Nationally consistent palliative care services and standards are urgently needed to improve quality end of life care, says the Australian Medical Association.
The call came with the AMA’s release of its updated position statement on Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide 2016, which maintains its position that doctors should not be involved in interventions with a primary aim of ending of a person’s life.
While assisted death remains illegal in Australia, there is increasing pressure on governments to consider legislation that could be framed to allow for people to access these services.
South Australia has made a number of unsuccessful attempts to have it passed through parliament and Victorian politicians are due to debate proposed legislation any day now.
The Victorian Parliament’s Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee tabled a report in June that recommended passing laws making it legal for a terminally ill patient at the end of their life to ask a doctor to help them die.
AMA president Dr Michael Gannon applauded the quality of the report, and conceded that a ‘significant proportion of our members’ were keen to see it happen in Australia.
However they also want legislation that offers clear protection for patients and doctors.
“We must also maintain the ability of doctors, nurses and health professionals to conscientiously object to participation,” he told the limbic.
The updated position statement is the result of a comprehensive year-long policy review by the AMA, including a survey of AMA members, and was updated against the backdrop of increased community and political debate on euthanasia and physician assisted suicide.
“I think the statement is very positive,” Dr Gannon said. “There’s something in the policy statement that has something for everyone.”
He said there would no doubt be critics, and he appreciated there was a wide range of opinions on euthanasia and assisted suicide, but the statement was a reflection of the survey results.
He said it was important that the AMA had its collective views heard, especially in a climate where some state parliaments were currently considering euthanasia legislation.
“The key outcome from our policy review – and the core message from our updated Position Statement – is that there needs to be much greater investment in quality end of life care, especially nationally consistent palliative care services,” he said.
The AMA Position Statement on Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide 2016 replaces the Position Statement on the Role of the Medical Practitioner in End of Life Care 2007 (Amended 2014).
Dr Gannon said that the AMA maintained its position that doctors should not be involved in interventions that have as their primary intention the ending of a person’s life.