Assisted deaths in Australia up 40 percent, as group pushes for more

Data available from Go Gentle, a pro euthanasia group, reveals that euthanasia deaths in Australia through the country's Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) program are up by approximately 40%. Despite the significant increase, the group is hoping for still more such deaths in the future.

Key Takeaways:

• According to the report, there were 3,329 VAD deaths in 2024-2025 — a 40% increase over the previous year.

• VAD deaths in Tasmania rose 73%.

• Euthanasia supporters called the increase a success, and are calling for further expansion through the use of telehealth approval.

The Details:

According to calculations from the group, there were 3,329 VAD deaths in Australia in 2024-2025. The group also notes:

• VAD now accounts for up to 3% of all deaths nationally.

• This includes around 5% of cancer deaths.

• It also includes one in three motor neurone disease deaths.

Tasmania led the way, increasing from 63 deaths in 2023-24 to 209 in 2024-25 — a 73% increase. Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland also experienced significant numbers of VAD deaths.

Despite the shocking increase, euthanasia supporters are calling the jump a success.

“Voluntary assisted dying is a public policy success story,” said Go Gentle Australia CEO, Dr Linda Swan. “The evidence paints a reassuring picture where Australia’s laws work as intended, services deliver compassionate care, and dying people can choose the comfort they want at the end of life.”

The Big Picture:

Since its implementation in 2019, there have been more than 7,000 deaths in Australia using a VAD substance. According to the report, more than 1,600 trained health professionals provide VAD services nationwide — but it appears that even this isn't enough to cover demand.

“As more people ask for access to VAD we must ensure the system is properly resourced to support both patients and clinicians,” said Swan. “Funding shortfalls and inadequate remuneration place strain on providers. Many VAD health professionals work after hours and on weekends and receive little or no financial compensation.”

The group is now pushing to allow people to access VAD approval via telehealth appointments, meaning a person could receive approval to commit assisted suicide without ever meeting a practitioner in person. These in-person appointments are crucial because, among other things, they help ensure a patient is not being coerced and is of sound mind.

Go Gentle Australia founding director Andrew Denton blamed "outdated views" as the reason that the in-person requirement still stands.

“It is a simple one-line fix to amend the Commonwealth Criminal Code to allow the use of electronic communications in VAD provision," he said. "It is an equity issue, but there appears to be resistance at very senior levels of the federal government, based on outdated views.”

Equally troubling, he railed against conscientious objectors whom he says may "obstruct" implementation of the VAD laws.

“A right to conscientiously object to being involved in VAD is a cornerstone of Australia’s VAD laws. But a right to object should never become a right to obstruct,” he said. “Evidence shows that obstruction can cause serious distress and harm to dying people and their families. It is also unethical and against professional codes of conduct and must be addressed.”

Zoom Out:

Pro-assisted-death advocates like to posit that such laws allow a terminally ill person the chance to avoid unnecessary suffering while dying with "dignity" in a painless death. The reality couldn't be further from the truth.

Assisted suicide and euthanasia are sometimes committed using the same drugs previously used in lethal injection executions, and the process is far more grisly than many realize. Instead of the peaceful death people are promised, a patient may drown to death after taking a paralytic drug.

An Anaesthesia medical journal study found that long, painful deaths from assisted suicide and euthanasia are alarmingly common; a third of patients took 30 hours to die, while four percent took seven days to die.

Experiments with assisted suicide and euthanasia also confirmed victims' suffering; one cocktail was said to be “burning patients’ mouths and throats, causing some to scream in pain.”