Who is Eligible for Voluntary Assisted Dying? Nine Medical Conditions Assessed Against Five Legal Frameworks
51 Pages Posted: 3 Aug 2022
Date Written: 2022
Abstract
Eligibility criteria in voluntary assisted dying legislation determine access to assistance to die. This article undertakes the practical exercise of analysing whether each of the following nine medical conditions can provide an individual with access to voluntary assisted dying: cancer, motor neurone disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, Alzheimer’s disease, anorexia, frailty, spinal cord injury and Huntington’s disease. This analysis occurs across five legal frameworks: Victoria, Western Australia, a model Bill in Australia, Oregon and Canada. The article argues that it is critical to evaluate voluntary assisted dying legislation in relation to key medical conditions to determine the law’s boundaries and operation. A key finding is that some frameworks tended to grant the same access to voluntary assisted dying, despite having different eligibility criteria. The article concludes with broader regulatory insights for designing voluntary assisted dying frameworks both for jurisdictions considering reform and those reviewing existing legislation.
Note:
Funding Information: Ben White is a recipient of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (project number FT190100410: Enhancing End-of- Life Decision-Making: Optimal Regulation of Voluntary Assisted Dying) funded by the Australian Government.
Conflict of Interests: We disclose that Ben White and Lindy Willmott were engaged by the Victorian, Western Australian and Queensland Governments to design and provide the legislatively mandated training for doctors involved in voluntary assisted dying. Jayne Hewitt was the project manager for the Victorian training project and Rebecca Meehan, Laura Ley Greaves and Eliana Close were employed on the project. Eliana Close and Katrine Del Villar were also employed on the Western Australian and Queensland training projects. James Cameron was a Senior Legal Policy Officer at the Department of Health and Human Services (Victoria) and developed and implemented the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 (Vic). Rebecca Meehan is an employee of Queensland Parliament, but this article only represents her views. Jocelyn Downie was a member of the Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel on End-of-Life Decision-Making, a member of the plaintiffs’ legal team in Carter v Canada (Attorney General) [2015] 1 SCR 331, a member of the Provincial-Territorial Expert Advisory Group on Physician-Assisted Dying and a member of the Council of Canadian Academies Expert Panel on Medical Assistance in Dying.
Keywords: voluntary assisted dying, health law, legal frameworks, medical conditions, reform
JEL Classification: I, I1, I19
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation