Much hangs on Voluntary Assisted Dying evaluation

THE Health Committee is due to hand down the result of its investigation into Voluntary Assisted Dying and Aged Care at the end of March.

I sincerely thank the committee, with Aaron Harper as chairperson, for the thorough investigation it has undertaken with this inquiry. An enormous amount of time has been spent on reading submissions, interviewing people and travelling from one end of Queensland to another to hold meetings with concerned people, both for and against. They also investigated the laws which relate to VAD, both in Australia and overseas. All of this while still seeing to problems in their own electorates.

The recommendations of this investigation were to have been presented at the end of November, but because of the workload, it was delayed until the end of

March. However, this means that the delay in presenting the VAD part of the report is costing many people unbearable suffering. The Queensland Coroner says that seven people per month are committing suicide in Queensland to escape the pain of dying. I hope the committee will recommend that the matter of VAD will be debated and hopefully a VAD law will be introduced in this term of government to give much-needed relief to many people.

I also hope the committee will consider making allowances for people, who, when mentally competent, have made an unequivocal desire to have their lives ended if in the future they should suffer from a condition, not necessarily terminal, that renders them incapable of communicating their desire.

This condition would cover such conditions as dementia, stroke, motor neurone, Parkinson’s disease, accident related etc, where the person is totally dependent and there is no hope whatsoever of returning to any quality of life. The desire would be written in an Advanced Health Directive and appropriate people would be named as attorneys of their wishes which would include a doctor for this particular decision-making.

Under no circumstances whatsoever would this apply to anyone who has not made a legal advanced request while still mentally competent. No one else can make that decision. A common argument against this is that the person may have changed their mind, but cannot communicate that change. A person has to be of sound mind to make a will but, if in the future their mind becomes unsound, the wish in the will still stands. It should be the same for an advanced request regarding VAD.

Every person should have an advanced directive which is available free online or at newsagents for a small cost.

From Bureau of Statistics: More than 447,115 Australians are living with dementia – a number expected to increase to 589,807 in less than a decade. Worldwide, at least 44 million people are living with dementia, making the disease a global health crisis that must be addressed.

More than 50 per cent of residents in assisted living and nursing homes have some form of dementia or Alzheimer’s.

While leading causes of death like heart disease, stroke and lung cancer rates are falling, dementia cases have increased markedly (Bureau of Statistics).

MARJORIE LAWRENCE GOLD COAST