Doctors travelling, posting scripts to avoid ‘suicide’ investigations

Queensland doctors are being flown around the state to consult terminally ill patients in-person to prevent the state’s Voluntary Assisted Dying scheme falling foul of Commonwealth laws around suicide.

While 793 people took their lives under Queensland’s VAD scheme in 2023-24, there were concerns those in regional and remote areas were disadvantaged because of a ban on the use of telehealth services.

Commonwealth laws make it illegal to use phones and computers to facilitate suicide. Successive federal governments have refused to clarify the issue in relation to VAD, despite a legal challenge and lobbying from several states.

In Queensland, 796 people utilised the state’s Voluntary Assisted Dying scheme in 2023-24, despite legal and resourcing issues.Credit: Alamy

Queensland Health has had to organise at least 117 flights since the scheme started in January 2023, so patients could be seen in person. Scripts were also mailed instead of being sent electronically.

The Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board, which oversaw the scheme, expressed concern over individual doctors’ workloads, regional inequities, and the potential for scripts to go missing at a critical time.

Queensland Health confirmed one script was lost in the mail and had to be reissued.

“The Commonwealth must change this legislation so that people in regional and remote parts of state are not left suffering while waiting for end-of-life services,” the incumbent Queensland health minister, Labor’s Shannon Fentiman, told this masthead.

“Voluntary assisted dying is now law in every state, and delaying the update of this federal legislation is directly impacting Queenslanders.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese previously suggested any changes would be subject to a conscience vote.

“My personal opinion is that these issues are serious and that telehealth should not be used because I’d be concerned about some of the implications there,” Albanese said last year.

However, a private member’s bill intended to resolve the issue was ignored by the major parties in Canberra and not even debated.

In the lead-up to the Queensland election, Labor had questioned whether an LNP state government would take the opportunity to unwind VAD laws.

While LNP leader David Crisafulli voted against the laws, he repeatedly promised “no change” to VAD if his party were to take government after October 26.

That was despite LNP members and candidates expressing strong views on the issue, and also campaigning for changes to Queensland abortion laws.

Asked on Monday whether he would go so far as to deny MPs a conscience vote on those issues, Crisafulli was adamant the party would follow his lead.

“I’m telling you, there will be no change,” he told reporters, during four minutes of repeated questioning on the campaign trail.

“The only reason we are discussing this in Queensland is because the government is attempting to run a scare campaign that is dishonest and, quite frankly, it’s crossed the line, and it’s got to be called out.”

Former LNP minister Jann Stuckey had earlier told The Australian “a captain’s call cannot stop agitation and action from MPs dead against this legislation, it’s his party room that will decide”

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