Current Legal Situation

Australia

Each state and territory has its own legislation. Both active voluntary euthanasia and medically assisted suicide are illegal in all areas of Australia.

The Northern Territory's Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995, which legalised medically assisted dying, was passed in the NT parliament on 25 May 1996 and came into force on 1 July 1996. But on 9 September 1996, Liberal MP Kevin Andrews introduced into the federal parliament the Euthanasia Laws Bill to overturn the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act and this anti-euthanasia Bill was passed in the Senate on 25 March 1997, having been passed in the House of Representatives on 9 December 1996.

In Victoria, under the Crimes Act, those who practise active voluntary euthanasia can be prosecuted for murder or manslaughter and those who assist a person to suicide face a prison sentence of up to 14 years. In other states and territories there are similar penalties.

It is now widely recognised that patients have the right to refuse medical treatment, therefore passive voluntary euthanasia is rarely illegal. In Victoria, a person's legal right to refuse medical treatment is clarified in the Victorian Medical Treatment Act 1988. This Act was amended in 1990 and 1992 to allow a person to appoint an agent to act on his or her behalf if, and only if, he or she should become incompetent. The Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Victoria provides its members with detailed information about this Act and the Enduring Power of Attorney (Medical Treatment) form
required to appoint an agent.

The World

Oregon USA

On 4 November 1997, the State of Oregon, USA, passed a law to allow medically assisted suicide for the terminally ill. On this date, the people of Oregon voted 60% to 40% to retain the "Death with Dignity" law which had first been passed in November 1994, but had been delayed because of legal opposition.

Switzerland

Swiss law does not prohibit hastening the death of another, unless the act is done for "selfish" reasons. more...

Belgium

Belgian law enabling voluntary euthanasia came into force on 23rd September 2002 and is summarised here.

Netherlands

In 2002, the Netherlands became the first country to legalize physician assisted dying and voluntary euthanasia. The law formalized practices used in Dutch hospitals and homes for decades, turning guidelines adopted by Parliament in 1993 into legally binding requirements. more...

Israel

In 2005 the Israel parliament approved passive euthanasia law to prevent the life of a terminally ill person who does not wish to continue living, being extended artificially.

U.K.

The House of Lords has before it (October 2005) a bill for doctors to be allowed to help terminally-ill people to take their own life.

Canada

The Canadian Parliament is scheduled to debate 'Dying with Dignity' in 2006.

The Law is an Ass?

There is no doubt that Australian doctors regularly break the law with regard to euthanasia and assisted suicide.

No doctor has ever been charged in Victoria with murder/manslaughter over an action that might be considered voluntary euthanasia, nor has any doctor in Victoria ever been charged with assisting suicide. (The practical meaning of assisting the suicide by medical means, of a rational, hopelessly ill person who has unrelievable suffering, is uncertain.)

In 2001, a West Australian surgeon was charged with murder and assisted suicide - the jury took less than 10 minutes to find him not guilty,

Over the last twelve years, a number of 'mercy killings' and attempted 'mercy killings' and 'suicide pacts' by lay persons (close relatives) have resulted in a series of suspended or non-custodial sentences by judges - a serious 'crime' without any penalty.

Clarifying the Law

In 1995, Dr. Rodney Syme wrote to the Victorian Coroner, asking whether a death hastened by terminal sedation was a reportable death (terminal sedation occurs when a doctor maintains a patient deliberately unconscious until death to relieve terminal suffering). The Coroner found it difficult to comment on a hypothetical situation.

In July, 1997, Dr. Syme reported the death of a woman with incurable bowel cancer to the Coroner. She had been treated with terminal sedation, after refusing further treatment other than pain relief and sedation, and died some 40 hours later.

For the next 14 months, despite repeated requests, the Coroner would not answer this question as to whether the death was reportable (requiring investigation by the Coroner). In frustration, Dr. Syme requested the Coroner to conduct an inquest into the death, which he became obliged to do. This investigation continued for an amazing three years. Finally the Coroner reported that "her death has been found to have been from natural causes and therefore not a reportable death". It should be noted that the patient had requested euthanasia and had died a hastened death by deliberate medical intervention.

In arriving at his conclusion, the Coroner had been assisted by a report from a Palliative Care Specialist from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute that was critical of Dr. Syme's management. The Coroner referred the matter on to the Medical Practitioner's Board of Victoria. After investigation, the Board considered that Dr. Syme's "treatment choices were not unreasonable in the circumstances, and found that he had not been unprofessional in his conduct towards his patient".

Whilst waiting for a determination from the Coroner on the question of reporting in terminal sedation, two further deaths occurred that were reported to the Coroner. The first involved a woman with severe, progressive multiple sclerosis, who was virtually totally dependent, with just minimal use of her right hand. She expressed a rational and persistent wish to die, over seven months of dialogue, but she was incapable of helping herself in any way. Eventually, she decided to cease eating and drinking, after reassurance that she would be fully sedated if she asked for this because of distress. This she did, and she died after 9 days without fluids, and 7 days of sedation. Undoubtedly her action had ended her life (was this therefore suicide?) and the sedation had certainly assisted her and hastened her death. In this instance, after 28 months, the Coroner concluded that the death was reportable because "death occurred earlier than it otherwise might have done". He indicated that neither the Forensic Pathologist nor the expert medical investigator found any criticism of Dr. Syme's care, which was within the bounds of the Medical Treatment Act.

The third report was of a man receiving palliative care for metastatic malignant melanoma. It was affecting his brain, had caused a right sided paralysis and complete dependence. He was not enchanted with his palliative care and wanted to die. He too decided to cease eating and drinking, was sedated, and died some 64 hours after being rendered unconscious. On this occasion, the Coroner's pathologist aborted the farce by determining quickly that the death was not reportable, and signing the death certificate himself.

Some conclusions can be drawn from this 4 year saga.