Monday, August 20, 2018

Medically assisted death debated in Australia

A bill is under consideration in Australia regarding medically assisted suicide, aka death with dignity.  (The politics are complicated by the fact that Australia has both states and territories.) Here's the story from the Guardian:

David Leyonhjelm confident voluntary euthanasia bill will pass Senate
Liberal Democrat pressures Malcolm Turnbull to permit vote in lower house

"The bill to allow the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory to legislate for euthanasia – reversing a ban imposed by the commonwealth in 1997 – has support from at least 18 Labor senators, the nine Greens, eight crossbench senators and a small but growing group of Coalition senators. It needs 39 to pass the Senate.
...
"“Australians with a terminal illness should have a right to die with dignity, ideally with effective palliative care, but with sufficient safeguards, that right, in extreme cases, should also extend to voluntary euthanasia.”
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An earlier, related post:

Friday, May 4, 2018

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