The Victorian Labor state government plans to pass a bill in 2025 to amend the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 to remove checks which had been designed to protect the lives of terminally ill patients.

Under the subterfuge of claiming to be making the Victorian Voluntary Assisted Dying Act (VAD) “fairer” the state
government says it will put the changes to parliament before the end of 2025.

A news release of 20 February 2025 from the Premier’s office reads “. . . the Labor government will rewrite
legislation to improve access to voluntary assisted dying, by bringing it into line with other jurisdictions.”

The phrase, “to improve access to voluntary assisted dying” actually means that euthanasia and doctor assisted
suicide will be performed more freely with the present checks and balances having been removed in the proposed
bill.

When the Victorian government talks about “bring it (the legislation) into line with other jurisdictions” this means that the government will liberalise the present legislation to make it comparable to the acts in other states which are more pro-euthanasia and more liberal on doctor assisted suicide.

Removing the ban on raising Voluntary Assisted Dying with patients

The present ban on health professionals raising the subject of voluntary assisted dying is to be removed.

The removal of what is commonly called the “gag law” will expose patients to health professionals who are
supporters of voluntary assisted dying and who are happy to raise the subject of their patients choosing the option
of being killed by direct euthanasia or doctor assisted suicide.

Victorian Health Minister, Mary-Anne Thomas claims, “More needs to be done to ensure that people have access to
compassionate end of life care.” What Ms Thomas is actually saying is that health care professionals are to be
permitted by the removal of the present “gag law” to bring up with patients the option to choose to be killed by
euthanasia or doctor assisted suicide. Doctors actually killing their patients or assisting them to kill themselves by
suicide is definitely not end of life care. Introducing this radical change in the law is quite the contrary.

RTLA opposes the changing the present act to allow health practitioners to raise with their patients the whole
subject of euthanasia or doctor assisted suicide as an option.

Health care professionals are there to care for the lives of their patients and never to be the purveyors of death
even if patients are terminally ill. At the time in their lives when terminally ill patients are most vulnerable, it is wrong to allow health care professionals to propose to their patients that their lives could be deliberately ended by
euthanasia or doctor assisted suicide.

Further, the risk of coercion is far greater if health practitioners were permitted to initiate discussions on what may
be described as voluntary assisted dying. There is often an imbalance of authority in discussions between health practitioners and patients. 

It may be argued that coercion can be rejected as highly improbable. However, when there is an imbalance of
status between the health care professional and the patient, there remains the distinct possibility that can and will
happen.

Another compelling argument is the reality that even the mere mention of the possibility of the patient choosing to
end their life risks that patients could very easily think that they have become a burden to others and decide to go
along with option put to them by their health care professional i.e choose to end their lives. Likewise, patients
facing an option to end their lives may conclude that for everybody’s sake they would be better off dead and
choose to end their lives.

Forcing health care professionals to give information about voluntary assisted dying

RTLA strongly objects to the government’s proposal to require all health care professionals who, as a matter of
conscience, are opposed to even giving any form of information regarding access to euthanasia or doctor assisted
suicide, to give information to patients on voluntary assisted dying.

For the Victorian Labor government to undermine and deny the right of conscientious objection on this life and death matter is a direct assault on the civil right of any citizen to freedom of conscience. This proposal from the state government is an egregious and extreme violation of the human rights of health care professionals and deserves condemnation.

If the unthinkable should eventuate and this violation of human rights be enacted in Victoria, it would force medical practitioners to choose from drastic options:

• To violate their own consciences and act in what is for them in an immoral way. In the long term such an
  action would lead to grave psychological and personal harm;
• To contravene the amended Voluntary Assisted Dying Act, which would lead to criminal sanctions, possible
  imprisonment, possible heavy fines and certainly loss of employment as a health care professional;
• To resign as a health care professional and so end their professional career;
• To move to another state where their right to freedom of conscience would be respected.

The gravity of these options clearly shows what is at stake.

Extending the period for prognosis of expected death to twelve months

RTLA opposes the proposed amendment to widen access by extending the present period for a prognosis of
expected death from six months to twelve months.

RTLA notes an initial argument for VAD was that terminally ill patients should be able to end their lives so avoiding unnecessary suffering. With the benefit of modern medicine, such suffering is limited to the final stage of illnesses, so the present six-month prognosis can be considered unwarranted. Moving to a twelve-month prognosis can be judged to be simply excessive and not justified.

A patient prognosis, and certainly not even with any treatment, can be an uncertain prognosis, but could easily be
classified as being a twelve-month prognosis under the proposed change to the Victorian VAD Act. Resulting from
this change it can be reasonably said that all patients with a diagnosed terminal illness will be able to access
euthanasia or doctor assisted suicide despite their having a definite possibility of surviving up to five years or more
after their initial diagnosis.

Shortening the period between a first and final request for VAD to five days

RTLA opposes any amendment which shortens the period between the first request and the final request for
euthanasia or doctor assisted suicide under the act.

A decision to end one’s life is irreversible. Patients need time to reflect on their decision – to be assured in their
own mind they have not made rash decision. Patients who have a terminal condition are fragile. Such patients do
benefit from sufficient time for them to think over the decision to end their lives and possibly to change their minds.
Five days in simply not enough time for this process to calmly evolve.

The current nine-day period allows a patient the time and mental space to calmly think over their decision.

Conclusion

Detailed analysis of the amendments to the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 planned by the Allan Labor
government shows how dangerous these amendments are to the protection of human life in Victoria. Right to Life
Australia and all committed to the protection of human life will campaign hard to defeat all of these amendments.

by Eugene Ahern, The Right to Life Australia Inc

The Right to Life Australia Inc. defends the right to life of all human beings from conception until natural death. We lobby government for legal protection of the most vulnerable in society – the unborn baby, elderly, sick and those with disabilities.