{"id":9372,"date":"2019-09-01T10:33:20","date_gmt":"2019-09-01T17:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=9372"},"modified":"2019-09-07T10:55:46","modified_gmt":"2019-09-07T17:55:46","slug":"australias-legislative-laboratory-for-euthanasia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=9372","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s legislative laboratory for euthanasia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>         <strong><em>BioEdge<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"author\">      Michael Cook<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n        The Labor-majority Parliament of the Australian state of Victoria passed assisted dying legislation in December 2017. This came into effect in June and the first patient has already died. Applications from a dozen or so Victorians have already been approved. Two other Labor states are also debating euthanasia \u2013 and it appears that their legislation will be even more permissive than Victoria\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n        According to critics of euthanasia interviewed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theaustralian.com.au\/nation\/euthanasia-law-a-life-of-its-own\/news-story\/86c0fdfa059b99893526f65f5a0e7987\">The Australian<\/a>, this is \u201cdeath creep\u201d, the slippery slope in action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n        \u201cThere is serious concern about this slippage,\u201d the chair of the Australian Medical Association\u2019s ethics and medico legal committee, Chris Moye, says. \u201cA lot of this (change) was happening even before the Victorian law, which is only two months old, has actually been tested. At this point, we haven\u2019t seen how assisted dying works in Victoria and yet the slippage is happening across these various jurisdictions. I think there are two reasons: people were always going to be looking at it (the Victorian law) and the tendency always is to relax legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n        Critics focus on details of a proposed bill in the parliament of Western Australia. In Victoria, doctors are not allowed to raise the topic of assisted dying. But in WA, doctors would be permitted to suggest the possibility of euthanasia and no specialist has to be involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n        Conscientious objection is more difficult as well. In Victoria, objecting doctors are not obliged to refer the person on; in WA they would be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n        In Queensland, a parliamentary committee is studying draft legislation. This is even more permissive than Victoria\u2019s or WA\u2019s. There is no time requirement \u2013 only that the patient have an incurable terminal illness which is causing intolerable and enduring suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>         However, Professor Ben White, who helped write Queensland draft bill, &nbsp;dismisses fears of a \u201cslippery slope\u201d. \u201cWhen people talk about a slippery slope in terms of the law, they are talking about law X in a particular state or country that is enacted and over time gets changed,\u201d he says. \u201cWe live in a federation \u2026 and there are differences in laws from one state to another, reflecting a range of factors, including geography. What might be appropriate for a state like Victoria might \u2026 require different solutions in Western Australia or Queensland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr>\n\n\n\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8343\" style=\"width: 110px; margin-right:1em\" src=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/common.jpg\" alt=\"Australia\u2019s legislative laboratory for euthanasia\">This article is published by Michael Cook and BioEdge under a Creative Commons licence. You may republish it or translate it free of charge with attribution for non-commercial purposes following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bioedge.org\/index.php\/bioethics\/copyright_and_syndication\">these guidelines<\/a>. If you teach at a university we ask that your department make a donation. Commercial media must <a href=\"mailto:michael@bioedge.org\">contact us<\/a> for permission and fees. Some articles on this site are published under different terms. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BioEdge Michael Cook The Labor-majority Parliament of the Australian state of Victoria passed assisted dying legislation in December 2017. This came into effect in June and the first patient has already died. Applications from a dozen or so Victorians have already been approved. Two other Labor states are also debating euthanasia \u2013 and it appears &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=9372\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Australia\u2019s legislative laboratory for euthanasia&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77,30,162,7],"tags":[842,3683],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-9372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-assisted-suicide","category-australia","category-euthanasia","category-law","tag-michael-cook","tag-western-australia"],"yoast_head":"\r\n<title>Australia\u2019s legislative laboratory for euthanasia - Protection of Conscience Project News<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=9372\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australia\u2019s legislative laboratory for euthanasia - Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BioEdge Michael Cook The Labor-majority Parliament of the Australian state of Victoria passed assisted dying legislation in December 2017. This came into effect in June and the first patient has already died. Applications from a dozen or so Victorians have already been approved. Two other Labor states are also debating euthanasia \u2013 and it appears &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Australia\u2019s legislative laboratory for euthanasia&quot;\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=9372\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ConscienceProject\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-01T17:33:20+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-09-07T17:55:46+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/common.jpg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@consciencepro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@consciencepro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=9372#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=9372\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Australia\u2019s legislative laboratory for euthanasia\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-01T17:33:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-07T17:55:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=9372\"},\"wordCount\":451,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=9372#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/common.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Michael Cook\",\"Western Australia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Assisted suicide\",\"Australia\",\"Euthanasia\",\"Law\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=9372#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=9372\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=9372\",\"name\":\"Australia\u2019s legislative laboratory for euthanasia - 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