WA Government Introduces Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill Into Parliament

On Wednesday 7 August 2019, the WA Minister for Health Roger Cook introduced the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2019 (the Bill) into the WA Parliament. The broad purposes of the Bill are:

• to provide for and regulate access to voluntary assisted dying;
• to establish the Voluntary Assisted Dying Board; and
• to make consequential amendments to other Acts.

Under the proposed laws, a terminally ill Western Australian could take a drug to end their own lives, or ask a doctor to do it for them. According to WA Premier Mark McGowan's statement in a media release dated 6 August 2019, Labor MPs will be given a "conscience vote" at the end of the legislative debate on the issue, with the debate being scheduled for the remainder of the 2019 Parliamentary year.

The Bill follows on from two major reports, both of which included significant consultation across WA. These were:

•  The Joint Select Committee report on End of Life Choices - My Life, My Choice which was tabled in the WA Parliament on 23 August 2018; and
•  TheFinal Report of the Ministerial Expert Panel on Voluntary Assisted Dying chaired by Malcolm McCusker AC QC which was tabled in the WA Parliament on 27 June 2019.

In his media release the Premier indicated that:

The Bill is said to follow on "the biggest public and community consultation ever undertaken by WA Health". Further, experience in jurisdictions where similar laws exist was examined, including the recently enacted Victorian legislation, which came into force in June 2019.

In his media release, the Premier also said the Report recommendations that were finally supported in the legislation:

The final Bill includes 102 safeguards that are stringent measures to ensure safe and workable legislation.

How the WA Legislation Will Work

Under the proposed law, any adult Australian citizen or permanent resident, who has been a resident of WA for at least one year, will be eligible to apply.  They must have an illness or medical condition that is advanced and will "on the balance of probabilities" cause their death within six months or 12 months, if it is a neurodegenerative condition. The condition must also be one that is causing suffering that cannot be relieved in a tolerable manner, and would also need to be causing suffering to the person that cannot be relieved in a manner that the person considers tolerable.

The request and assessment process in the proposed laws requires three requests by the patient, including two verbal requests with a written declaration in between that must be witnessed by two independent people. There must be a minimum of two independent medical assessments by two doctors and palliative care and treatment options available to the patient and the likely outcomes of that care and treatment are among a list of rigorous assessment measures and information included in the medical assessment phase. There would be a minimum of nine days between the initial request and final approval and the choice of lethal medication would be a clinical decision from an approved list of drugs. Self-administration would be the preferred method, but a patient could choose for a medical practitioner to administer the drug - a departure from the Victorian legislation's approach where a doctor can only administer the drug if a patient is physically incapable of doing so.

Another difference between the WA and Victorian legislation is that a medical practitioner would not be prohibited from starting a conversation with a patient about accessing the voluntary assisted dying regime.

One recommendation of the expert panel that was rejected by the WA Government, was that a nurse practitioner be the second medical professional authorised to sign off on access to the regime, in place of a doctor, a recommendation intended to address the scarcity of doctors in rural and remote WA. Instead the Bill allows for patients to access doctors by teleconference.

Further, as part of the new laws implementation a new statutory board is to be formed to " ensure proper adherence to the Bill [new law] and have a monitoring and advisory role on matters related to voluntary assisted dying." As well new criminal offences are to be established to prevent patients from being coerced into accessing the regime.

Reaction and Comment

The ABC News reports that Australian Medical Association (AMA) of WA opposes the proposed voluntary assisted dying laws, claiming the WA Government has rushed the process. It reports the AMA of WA president Andrew Miller as saying:

The ABC News also reports that the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) is set to campaign against the Bill because it would create pressure on the terminally ill to access it simply by its existence. According to ACL WA state director Peter Abetz: "Because nobody wants to be a burden to their loved ones, the mere availability of it [voluntary assisted dying] creates a subtle pressure to access it, . . ."

The WA Health Minister is reported as saying the Bill, with it's large number of safeguards, was cautious and compassionate.

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Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2019 (139 of 2019) [WA] second reading speech and explanatory material as reported in the TimeBase LawOne Service.

Media Release: Landmark voluntary assisted dying legislation to be introduced (Mark McGowan, WA Premier and Roger Cook, WA Minister for Health, 6 August 2019)

Voluntary euthanasia bill to be introduced into West Australian Parliament (Frances Bell, ABC News, 6 Aug 2018)

Western Australia government brings on assisted dying bill (Cassandra Bain, SBS News, 7 August 2019)

Voluntary assisted dying [WA Health Website]

Voluntary Assisted Dying [Palliative Care WA Website]