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All Australian states have passed voluntary assisted dying (VAD) legislation. It is currently lawful in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia, Queensland, and South Australia. Similar legislation has passed in New South Wales, to commence in late 2023. Further, in late 2022 a bill was passed to repeal the Euthanasia Laws Act 1997 (Cth), thus enabling the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory to pass laws pertaining to VAD.

In some international jurisdictions, patients who choose VAD are also able to participate in organ donation after circulatory death (DCD). Although DCD is a well established practice, the potential for organ donation following VAD in the Australian context has received limited academic, clinical and public attention. In this article, we briefly examine how organ donation following VAD is practised in other jurisdictions, and consider whether combined VAD and DCD could become possible and appropriate in Australia. Although the Australian legal term is “voluntary assisted dying”, it is internationally known as assisted suicide when medication is self‐administered, and as euthanasia when administered intravenously by a physician.

This MJA ethics and law share more.

Learning Outcomes

1. Explain key components of the article
2. List main findings
3. Explain legal implications of voluntary assisted dying and donation after circulatory death of eligible patients.

Details

Authors: Jan Bollen, Courtney Hempton, Neera Bhatia and James Tibballs

Article Type: Ethics and Law