Committee: Northern Territory of Australia allow 'assisted dying' without 'prognosis timeframe'

(Right to Life UK) A government committee in Australia’s Northern Territory has recommended that the territory legislate to introduce assisted suicide and euthanasia without requiring a “prognosis timeframe”,  for people who wish to end their lives in this way.

The Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee in the Northern Territory has published its final report on a proposed assisted suicide and euthanasia programme, recommending that the Government drafts legislation to introduce voluntary assisted dying in the Northern Territory. 

The Northern Territory is currently the only jurisdiction in Australia where assisted suicide and euthanasia are not legal. It was the first jurisdiction of Australia to legalise assisted suicide in 1995, however, the law was soon overturned. Every other state in Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), has since passed legislation to make assisted suicide legal. 

Proposed eligibility criteria are much wider than in other jurisdictions

The recommended criteria that an individual must meet in order to be eligible for assisted suicide or euthanasia are that the individual has “an advanced and progressive condition which is expected to cause death, and is causing intolerable and enduring suffering that is actual or anticipated”, according to the report.

The proposition recommends that, under new legislation, “a person should not require a timeframe to death before they can access [assisted suicide or euthanasia]”, diverging from the Australian states and the ACT, which require a 6-month or 12-month prognosis for an individual to be eligible to end their lives through assisted suicide or euthanasia.

In a submission to the Committee, Dr Chris Anderson, a Specialist Doctor Palliative Care at the Alice Springs Hospital, said that removing the requirement for a prognosis could lead to assisted suicide being carried out on the basis of disability. 

Anderson pointed to the example of Canada’s assisted suicide and euthanasia programme to highlight this, where people are allowed to end their lives through assisted suicide or euthanasia even if their deaths are not reasonably foreseeable. This “opens the door to actual[] euthanasia for people on the basis of disability”, Anderson said, which he is not ready for “[e]thically”.

Committee raises “genuine concern” that assisted suicide or euthanasia will be easier to access than palliative care

The report, despite recommending that legislation permitting assisted suicide and euthanasia be drafted, cited “genuine concern” that it may be easier for some people in the Northern Territory to access this than to access other end-of-life care.

It states that “the absence of equitable access to high-quality palliative care undermines the capacity of genuine choice regarding [assisted suicide and euthanasia]”. 

According to the report, palliative care services in the Northern Territory are “patchy and limited to key urban centres”, with a “shortage of palliative care services in remote communities” being raised with the Committee at most of the community engagements they held regarding the proposed legislation. 

Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “It is highly concerning that the Northern Territory has been recommended to draft legislation allowing for the legalisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia”. 

“It is particularly concerning that there is no requirement for a specific length prognosis in order for an individual to end their lives through the proposed assisted suicide and euthanasia programme. This could open the door to coercion and individuals choosing to end their lives due to any disabilities they may have”.

“Members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly should vote against any such legislation if and when it comes before them”.