Queensland Australia assisted suicide bill is disturbing

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Liz Storer

Liz Storer a contributor with Australia's Sky News did an excellent report on Queensland's assisted suicide bill (Link to the report).

Storer calls assisted suicide a seismic shift in societal values. She also correctly states that the Queensland assisted suicide bill is the most liberal in Australia. My recent article agrees with Storer as well as I identified how the bill is deliberatively deceptive (Link).

Storer's main points about the assisted suicide bill were:

“Firstly, the bill allows access to assisted suicide much earlier than any other jurisdiction currently in Australia, it grants people given 12 months or less to live access to a state-facilitated death,” Ms Storer said.

“Secondly, and I would say most disturbingly, this bill makes ‘mental suffering’ grounds for eligibility.

 “A third point of difference is that this bill allows for terminally ill persons who are mentally ill or disabled to access a state-facilitated suicide if deemed to have decision-making capacity.

“Lastly, like WA’s laws, Queensland’s bill allows doctors and nurses to raise the option of suicide with a patient.”

Storer concludes by stating: “Make no mistake, our sanctioning this represents a seismic shift in our societal values,”

• Queensland Australia assisted suicide bill is deliberately deceptive (Link).