Eighty per cent of Australians believe that someone dying of a terminal illness should have the legal right to choose a peaceful death with compassionate medical assistance.
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Your sensible editorial on July 18 rightly balances the need for law reform to introduce voluntary assisted dying with the need for accompanying prudent safeguards.
Victoria passed such a law in 2017, together with safeguards to ensure that those who choose to use it are acting rationally and without coercion. That law has now come into effect.
The Victorian Parliamentary Committee's Report examined assisted dying laws in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada and the US State of Oregon.
It found that "the evidence is conclusive that assisted dying can be provided in a way that guards against abuse and protects the vulnerable in our community in a way that unlawful and unregulated assisted dying does not".
In 2018, a Western Australian Parliamentary Committee Report on End of Life Choices reached the same conclusion.
In particular, it supported the Canadian finding that "expert opinion evidence ... is that, with respect to [the Netherlands, Belgium and Oregon], the predicted abuse and disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations has not materialized".
NSW voters should call on their Members of Parliament to commit in principle to support voluntary assisted dying, and to use their judgement in settling the detailed safeguards when the draft legislation comes before Parliament later this year.
RICHARD MILLS
Former President, Dying with Dignity NSW
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