The Greens will move to close a loophole that is stopping Australians from accessing voluntary assisted dying through telehealth by introducing the Equal Access to Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill today.
At last month’s ALP National Conference, Labor committed to having a conscience vote on removing the barriers in federal law to accessing end of life care via telehealth for all Labor MPs and Senators.
As stated by Greens communications spokesperson and Senator for SA, Sarah Hanson-Young:
“Australians should have a right to speak with their doctor via the phone when they need and want to.
“This change is about offering compassion and dignity to Australians managing their end of life care. It’s a simple reform that will remove an outdated and harmful barrier to ensure terminally-ill Australians can equally access medically supported voluntary assisted dying.
“It’s simple: using your phone to speak to your doctor, to seek medical advice and vital healthcare should be legal and available to everyone, equally.
“As someone who grew up in a regional area, I know all too well how difficult it is to get in to see a regular doctor let alone access specialist care. Giving people the opportunity to use telehealth to help inform and provide advice and care when people need it the most is the right thing to do.
“This is an issue crippling many families in regional Australia, leaving them without even the right to discuss what type of medical care they wish to choose.
“Australia has the strictest safeguards around using Voluntary Assisted Dying, and these safeguards will continue whether a patient sees the doctor in person or via Telehealth. The issue here is a number of Australians are being left to suffer in pain unnecessarily because the law is out-of-date and needs a simple but important fix.
“No Australian should be denied compassionate end-of-life healthcare because of where they live.
“I urge my parliamentary colleagues across the parliament to avoid any further delay and the needless suffering that would continue if this bill is not passed.
“The sooner we pass this bill and make it law – the sooner we can give Australians who are suffering and in pain the option to make their own choice about their end-of-life care. Dying with dignity and having access to appropriate and safe healthcare should not be dependent on what postcode you live in.
“It is inhumane for this parliament to stand between a patient and their doctor.”
