous parties are weighing in on the issue, with people like Andrew Denton, who have lost loved ones to diseases like polyarthritis, arguing for the legalisation of euthanasia.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, who lost his father to cancer earlier this year, stated that an announcement made today on assisted dying will provide “a way forward”.
This comes after a cross-party committee of Victorian MPs put forward their recommendation of legalised euthanasia in June, with the government due to deliver their official response today.
As reported by the Herald Sun, Mr Andrews says, if the bill is passed, there will be strict boundaries that will only allow those with a terminal illness and a sound mind at the end of their life to ask a doctor to help them die.
After previously voting against this bill, the Premier has changed his mind, stating: “I will be voting for this bill.”
However, palliative care doctors are against this bill, arguing that there is not evidence to say that euthanasia would be any more beneficial for a terminally ill patient than palliative care.
“We’re talking about potentially a major shift in a major new public health intervention,” Professor Peter Hudson from St Vincent’s Health says, as reported by the ABC.
“There needs to be a suitable evidence base behind it, all the side effects of the proposed intervention need to be assessed, and there needs to be a review of this over time in terms of the resources required to implement it.
“And we don’t believe that the proposed model has been through that level of scrutiny.”
The legalisation of euthanasia is a contentious topic – both in Australia and overseas. Just last month, the South Australian state government shut down legalising euthanasia for the 15th time.
Not only that, but earlier this year, a sex abuse victim in the Netherlands was granted permission to undergo euthanasia via legal injection.
The Dutch Euthanasia Commission stated that the unnamed woman had suffered sexual abuse from the age of 5 through to 15 and, as a result of her abuse, suffered from chronic depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, severe anorexia and hallucinations.
After intensive therapy, doctors still deemed multiple conditions she had were “incurable”, hence why they agreed to her request of ending her life.
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