News

Over 450 Quebec patients received MAID last year

A total of 461 patients were granted doctor-assisted death during the first year of Quebec's medical aid in dying law, according to data obtained by CBC's French-language service, Radio-Canada. According to Dr. Alain Naud, the data indicates medical aid in dying is meeting a societal...

Rose’s Story and why the politicians won’t talk

Rose Tyburczy, suffered with Corticobasal degeneration (a rare, progressive neurodegenerative disease) and wanted to die. She had hoped that a change in the law in South Australia would allow her the choice of medical assistance to die. When the Death with Dignity Bill 2016 failed...

Dr Syme response to Inquiry Report

By Dr Rodney Syme The Victorian Upper House Committee of Inquiry into End of Life Choices produced an excellent report last year, which recommended that the government legislate for assisted dying with appropriate safeguards. The only disappointing aspect of the parliamentary report was the recommendation assistance...

New WA Premier supports VAD

In a landslide result, Western Australia has elected a new Labor Premier, Mark McGowan, who supports voluntary assisted dying legislation. McGowan's views on assisted dying were well known to the people of WA before the election. The outgoing Liberal Premier had been quoted as saying...

A physician’s view of MAID in Canada

Dr. Lianne Yoshida has been a family physician for 17 years in Nova Scotia, Canada. As of December 2016, she had helped four patients end their suffering. “When families have watched their loved one suffer for a long time, both the patients and families have...

MAID Act passes Hawai’i Senate

In a full floor vote, the Hawai‘i Senate today voted 22 to 3 to approve Senate Bill 1129, the Medical Aid in Dying Act, and refer it to the House of Representatives for further consideration. SB1129 SD1 is modelled on the Oregon statute and includes...

How many people are ending their lives in places where VAD is legal?

With the issue back in the headlines, federal Labor’s justice spokesperson, Clare O'Neil, told Q&A that in countries where the practice is legal, “very, very small” numbers of people use the laws. According to a peer-reviewed paper published last year in the respected journal JAMA:...

Doctor Death Penalty Bill defeated in Montana

The Montana House reversed course today and rejected a bill that would have allowed the state to EXECUTE (!) doctors for writing a prescription for aid-in-dying medication for a terminally ill adult who requests it to peacefully end their suffering. HB 536 would have overturned...

DJ’s assisted suicide stirs up Italian euthanasia debate

Much loved Italian disc jockey, Fabio Antoniani, euthanised himself this week following a lengthy battle with the Italian government to bring his excruciating pain to an end. He was surrounded by his family and girlfriend at a clinic in Zurich. His death, after years of...

VCAT Ruling on Nembutal sets important precedent

Just before Christmas 2016, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) handed down a historic judgement in a case brought by the veteran advocate for assisted dying, Dr Rodney Syme. VCAT accepted Syme’s defence (that his supply of Nembutal to dying patients was a legitimate...

Voluntary Euthanasia Debate on ABC Q&A Program

Panellists: philosopher Peter Singer; Shadow Minister for Justice (Labor) Clare O’Neil MP;  Senator Scott Ryan (Liberal); media and policy advisor Ted Lapkin; social scientist and sustainability expert, Dr Leyla Acaroglu. Transcript of ABC QandA 270217 questions related to VAD Watch extract of QandA program      ...

Montana man dies, thanks to court ruling for his Grandfather

“If you can think of the worst flu you’ve ever had and you get the cold sweats and then have someone stab a hot poker in your insides and just twist it around,” TJ Mutchler says in the video, referring to the pain he was...