A sugar coated poison pill for Victoria

The committee seems to be claiming a mandate for action when no mandate exists. Approximately 78% of substantive submissions (submissions of detail and from health providers, institutes, lobby groups etc.) were either against euthanasia and assisted suicide or were neutral and preferring to focus on end of life care more generally. Overall, the total submissions were about 56% in favour with the remainder either being opposed (approx. 35%) or neutral (approx. 7.3%).

The clear mandate is for better care.

There is much more to be said about this report, not all of which is unacceptable.

Failing to gain any publicity are the two dissenting reports by members of the committee. They are appended in the table of contents under one line, yet they comprise a far more robust analysis of available evidence than the entire Majority Report.

The Hon Inga Peulich MLC summarizes the concerns about human destruction via assisted suicide well:

Any accidental loss of life – even the loss of one life, means such a regime cannot be justified, just as the loss of life, due to capital punishment, deliberate or due to a possible miscarriage of justice, cannot be justified and was the reason for its abolition.

Daniel Mulino MLC's analysis should be read first, before the Majority Report. It forms not only a sound academic and rigorous approach but also, by implication, is damning of the narrow, outcome focus of the Majority Report:

Moreover, the rapid growth in documented cases of euthanasia and assisted suicide probably materially understates the actual prevalence of the practice. There is a widespread failure of safeguards and procedures across jurisdictions, including low rates of reporting.

While legalisation was supposed to bring what was occurring in the shadows into the light, legalisation has simply pushed the boundary of what is legal out further and may have increased the amount of activity that occurs beyond the sight of regulators.

Even tempered and thorough, Mulino concludes:

The Majority Report asserts that the evidence is "clear" that safeguards work in jurisdictions with legalised euthanasia and assisted suicide. A balanced reading of the evidence would lead one to conclude that such an unequivocal statement is not true.

The Majority Report in its conclusions and recommendations on assisted suicide, have presented the Parliament and the people of Victoria with a sugar-coated poison pill. We hope that the government of the day will see through this charade and act at all times to protect vulnerable people while prioritising palliative care.