Friday, 29 March, 2024
HomeWeekly RoundupSecond Australian state votes to legalise voluntary assisted dying

Second Australian state votes to legalise voluntary assisted dying

Western Australia has legalised voluntary assisted dying, becoming the second state in the country to do so, reports BBC News. Victoria legalised assisted dying in 2017 and in August, a woman with terminal cancer became the first person to end their life under that law.

MPs in Perth took five hours to pass 55 amendments to the legislation which had been approved by the upper house – the legislative council – in a marathon session last week. The controversial law has produced weeks of often impassioned debate.

The report says the new law – which some opponents had described as dangerous and reckless – includes more than 100 safeguards. A person seeking to be eligible would have to be terminally ill and in severe pain; their condition would need to be likely to result in death within six months, or a year for a neuro-degenerative condition; and two verbal requests and one written request are needed and those requests would need to be signed off by two doctors independent of one another.

The report says the scheme is expected to come into effect in about 18 months to give health providers time to prepare.

[link url="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50733018"]BBC News report[/link]

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