Advocates for assisted suicide continually cite the importance of individuals having a “choice” to end their lives, but they often overlook the fact that end-of-life decisions are not made in a vacuum. Though there are influences that effect all individuals faced with end-of-life decisions, research is showing that women are especially susceptible to assisted suicide due to multiple factors, otherwise known as “gendered risks.” Continue reading

Despite the fact that the medical community plays an intrinsic part in the administration of end-of-life measures, Victorian politicians have failed to involve them in the debate on the Voluntary Assisted Suicide Bill. There is a callous assumption that physicians will automatically perform such procedures if legalised. Continue reading

In an important article outlining inequalities in access to palliative care in regional Victoria compared to Melbourne, the Minister for Health Jill Hennessy is reported as having “rejected suggestions that patients suffering from poor access to palliative care were more likely to opt for voluntary assisted dying.” Continue reading

The Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2017, passed its second reading in the Victorian Legislative Council on 3 November 2017 by a narrow margin of just 2 votes. In the Legislative Assembly the Minister for Health and Attorney General knocked back every proposed amendment, essentially asserting that the Bill, as drafted, is perfect and cannot be usefully improved. Continue reading

This past week, the World Medical Association, representing more than 10 million physicians, turned its focus on the threat to human life in Australia by issuing a statement urging Victorian MPs to block the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill:  Continue reading

The key to the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2017 is the voluntary assisted dying substance, defined in Clause 3 of the Bill to mean “a poison or controlled substance or a drug of dependence specified in a voluntary assisted dying permit for the purpose of causing a person's death”. Continue reading

This blog was originally posted at: http://www.choiceillusion.org/2017/10/margaret-dore-analysis-opposing.html Margaret Dore Analysis Opposing Victoria Euthanasia Bill  To view this analysis as a pdf, click the following links containing, an index; a memo; and an appendix I.  INTRODUCTION I am an attorney in Washington State USA where assisted suicide is legal.[1] I am also president of Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia. Last year, I met with a parliamentary delegation from the Legal and Social Issues Committee, Parliament of Victoria, to discuss Oregon’s law and related issues. Continue reading

Australians are being blatantly lied to. We are told that euthanasia and assisted suicide are ‘compassionate’ forms of end-of-life care, and proponents assure us that there are ‘safeguards’ to address the fatal flaws of such legislation. Continue reading

In a moving article, a cancer doctor recently voiced her concerns about the dangers of offering assisted suicide to patients. Director of the Familial Cancer Centre at Monash Health, Dr Marion Harris describes the difficulties her patients have experienced, and how many of them wanted to give up at some point in their diagnosis, but persevered. Continue reading

Advocates for euthanasia and assisted suicide are blinded by a misdirected sense of compassion, to the point where they cannot see the underlying implications of Victoria’s Voluntary Assisted Suicide Bill 2017. Instead of considering the logical outcome of such legislation, they propel it along using emotional arguments, playing on people’s understandable fear of death.  Continue reading