Interstate patients to flood Victoria if euthanasia legalised: AMA

Interstate terminally-ill patients could flood Victoria’s if it legalised euthanasia, it has been warned.

Australian Medical Association president Michael Gannon says legalising assisted death is a quagmire and difficult to implement. Picture: Ray Strange.

Interstate terminally ill patients could flood Victoria’s health system if the state were to legalise euthanasia, the peak medical body is warning.

Australian Medical Association president Michael Gannon said legalising assisted death was a quagmire and more difficult to implement than many realised.

The Andrews government has signalled it is likely to introduce laws making Victoria the first state to legalise euthanasia, with more than half the cabinet this week voicing support.

However, Dr Gannon said “there are many questions in this ­extremely complex area”.

“How do you fund this? Is it covered by Medicare? Is it a service that is provided in public hospitals?

“What is the ability of individual doctors and nurses in those hospitals to participate in those arrangements? It is very easy to stand up and say you believe in dignity in dying. It’s a whole lot more complicated to write laws that manage the hundreds of bits of detail that need to be sorted out before anyone can avail themselves of this service.”

Dr Gannon said the ­debate in Victoria should also focus on an improvement in palliative care across Australia.

“We know that the services available to the metropolitan areas are vastly superior to the services in regional and rural areas,’’ he said.

Premier Daniel Andrews is yet to explicitly show his hand on euthanasia after his Health Minister, Jill Hennessy, supported a change in the law on Tuesday.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy does not support state-sanctioned euthanasia but would allow his MPs a conscience vote.