The NSW Legislative Council will today resume debate on the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2017, which was introduced on September 21 this year. The bill was drafted by a cross-party parliamentary working group after extensive consultation.
Despite significant public support for euthanasia, the state’s Premier Gladys Berejiklian and opposition leader Luke Foley both indicate they won’t support this bill. Other groups, including the Catholic church, have also stated their opposition.
Like the Victorian bill being debated in the state’s upper house this week after passing the lower house last month, the NSW legislation legalises physician assisted dying rather than euthanasia. In physician assisted dying, a doctor facilitates patient access to a means of dying, typically a regulated drug, which the patient self-administers.
Euthanasia instead involves a medical professional or another person actively taking steps to end the patient’s life.
Apart from the NT’s short-lived Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995, euthanasia legislation in Australia has had a consistent history of failure. Since 1995, over 50 separate bills have failed to pass Australian state parliaments. The NSW bill differs substantially from the more conservative Victorian version – and leaves a lot of substantial questions answered.
Read more: Why Australia hesitates to legalise euthanasia
What’s in the NSW Bill?
Eligibility
Under the NSW bill, residents of the state over the age of 25 are eligible to seek assistance to end their lives. This is subject to medical opinion confirming they have 12 months or less to live due to a terminal illness, and they are experiencing unacceptable pain, suffering, or physical incapacity.
The bill permits doctors to lawfully provide assistance to patients wanting support to end their own lives. That support must accord with a process outlined in the bill. The doctor prescribes, prepares, or supplies a substance for self-administration by the patient. Assistance also includes administering (or authorising administration of) the substance to patients unable to administer it themselves.
Read more: What we need from drugs that are meant to end life
The patient must be examined by at least two doctors, including a specialist relevant to the patient’s terminal diagnosis. This is to confirm the patient’s eligibility, and that there are no medical interventions acceptable to the patient that could reasonably lead to a cure.
A psychiatric or psychological evaluation assessing the patient’s decision-making capacity and verifying that their decision is voluntary is also required. The patient and the doctors then complete a request certificate, documenting the request for assistance.
At least 48 hours after completion of the certificate, the principal assessing doctor can provide the requested assistance. The patient can then self-administer the substance or, if physically incapable of self-administering it, have it administered.
Protections
Doctors may refuse to provide assistance for any reason and a patient can withdraw the request at any time. Withdrawal must be recorded on both the certificate and medical records.