“It is vital that telehealth be made available for terminally ill rural and regional Australians so they are able to access Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) without being forced to travel for hours or being denied VAD due to the lack of rural doctors”said Dr Robert Marr OAM GP and spokesman for Doctors Reform Society.
“Of course wherever possible doctors should be available to consult terminally ill patients face to face but everyone knows there is a shortage of doctors in rural and regional areas that makes it almost impossible for some terminally ill patients to see the two or more doctors required to get approval for Voluntary Assisted Dying”said Dr Marr
“Terminally ill patient sometimes need to see a specialist doctor as well as two other doctors to get approval for Voluntary Assisted Dying and this is almost impossible for some rural patients without travelling ,in great suffering ,for hours to major cities to see the specialist”said Dr Marr
“Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) is now legal in all Australian states and it is the responsibility of the Federal government to make sure All Australians, regardless of where they live, have equal access to doctor consults via Telehealth ,if needed, to be able to access VAD”said Dr Marr
“Terminally ill Australians should have the same rights to be able to access Telehealth for VAD doctor consultations as every other Australian does for other medical consultations”said Dr Marr
