Victor Tse AccS(Com), principal solicitor and mediator at Victor Tse & Associates, has published an article on Voluntary Assisted Dying in Victoria in the March 2024 edition of the Law Institute Journal.
He discusses the fact that current Voluntary Assisted Dying laws continue to generate debate and argues that further reform is required.
He has shared his article with us with permission. Download it here.
In relation to the current impediments and and the need for reform, Victor draws on a an article from The Medical Journal of Australia about the findings of an investigation into the barriers to and facilitators of access of VAD in Victoria.
He highlights the following issues:
Commonwealth Criminal Code
Commonwealth law prohibits the use of a carriage service such as telephone or telehealth for suicide related material which may include VAD. This impacts significantly on regional and rural patients. In order to access VAD, they may have to travel long distances for an in-person consultation with a medical practitioner.
Recently a Federal Court application was made by a Victorian GP for a judicial interpretation of suicide and whether it includes VAD. The Court concluded that taking VAD medication comes under the definition of suicide, therefore, telehealth continues to be illegal for terminally ill people seeking VAD.
Medicare benefit
At present, Medicare does not compensate medical practitioners spending clinical time to complete the often complex and time-consuming VAD assessments. Consequently, this puts a significant financial burden on VAD patients. Additionally, this lack of compensation may result in fewer practitioners available as it could be challenging for them to fully pass on their costs to the patient.
Eligibility criteria
In 2021 dementia was found to be the number one leading cause of death for females and the number two cause for males. Persons with dementia are unlikely to be eligible for VAD, either because they are not expected to die within six months or because their dementia has advanced to the point that they lack decision making capacity.
