AUSTRALIA has only half the number of palliative care doctors needed to provide good quality care for chronically and terminally ill patients despite increasing demand, a new academic study has found. Published in the midst of Australia’s hotly contested end-of-life debate, the study by the PM Glynn Institute at Australian Catholic University (ACU), is significant because its bolsters the Catholic ... Read More »
Tag Archives: palliative care
Major proposal for new investment to create a purpose-built palliative care system in Queensland
DOCTORS, health professionals and carers have challenged Queensland’s political leaders to commit to a massive spending boost for palliative care. Ahead of the October 31 election, Palliative Care Queensland, the sector’s peak body, AMA Queensland and community groups from across the state have called for a more-than tripling of funding – from the current $110 million each year to $385 ... Read More »
Palliative care for older Queenslanders in regional and rural areas in critical need
How we respect and treat some of our most vulnerable – our sick, aged, and terminally ill – is a vital consideration for many Queenslanders preparing to vote. After years of heated and polarizing debate, it will be the state MPs we elect on October 31 who decide whether to back legislation aiming to legalise voluntary euthanasia. Voluntary Assisted Dying ... Read More »
Women from marriage enrichment movement sewing for carers on the frontline
A GENEROUS group of Catholic women in Queensland have offered a stitch (or more) in time to help nurses providing palliative care during the coronavirus pandemic. The women, who happen to enjoy sewing, stepped up to the challenge when Karuna Hospice Services in Brisbane put the call out for someone to make medical gowns for nurses to wear while they ... Read More »
Euthanasia cut from Queensland legislative agenda this term, palliative care must be focus
QUEENSLAND Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has wiped euthanasia from her government’s legislative agenda for this term – announcing in parliament that a scheme to allow assisted dying for the terminally ill needs “further, careful consideration”. The Premier’s decision means voluntary assisted dying (VAD) legislation will not go before lawmakers before Queensland heads to the polls on October 31. Instead, Ms Palaszczuk ... Read More »
Townsville Bishop says Church will never accept assisted suicide because it is intentional killing
TOWNSVILLE Bishop Tim Harris has spoken out strongly against euthanasia and defended comments he made likening a push to allow voluntary assisted dying in Queensland to “a mentality that existed in Nazi Germany”. Bishop Harris said it was an important time to have a conversation on the “grim” topic following the Queensland Government’s committee hearings, which could result in new ... Read More »
Lily’s loved to the full – parents keep daughter’s memory alive with overwhelming love
“WHEN you’re told your child is going to die, you’re suddenly parenting without a future, and so you’re not parenting … You’re actually saying goodbye.” That was the horrible reality Priyanka Saha and her husband Will Calvert had to deal with as they prepared for the birth of their first child almost three years ago. “We had a very normal ... Read More »
Love conquers death – Queensland bishops face euthanasia inquiry as combined Christian voice
THE deepest expressions of love were found in moments of intense suffering, Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge told the Queensland parliamentary inquiry into aged care, end-of-life and palliative care and voluntary assisted dying. “Loneliness, depression and acute physical pain are a powerful cocktail which seems to be fuelling the call for euthanasia,” Archbishop Coleridge said. “Yet there is a power stronger ... Read More »
Church leaders urge more resourcing to aged care and palliative care at public hearings across state
A DIRE lack of palliative care services is one of the key issues Queensland Parliament’s aged-care inquiry has heard at public hearings across the state. The inquiry is examining the adequacy of Queensland’s end-of-life care including palliative care, and is looking into support for laws to allow voluntary assisted suicide. Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge will present a submission to the ... Read More »