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Words: Cameron StewartProducer: Bianca Farmakis
‘Our brother shot our father dead. It was a heroic act’
Sitting in his prison cell, Glenn Stratton didn’t know whether the world would call him a murderer for the extraordinary mercy killing he’d committed. Stratton had shot his own father, Colin, in the head. 
He had admitted it.
admitted
murderer
On May 24, 2021, the father of five’s action confounded the justice system and it raised serious questions about whether Australia has struck the right balance in its voluntary assisted dying laws.
Glenn was living with his dad in 2018 when Colin was diagnosed with an aggressive form of bowel cancer and was given only a 50 per cent chance to live. 
The backstory
In September 2019 he was given a terminal diagnosis. Colin told his children that he wanted to die at the time of his choosing.
On May 18, 2021, Colin added a page to his Advanced Care Directive: “I do not do this because I am depressive or anything but because I feel now is the right time,” it read.
One week before 
He made 10.30am on May 24  the day he was going to die.
Colin took himself to his local doctor and asked her for the “suicide pill”. He said that if she wouldn’t help him get it that day he would go home and shoot himself in the head.  He was told the voluntary assisted dying process (VAD) could take up to two weeks to be approved.
The morning of
Colin asked his children to help him load the gun. Glenn returned with the gun his father had given him for his 14th birthday, and made a final plea for his dad to change his mind.
The fatal moment
Unable to reach the trigger himself, Colin begged his son to pull the trigger. 
A shouting match,
an exchange of loving goodbyes, 
and a single shot later, 
Glenn had done it.
Glenn’s unusual case shifted from murder to aiding and abetting a suicide, which carried a sentence of up to five years’ jail. 
Crime and punishment
On December 9, the court placed Glenn on a good behaviour bond for two years, requiring him to undergo treatment for his PTSD.
Australia is only now embracing the concept of voluntary assisted dying after years of protracted and often heated debate on the legal and ethical implications. All six states have either passed laws; or implemented them.
VAD laws at a glance
VIC implemented VAD in June 2019
WA implemented VAD in July 2021
TAS, October 2022
VAD will commence in:
QLD, January 2023
SA, early 2023
NSW, November 2023
We don’t want anyone to go through what we’ve been through. What Dad went through. What Glenn went through. There has to be a better way.
“
Donna Stratton,
“
Glenn's sister
If you or anyone you know needs help, please contact Lifeline at 13 11 14

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/web-stories/free/the-australian/voluntary-assisted-dying-laws-son-shoots-father-death