Essay Health Law and Regulations
Added on 2021-05-30
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qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnHealth Law AssignmentVoluntary Euthanasia in Australia(Student Details: )
Health Law AssignmentVoluntary Euthanasia in Australia(Student Name without brackets)Abstract Voluntary euthanasia is a concept which isstill unlawful in Australia. There aredifferent nations which have legalizedvoluntary euthanasia but Australia is yet tobring out an effective and comprehensivelegislation which could allow for a person toend their life voluntarily. In the NorthernTerritory, a law was passed to legalizevoluntary euthanasia, but the same was lateron repealed through the commonwealth act.There is a Victorian legislation which is setto allow and legalize voluntary euthanasia inVictoria from mid 2019. However, thislegislation has time to be implemented andone cannot be sure if it will actually come inapplication, owing to the history ofAustralia. There have been numerousattempts in the past to legalize voluntaryeuthanasia in Australian states earlier also,but none have beared any fruit. There are alot of supporting and dissenting views whichare given in context of voluntary euthanasia.This article covers a detail on the numerousattempts which have been made in differentstates of Australia to legalize voluntaryeuthanasia, the organizations supporting andopposing this concept and the views whichoppose and support voluntary euthanasia.Keywords: Voluntary euthanasia, Australia,ending life, ethics, moral, euthanasia,legislations1.Introduction Voluntary euthanasia denotes the practicewhere a person ends their life in a painlessmanner. There are different ways of endingthe life in a voluntary manner to be deemedas voluntary euthanasia. These includeasking for help for ending the life, refusal toeat, refusal of burdensome medicaltreatment, and asking for the life supportmachine to be turned off or for the medicaltreatment to be stopped1. Where a persondoes not wish to continue living their life,they opt for voluntary euthanasia. It is alsoreferred to as assisted dying, where themedical assistance is taken to end the life ofa person. The theme of voluntary euthanasiais to put an end to the pain and the sufferingwhich an individual is going through. This isparticularly supported in cases where it isclear that the person’s situation has no scopeof getting improved or better and the gravityof situation makes it better to end the life ofsuch person2. Voluntary euthanasia is a debated topicwhere some people support it and othersoppose it. The supporters of voluntaryeuthanasia cite the right of a person to livein a dignified manner and the right of aperson to be free of pain and sufferings3.The opponents of voluntary euthanasia citethe chances of this concept being misusedbased on personal greed, person living anatural life, and ending life being deemed asa measure to avoid the hardships of life4.Even though the majority of nations acrossthe globe treat euthanasia as unlawful, thenations like Switzerland, Canada, theNetherlands, Luxemburg, Colombia andBelgium treat voluntary euthanasia as legal5.1 Justin Healey, Voluntary Euthanasia (Spinney Press, 2008)2 Margaret P. Battin, Rosamond Rhodes and Anita Silvers, Physician Assisted Suicide: Expanding the Debate (Routledge, 2015)3 Rodney Syme, A Good Death: An Argument For Voluntary Euthanasia (Melbourne Univ. Publishing, 2008)4 Justin Healey, Voluntary Euthanasia Debate (Spinney Press, 2013)5 Sue Black, All That Remains: A Life in Death(Random House, 2018)Page 2
Health Law AssignmentThis discussion focuses on the differentsteps taken by Australia to legalizevoluntary euthanasia, including the differentbills and acts which had been proposed. 2.Voluntary euthanasia in AustraliaIn Australia, on the federal level, voluntaryeuthanasia continues to be illegal, but therehave been certain legislations been passedby states in this regard6. In NorthernTerritory, voluntary euthanasia was madelegal for a certain period7. November 2017saw a legislation being passed whereby theassisted suicide was set to be allowed andthis was passed on the Parliament ofVictoria. However, this legislation willcome into effect in the latter half of 20198.This would allow the patient to choose tonot get any treatment where the person issuffering from terminal illness; further, theperson also has the right of choosing to turnoff the life support machines9. 2.1.Present situationEven though at present assisting ineuthanasia is a crime, as was seen in Justinsv R10, there have been rare cases ofprosecution. There had been a case in 2002where the friends and relatives of an elderlywoman were extensively investigated by thepolice as the woman had committed suicideafter the friends and relatives had given hermoral support. This instance resulted in theCommonwealth Government making6 David Lanham, David Wood and Bronwyn Bartal, Criminal Laws in Australia (Federation Press, 2006)7 Graham A. Colditz, Encyclopedia of Cancer and Society, Volume 1 (Sage, 2007)8 Jean Edwards, Euthanasia: Victoria becomes the first Australian state to legalise voluntary assisted dying (29 November 2017) <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-29/euthanasia-passes-parliament-in-victoria/9205472>9 Audry Berman, Shirlee J. Snyder and Barbara Kozier, Kozier & Erb's Fundamentals of Nursing Australian Edition (Pearson Higher Education AU, 3rd ed, 2014)10 [2010] NSWCCA 242attempts to hinder euthanasia by CriminalCode Amendment (Suicide RelatedMaterials Offences) Bill of 200411 beingpassed12. In 2005, a nurse was convicted in TasmaniaState for assisting in her elderly father’sdeath suffering from terminal cancer. Thiswas done as her father was trying to kill hermother owing to the early stages ofdementia13. As a result of this incident, shehad been sentenced to 2.5 years of jail. Lateron though, the judges suspended herconviction as in the view of the judge, thecommunity did not want the nurse to be putbehind the bars. This incident sparked adebate on euthanasia being decriminalized14.There are a lot of supporters of voluntaryeuthanasia being decriminalized andincluded in this is the Liberal DemocraticParty, the Reason Party, the Secular Party ofAustralia, Australian Greens15, and theScience Party16. Some TV ads were made byExit International where they argued forvoluntary euthanasia. These advertisementswere banned in September 2010 just beforethey had been scheduled to be broadcasted17.11 Criminal Code Amendment (Suicide Related Materials Offences) Bill of 200412OZMS, Euthanasia in Australia (2018) <http://www.ozms.org/resources/euthanasia-and-multiple-sclerosis>13 Tim Jeanes, Legal case reopens euthanasia debate(20 December 2005) <http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2005/s1534960.htm>14ABC News, Assisted suicide case prompts calls foreuthanasia law review(20 December 2005) <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-12-20/assisted-suicide-case-prompts-calls-for-euthanasia/765010?site=news>15Revolvy, Euthanasia in Australia (2018) <https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Euthanasia+in+Australia>16Science Party, Freedom and Rights (2018) <https://www.scienceparty.org.au/freedom_and_rights_policy#euthanasia>17 Cathy Alexander, Pro-euthanasia TV ad ban 'a violation of free speech' (13 September 2010) <https://www.theage.com.au/national/proeuthanasia-Page 3
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