Voluntary assisted dying is legal in Australia – but many of us don’t know

Voluntary assisted dying is legal All Australian states. This enables terminally ill adults who are suffering and have the decision-making capacity to choose assisted dying.

Victoria’s law was the first, coming into force in 2019. Recent South Wales was the last state, with its voluntary right to die starting in slow 2023.

Voluntary dying of aid allowed in the Australian capital territory in November and Northern Territory Report He recommended that a voluntary right to die also be passed.

While the expansive majority of Australians currently live in jurisdictions where voluntary assisted dying is permitted, access to voluntary dying depends on it being a legal option. But ours new research He suggests that many Australians don’t know this.

Studying in Queensland

Voluntary assisted dying became legal in Queensland On January 1, 2023, we moved Online survey of 1,000 adults in Queensland in mid-20124 to find out whether the community knew about this fresh end-of-life choice.

We set quotas for age, gender and geographic location to ensure that the people we surveyed were representative of the general Queensland population.

We first asked whether people thought voluntary dying of aid was legal in Queensland. Just one third (33%) identified correctly It was. Of the 67% who did not, 41% believed voluntary dying of aid was illegal and 26% said they did not know.

People who knew that voluntary dying aids were legal generally found out in one of three ways:

• from the media

• From work experience (for example, working in healthcare)

• From personal experience (for example, knowing someone who has asked, requested or accessed voluntary assisted dying).

We then told our survey participants voluntary dying aid was legal in Queensland and asked if they knew how to access it if they wanted to. Only a quarter (26%) answered yes.

The survey also asked people where they could look for information about voluntary assisted dying. Most people said they would look for this information online, but asking doctors, especially doctors, was also significant.

Legal and cultural barriers

Perhaps not surprisingly, few members of the surveyed public know that dying voluntarily is a legal choice. This is still a relatively fresh law. But they are specific barriers in Australia that may prevent people from finding out about it.

One of the main barriers is often practicing health I can’t discuss freely Voluntary assistance in dying with patients. Laws in all states control how conversations about voluntary assisted dying can occur.

For example, in Queensland, only doctors and nurses may increase voluntary assisted dying And only if they also discuss available treatment and palliative care options and their likely outcomes.

But the most problematic ones are Victorian AND South Australian Laws that prohibit health practitioners from raising the topic with patients. Many people have relied on their doctor to tell them about treatment options, so it’s a problem if the onus is on the patient to bring it up.

Conscientious opposition is another significant barrier. Some doctors are against voluntary dying, and even if they practice in a state where they can legally raise it, they may not tell their patients about it. This is another reason why patients may not know that voluntary assisted dying may be a choice for them.

It is significant to note that our study was only conducted in Queensland, so we cannot be sure that the findings represent the wider Australian population. But given these barriers to knowledge about voluntary dying, it is reasonable to predict similar trends in other states.

National challenge

Raising community awareness of voluntary assisted dying is a challenge across the country. Voluntary assisted oversight boards from five states (QueenslandIN TasmaniaIN VictoriaIN Western Australia AND South Australia) They all discussed this issue in their latest annual reports.

Additionally, Western Australia recently reviewed its voluntary dying laws, identifying a lack of community knowledge as a problem. . The review required a strategy To fix it.

We see this challenge as “voluntary assisted dying literacy.” Greater voluntary dying literacy assistance will enable members of the public to learn about their options and how to make the choices they want.

What can we do about it?

We need community awareness initiatives to boost knowledge that voluntary assisted dying is legal and to ensure people know where to find information about this option. Information about voluntary assisted dying is now available to everyone State Government Health Departmentsbut more is needed to ensure it reaches more people.

Respondents to our survey suggested using social media campaigns, advertising and sharing information through Centrelink, Clinics Health and other trusted community channels.

We also offer targeted information for specific patient groups who may be eligible for voluntary assisted dying, such as those with cancer or neurodegenerative diseases. This means they know that voluntary assisted dying may be one of the treatment options available to them and how to navigate the process if they want.

These initiatives would need to be designed sensitively with an emphasis on providing information to avoid the perception that people may feel induced or targeted to access voluntary assisted dying.

Training for doctors is also significant. This is especially needed for GPS and professionals working in end-of-life care. The training will support physicians to facilitate informed discussions with patients and families.

There was powerful community support key argument to legalize voluntary dying in Australia. The audience wanted this as an end-of-life choice. But this choice is only real if people know it exists.

Our online resource The right to life in Australia Has more information on voluntary dying points and contact points to access it in each state.