Right to die: ‘lift ban on GP calls’
Anthony Albanese is under renewed pressure from Queensland’s Labor government to change laws that prevent doctors using telehealth to discuss assisted dying.
Anthony Albanese is under renewed pressure from Queensland’s Labor government to change laws that prevent doctors using telehealth to discuss assisted dying before another 14 million Australians become eligible to access the scheme next year.
All of Australia’s six states have embraced voluntary euthanasia for the terminally ill, but those living in regional and remote parts of the country will not have equal access unless the commonwealth amends legislation that prohibits “inciting or counselling” suicide over the phone or internet.
The Australian revealed in July that Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus was investigating changes to the Criminal Code after senior members of the Palaszczuk government raised concerns about doctors being fined $222,000 for discussing euthanasia via telehealth.
Queensland’s Acting Premier, Steven Miles, the champion of assisted dying laws in his state, urged the commonwealth to act by the end of the year.
“We would certainly urge them to move quickly,” he said. “Obviously they have only been elected a couple of months now so we have been letting them get their feet under the desk and get on top of issues, but from here we would urge them to address that concern. I know other states have expressed a similar view.”
Assisted dying is already under way in Victoria and Western Australia and will be available in Tasmania in October.
Queensland and South Australia’s schemes will come into effect in January, and NSW in October next year.
A federal bill to restore territory rights and allow the ACT and Northern Territory to introduce their own laws on assisted dying passed the lower house in early August.
Mr Miles said the inability to use telehealth for assisted dying was a “bigger issue here in Queensland than anywhere else” because the state was so decentralised.
“We will provide very specific clinical practice advice to health professionals to ensure they aren’t breaking the law, but we would encourage the federal government to address this problem before then.”
Mr Miles said if the law could not be changed then commonwealth prosecutors could be given guidelines not to charge VAD doctors, which would be a “relatively simple thing to do”.
A spokesman for Mr Dreyfus said there was “no update at this stage” beyond a communique issued after a meeting of attorneys-general on August 12.
“The Australian government is closely considering the issue of health practitioners being at risk of prosecution and agreed that this item will be further considered at the next meeting,” it read.
Concerned by the possible intersection of the federal law with its VAD scheme, Victoria in 2019 advised doctors not to use telehealth conferencing.
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