A New Era of Individual Freedom & Dignity - Western Australia Legalized Voluntary Assisted Euthanasia

By: Emily Seeling

Euthanasia is the deliberate ending of an individual’s life due to unbearable pain and suffering.[1] There are four different types of euthanasia: passive voluntary, active voluntary, passive involuntary, and active involuntary.[2] Active euthanasia is when a doctor assists the individual by purposely giving an individual a lethal dose of a sedative.[3] While passive euthanasia involves withholding life-sustaining treatment resulting in death,[4] voluntary euthanasia is when the individual makes the decision to end their own life, and involuntary is when someone else makes the decision to end the individual’s life.[5] The world is uncertain as to what the best resolution is for an individual diagnosed with a terminal illness resulting in death within six months that is filled with excruciating pain and suffering.

On December 10, 2019, Western Australia became the second state in Australia and the nineteenth jurisdiction in the world to legalize voluntary assisted dying.[6] Western Australia followed behind the state of Victoria that passed legislation legalizing voluntary assisted dying in 2017.[7] Western Australia’s legislation has established strict eligibility for voluntary assisted dying and every criterion must be met: the individual must be eighteen or older,[8] the individual must be an Australian citizen or permanent residence of Western Australia for at least twelve months,[9] and the individual must be diagnosed with at least one disease, illness, or medical condition that is neurodegenerative and will result in death within six months (twelve months at most) with suffering that is intolerable.[10] Additionally, the individual must be capable of making a voluntary decision without coercion and must make a request for access to voluntary assisted dying.[11] The legislation further explains that an individual with a disability or mental illness is not eligible for assisted dying.[12] Western Australia mirrored Victoria in creating eligibility criteria that allow assisted dying from the hands of the diagnosed under very limited circumstances.

In addition, Western Australia created safeguards through provisions in the legislation requiring multiple requests for assisted dying. The individual must give three requests for assisted dying, with the first and final request being verbal or with a gesture.[13] After the first request has been given approval from two medical practitioners the individual must provide a written declaration.[14] The written declaration must be signed by two witnesses that meet certain criteria. The witnesses must be at least eighteen years, cannot be related to the individual or be the individual’s practitioner, and cannot receive any pecuniary gains or benefit in any material way from the individual’s death.[15] The individual may decide at any point to end the process to assisted dying through written or verbal acknowledgement, and even if the individual decides to end the process the individual may decide and can request assisted dying again in the future.[16] The multiple requests requirement creates a safety net for individuals that may or may not be completely committed to ending their own life.

Furthermore, Western Australia legislation provides certain requirements with regard to medical practitioners involved in assisted dying. A concern that arises from Western Australia’s regulation is that the practitioners do not have to be an expert in a particular field and can just be general practitioners with ten years of experience.[17] This can result in finding eligibility when it may be inappropriate. One solution is the individual must be assessed by two different medical practitioners: a coordinating practitioner and a consulting practitioner.[18] In addition, medical practitioners must have mandatory training in order to determine whether an individual qualifies for voluntary assisted dying.[19] Another aspect required of medical practitioners is to provide information to an individual that requests assisted dying. The information provided should explain the diagnosis and prognosis, all treatment and care options as well as the outcome from the treatment and care, and the process of assisted dying with the result that death will occur.[20] This allows individuals to make an informed decision. Western Australia may have complications down the road in regard to the experiences and expertise of the medical practitioner considering any medical practitioners can become an assisted dying practitioner.

Another aspect of Western Australia’s assisted dying regulation is that it can be either self-administrated or practitioner administrated. Practitioner administrated allows for the medical practitioner to prepare and administer the prescription to the individual.[21] The concern comes in with the self-administrated process. Under this method, the individual is given the power to administer the prescription themselves.[22] The issue arises if the drug provided does not result in death due to the lack of research surrounding the drugs involved with assisted dying.[23] The complications that could arise from a drug that is not effective leads towards eliminating the option of self-administration. However, eliminating the option can also be seen as reducing the freedom and dignity of the individual. It also puts more pressure on medical practitioners to be the only source of assisted dying, which could result in fewer practitioners and future psychological concerns of the practitioners that administer the drug to patients.[24] Western Australia’s assisted dying legislation increases personal choice and dignity, but may result in complications in the future with ineffective drugs due to lack of research.

No one will truly understand the contemplation of wanting to end their own life because of a terminating illness with unimaginable pain until one is faced with the situation. Western Australia made a leap into a direction to improve individual freedom and personal dignity in relation to excruciating terminal illnesses. While the regulation may have the right goals in mind of allowing an individual to request assisted dying, the process is not bulletproof and potential complication may arise in the future based on the current regulation that will be fully enacted within eighteen months.[25] Although assisted dying is a highly controversial issue, Western Australia has joined into the international acceptance of individual freedom and dignity. 

#Australia #BlogPost #Euthanasia #EmilySeeling

[1] Kimberly Holland, Euthanasia: Understanding the Facts, Healthline (May 28, 2018), https://www.healthline.com/health/what-is-euthanasia.

[2] Id.

[3] Law & Public Administration Group, Euthanasia – The Australian Law in an International Context, Parliament of Austl., https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/RP9697/97rp4 (last updated 1997).

[4] Id.

[5] Id.

[6] Voluntary Assisted Dying, Gov’t of Western Austl. Dep’t of Health, https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/voluntaryassisteddying, (last updated Dec. 12, 2019).

[7] Courtney Hempton, Western Australia Looks Set to Legalize Voluntary Assisted Dying. Here’s What’s Likely to Happen from Next Week, Conversation (Dec. 5, 2019 8:08 PM), https://theconversation.com/western-australia-looks-set-to-legalise-voluntary-assisted-dying-heres-whats-likely-to-happen-from-next-week-128386.

[8] Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2019, (WA) s 16 (Austl.).

[9] Id.

[10] Id.

[11] Id.

[12] Id.

[13] Id. at pt 3.

[14] Id.

[15] Id.

[16] Id.

[17] Id. at pt 4. For example, an individual who is diagnosed with cancer at an end stage, but the practitioner is not a specialist in cancer, but just has the mandatory training for determining eligibility of assisted dying.

[18] Id.

[19] Id.

[20] Id.

[21] Id. ss 58-59.

[22] Id.

[23] Euthanasia Becomes Law in Western Australia, TOTT News, Dec. 19, 2019, https://tottnews.com/2019/12/19/euthanasia-becomes-law-wa/.

[24] Id.

[25] Id.