NEWLY-released data from the second annual report of the state’s independent Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board shows hundreds of Queenslanders have chosen to end their lives with lethal substances.
The report showed:
- 1560 people commenced the process
- 1456 people were assessed as eligible
- 976 people were supplied with a voluntary assisted dying substance
- 793 people died from administration of a voluntary assisted dying substance.
Townsville Bishop Tim Harris said the numbers were “heartbreaking” and that he was appalled to learn the extent of the program.
“It says something about the priorities of the state government in Queensland,” he said.
“A fully funded palliative care regime if implemented would have slowed these numbers down.”
Of the 793 people who died in the last reporting period, 33 per cent died following self-administration of a voluntary assisted dying substance and 67 per cent died following practitioner administration of a voluntary assisted dying substance.
The report showed a broad range of age-groups accessing the program, with people aged between 18 and 107.
The median age was 74.
About 58 per cent of people were male and two-thirds had received a cancer diagnosis.
About half (47 per cent) lived in major city areas.
A further 26 per cent lived in inner regional areas, and 27 per cent lived in outer regional, remote or very remote areas.
The report noted the efficiency of the program with every instance of voluntary assisted dying substance supplied within four business days of receipt of a request for supply and a valid prescription.
“In South East Queensland, all requests were fulfilled within three business days,” the report said.
Bishop Harris said VAD was not necessary and never would be – “accompanying people is”.
“These figures say to me that governments have given up on the dying,” he said.
“They have given up caring for people in the holistic way that true palliative care offers.
“We are talking about fellow human beings at their most vulnerable and all we can offer is ‘death’ to them.
“VAD is not end of life care.
“It is not care at all.
“A society is judged on how we ‘care’ for each other.
“Human beings deserve the best of care.
“VAD doesn’t care for people, it kills them.”
The review board report comes on the heels of a coroner’s report released this month, looking into the death of a man who committed suicide using euthanasia substances supplied to his wife.
The coroner made recommendations to the existing laws after significant flaws were found in the handling of the scheme.
