The early experience of voluntary assisted dying in Queensland: What have we learned?

Speaker: Professor Ben White, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology

Commentator: The Hon Peter Applegarth AM KC

Chair: The Hon Justice David Boddice (Supreme Court of Queensland)

Register via the Queensland Bar Association

Voluntary assisted dying became a permissible end-of-life choice in Queensland in 2023. The law broadly reflects the Australian model of voluntary assisted dying but there are some distinctive factors in the Queensland approach. They include differences in law (for example, an expectation of 12 months survival until death) and in system design and practice (for example, each Hospital and Health Service must have a considered model for voluntary assisted dying provision). This paper considers the evidence of the last three and a half years, assessing how voluntary assisted dying is working in practice and considering possible future debates and developments.