A legal framework for voluntary assisted dying : consultation paper / Queensland Law Reform Commission.

Brisbane : Queensland law Reform Commission, 2020.

199230

Euthanasia -- Australia.

Assisted suicide -- law and legislation -- Queensland.

Law reform -- Queensland.

1. Background

2. Overview of the voluntary assisted dying process in Victoria and Western Australia

3. Principles

4. Eligibility criteria for access to voluntary assisted dying

5. Initiating a discussion about voluntary assisted dying

6. The voluntary asisted dying process

7. Qualifications and training of health practitioners

8. Conscientious objection

9. Oversight, reporting and compliance

10. Other matters

Appendix A: Terms of reference

Appendix B: The voluntary assisted dying process in Victoria and Western Australia

Appendix C: Comparative guide to assisted dying legislation in selected jurisdictions.

"In Queensland, people seeking relief from prolonged intolerable suffering due to a life-limiting illness or a neurodegenerative condition are currently unable to access voluntary assisted dying. While these people may receive palliative care or a range of other supports, the options available to them if they wish to end their life are limited to the refusal of medical treatment, the refusal of food, the refusal of hydration, palliative sedation and suicide. The ability to seek assistance from a health practitioner when exercising these options is constrained by restrictions on what health practitioners can legally provide to their patients. Voluntary assisted dying allows people, in certain circumstances, to exercise greater choice over the timing and manner of their death. Voluntary assisted dying is a very complex and deeply personal issue that requires the balancing of a range of competing considerations, including respecting human rights and the dignity and autonomy of individuals, while also taking into account the need for safeguards to protect individuals who might be vulnerable to coercion or exploitation. On 21 May 2020, the Acting Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Acting Leader of the House, gave the Commission terms of reference to develop ‘an appropriate scheme for voluntary assisted dying and to prepare draft voluntary assisted dying legislation to give effect to its recommendations'." - Background.

"October 2020".

Includes bibliographical references.

9780648116462

x, 176 pages ; 30 cm