Does the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 (Vic) Reflect Its Stated Policy Goals?
Open accessAbstract
With the commencement of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 (Vic) in June 2019, Victoria became the first Australian State to permit voluntary assisted dying. This article considers the extent to which this novel Act reflects its stated policy goals. The first part of the article identifies the purported policy goals of the Act. This analysis draws on the explanatory material accompanying the law, in particular the expert Ministerial Advisory Panel Report which shaped the law. The article then critically evaluates the extent to which key aspects of the Act reflect those identified policy goals. Overall, the article concludes that the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 (Vic) is not consistent with its policy goals in some important respects.
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If my psychologist had oriented themselves toward a diagnosis of terminal AN, my death could have occurred through starvation, suicide, and were I residing in a country with greater access to psychiatric EAS, perhaps through physician-assisted means.
“If my psychologist had oriented themselves toward a diagnosis of terminal AN, my death could have occurred through starvation, suicide, and were I residing in a country with greater access to psychiatric EAS,5 perhaps through physician-assisted means”
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Self-citation
- Authors
- White, B. P., Del Villar, K., Close, E., & Willmott, L.
- Venue
- University of New South Wales Law Journal
- Published
- 2020-06
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 2
- ISSN
- 0313-0096 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3033116882
- Cited by
- 25
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 10
- FWCI
- 3.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- autopapers.ssrn.com
- Locations
- University of New South Wales law journal (publishedVersion)
- QUT ePrints (Queensland University of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- SSRN Electronic Journal (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Palliative and Oncologic Care
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health, Medicine and Society
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Medical and Health Sciences Research
- Keywords
- voluntary assisted dying, policy objectives, end-of-life law, Victoria, Australia
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