A coroner has found Queensland’s euthanasia laws are not “well-considered” after an elderly man took his own life using drugs prescribed for his wife. Source: ABC News.
Coroner David O’Connell has recommended a health professional be present every time a deadly substance is administered.
The man’s wife, who had a terminal illness, was found eligible for the voluntary assisted dying (VAD) program in March last year.
A self-administered drug was delivered to the couple’s Queensland home a month later.
The man, who is referred to in court documents as ABC, was the “contact person” responsible for the substance.
On the same day it arrived, his wife was admitted to hospital with COVID-19, where she decided to take an intravenous VAD drug. That was delivered, and she died in hospital on May 8, 2023.
The man was told to return the take-at-home drug within two days of his wife’s death. He failed to do so, and on May 16 used it to take his own life.
In his findings, Coroner David O’Connell said the laws had failed to find a balance between a patient’s autonomy and lethal medication safety.
The inquest heard ABC had previously been diagnosed with, and received medication for, depression.
Mr O’Connell said the inquest established a person underwent fewer identity checks to become a contact person than they did entering a Brisbane nightclub.
The coroner found no breach of protocol or legislative processes by QVAD personnel but said, it was “not a well-considered law”.
The case, detailed in the first annual report by the Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) Review Board, is the subject of review by Queensland Health.
Queensland Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said the state Government would consider the coroner’s recommendations.
FULL STORY
Coroner criticises Queensland’s voluntary assisted dying laws after man took his life with partner’s medication (By Julius Dennis, ABC News)
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