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Proposed legal euthanasia policy raises concerns
STEP Queensland has expressed concerns over the state’s proposed voluntary assisted dying policy and cautioned against some of the eligibility criteria.
Lauren Croft
The bill was first introduced to Queensland Parliament by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in May and would mean that people aged 18 years or older would be allowed to seek an assisted death if they were diagnosed by a medical practitioner as having an advanced and progressive terminal illness, or neurodegenerative condition that is expected to cause death within 12 months.
“I say to everyone across Queensland, we have listened, and today we act,” Ms Palaszczuk said in a statement at the time.
“The bill implements my government’s commitment to introduce a bill into parliament to give people the choice of voluntary assisted dying in Queensland.”
However, in response to a recent government consultation paper on proposed legislation governing legal euthanasia, STEP Queensland provided a submission to the Queensland Law Reform Commission with a detailed set of recommendations and cautions. The submission highlighted the importance of ensuring the safety and protection of vulnerable individuals who may be affected by the legislation, as well as facilitating the unimpeded actioning of the wishes of people intending to exercise their option of voluntary assisted dying.
“The legislation as proposed would entail allowing eligible individuals to voluntarily die via medical intervention. STEP Queensland has raised several specific concerns with the proposed framework for voluntary assisted dying – these relate largely to matters of efficiency and protecting vulnerable Australians from harm,” STEP Queensland said in a statement.
“Eligibility criteria have been noted as particularly essential to a correctly functioning legislative act. For example, STEP Queensland recommends that disability and mental illness do not inherently disqualify a person from exercising voluntary assisted dying. Rather, the assessment of eligibility should rely largely on a person’s mental capacity to make the decision to voluntarily die.”
Additionally, STEP said that a person must have the mental capacity at all times during the process or otherwise be deemed ineligible. This requirement for constant capacity highlights further the need for an efficient, unimpeded system given the fact that in many cases progressive illness may render a person incapable of deciding to voluntarily die.
Protecting vulnerable Australians can be achieved through the requirement of extensive training on capacity assessment for medical practitioners involved in voluntary euthanasia, according to the STEP Queensland policy committee.
Chris Herrald TEP states this training would result in “a noticeable difference in the way health practitioners approach an assessment of capacity”, which will strengthen the protection of mentally vulnerable individuals under this proposed legislation.
Furthermore, the government consultation paper on voluntary assisted dying raises the possibility of requiring a permit to be considered eligible. STEP Queensland recommends strongly against this suggestion because it “may unnecessarily delay the process and lead to an unnecessary prolonging of the person’s suffering.”
Lauren Croft
Lauren is a journalist at Lawyers Weekly and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from Macleay College. Prior to joining Lawyers Weekly, she worked as a trade journalist for media and travel industry publications and Travel Weekly. Originally born in England, Lauren enjoys trying new bars and restaurants, attending music festivals and travelling. She is also a keen snowboarder and pre-pandemic, spent a season living in a French ski resort.
