The NSW Voluntary Assisted Dying Act commenced on 28 November 2023.
Dying with Dignity NSW has been lobbying for this compassionate, end-of life choice for nearly 50 years so we have an enormous sense of relief and we are proud of everyone who made this law a reality.
The new law gives terminally ill people in NSW the ability to avoid the extreme suffering many experience at the end of their lives, despite the best available medical and palliative care.
The law is a conservative model of voluntary assisted dying, limited to NSW residents who are terminally ill and whose intolerable suffering cannot be alleviated.
Below is a brief outline of the NSW law. Visit the NSW Health website for detailed information about the regime and how to make an application.
Eligibility criteria
- You must be an adult (18 years and older)
- You must be a citizen or permanent resident of Australia, or have resided in Australia for at least 3 continuous years
- You must have been living in NSW for at least 12 months
- You must have at least one disease, illness or medical condition that:
- is advanced, progressive,
- will, on the balance of probabilities, cause your death within six months (or 12 months for neurodegenerative diseases such as motor neurone disease), and
- is causing suffering that cannot be relieved in a way you consider tolerable.
- You must have decision-making capacity in relation to voluntary assisted dying
- You must be acting voluntarily
- You must not be acting because of pressure or duress, and
- Your request for access to voluntary assisted dying has to be enduring.
The process
- To apply for VAD, you must make the request yourself. It cannot be made by a family member, a carer or anyone else
- A request cannot be made in an advance care directive because you must have decision-making capacity throughout the whole process
- You must make three requests and one has to be in writing. There must be two eligible witnesses to the written request
- Assessment of eligibility is carried out by two authorised VAD practitioners ie. doctors who have done the VAD training and have the required qualifications and experience
- Those doctors are trained to recognise the signs of pressure or duress. If they are unsure whether you are acting voluntarily and not under pressure or duress, they must refer you to someone with the skills and training to make a determination. This could be a psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker, depending on the circumstances.
- If you are approved for VAD you can choose to take the medication yourself or to have it administered by a doctor.
- You must have decision-making capacity at all stages of the process.
- You can withdraw or pause the process at any time.
For the most accurate and up-to-date information on how to apply for voluntary assisted dying, please
visit the NSW Health Voluntary Assisted Dying website here