Philip Nitschke expects states to act on dying

Euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke says Victoria’s assisted dying laws will put pressure on other states to pass similar legislation.

Euthanasia advocate Dr Philip Nitschke.

Prominent euthanasia campaign­er Philip Nitschke says Victoria’s assisted dying laws — which will be implemented from Wednesday — will put pressure on other state parliaments to pass similar legislation.

From Wednesday, terminally ill Victorians who meet 68 criteria will be able to ask their doctors for access to a lethal concoction of drugs, in a move that is expected to spark a national domino effect. It will be the first time since Northern Territory laws were overturned by the federal government in 1997 that voluntary euthanasia has been legal in any Australian jurisdiction.

Dr Nitschke said demand for choice about how people end their lives had been growing ever since.

“It will put a lot of pressure on the other state parliaments to pass legislation. You can’t have people in NSW pressing their noses against the glass saying, ‘How come Victorians have got this choice and we don’t?’,” he said.

More than 2200 people have attended Health Department informat­ion sessions about Victori­a’s new scheme, but formal applications will not be accepted by doctors until Wednesday.

To date, 89 doctors have complete­d training and there is at least one public health service in each region with qualified staff who can do assessments.

Western Australia is eyeing similar laws. Queensland is holding an inquiry and the Territory wants to reinstate laws the federal government overturned in 1997.

Victorian Voluntary Assisted Dying Implementation Taskforce chairman Julian Gardner said it was hard to predict how many people would make use of the new laws. “Typically, with similar schemes overseas, we’ve seen a gradual progression. In the first 12 months, the number could be 50,” Mr Gardner said.

“Having said that, I would be very surprised if there aren’t some people who have been waiting for this and are therefore waiting to talk to their doctor on Wed­nesday.”

Mr Gardner said he expected many more people to benefit from discussions with their doctors around palliative care and pain management that would be brought about by the existence of the new laws than would take the medication.

In order to be eligible for voluntary assisted dying, patients must be aged 18 or older; have been a Victorian resident for at least 12 months and be an Australian citizen; have the capacity to make the decision; have a disease, illness or medical condition which is incur­able, progressive and will cause death within six months (or within 12 months in the case of a neurodegenerative condition); and must be suffering in a way which cannot be relieved in a tolerable manner.

Mr Gardner said the ­suffering could be “existential, spiritual or emotional”.

Medical professionals who object­ to the scheme will not be obliged to administer it.

Bernadette Tobin of the Plunkett Centre for Ethics writes in The Weekend Australian today that Catholic hospitals will not provide VAD services, because “assisting a patient to suicide undermines the very meaning of medicine”.

However, “if a patient wants to access VAD services, the hospital will release the patient or transfer the patient to another facility”.

Additional Reporting: AAP