Voluntary assisted dying, medical practitioners and conscientious objection

Overview

https://research.qut.edu.au/achlr/https://research.qut.edu.au/achlr/

Should legislation permitting Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) provide medical practitioners with a right to conscientiously object to VAD and, if so, what should the scope of that right be?

Should it include a right not to give a person asking about VAD any information about it? In Victoria the legislation provides an unrestricted right to conscientiously object whereas in Western Australia the right to object is qualified by a requirement to give the patient information about VAD. Which position is most defensible? This is an HDR topic of considerable importance, potentially filling a significant gap in the literature and making a cogent case for what shape the ongoing current law reform on VAD in Australia should take.

Keywords

• end of life law
• voluntary assisted dying
• health law
• medical consent

Contact

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