NSW Police not set up to address incidents of pressured Voluntary Assisted Dying

Police in NSW lack protocols to deal with incidents of vulnerable people, such as elders, being put under pressure to request VAD.

Police in NSW lack protocols to deal with incidents of vulnerable people, such as the elderly, being put under pressure to request voluntary assisted dying.

The Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2022 No 17 came into effect in NSW last week, allowing individuals to legally request VAD from their doctor.

The Computerised Operational Policing System is the NSW Police Force’s operational database, which detects and records offenders, victims and incidents requiring police action.

NSW MLC Greg Donnelly was a vocal advocate against the passing of VAD laws in NSW, and has since been pushing for Police Commissioner Karen Webb and Police Minister Yasmin Catley to take immediate action to update CoPS and ­develop an operational protocol for how police will address reports of individuals being pressured into VAD.

“CoPS does not have a specific field that captures information relating to potential breaches or breaches of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2022 No 17 with respect to the criminal offences provided for in the legislation,” Mr Donnelly said.

At this stage it is unclear what steps the NSW Police Force will take to prevent potential breaches or deal with breaches, such as individuals being put under duress or pressure to request VAD.

The act added four new offences to the Crimes Act 1900 No 40, including unauthorised administration of prescribed substance, inducing another person to request or access voluntary assisted dying, inducing self-­administration of prescribed substance, and advertising Schedule 4 or 8 poison as voluntary assisted dying substance.

Of particular concern is how offences relating to the issue of pressure or duress will be monitored, particularly when considering vulnerable groups such as elderly people.

“We know based on case studies of other Australian jurisdictions that doctors and others have been made aware of, or heard first hand, conversations between adult children and their parents in hospital, where the adult children suggest (to their parents) that they should consider going down the path of VAD,” Mr Donnelly said.

“If an elderly person rang their local suburban police station and spoke to a policeman about the pressure and duress they were being exposed to by a son or daughter to go down the path of VAD, what would the police say and do to the individual? How will the enquiry be managed by NSW Police? The potential consequence of not dealing with the enquiry immediately is obvious,” he said.

In response to Mr Donnelly’s letter, Ms Catley said the NSW Police Force had “long-established protocols” for dealing with the investigation of deceased persons. She confirmed updates to CoPS for voluntary assisted dying were being addressed and would be completed by “the end of November 2023”.

Last week, the VAD Act became fully operational in NSW making VAD accessible to all eligible NSW residents. When asked by The Australian whether the updates to CoPS had been completed, the NSW Police responded that the changes were still “under way”.