Welcome!
Welcome to q4eollo.fyi! 😄
This stands for Queenslanders for End of Life Legal Options - For Your Information!
Yep - sorry it’s quite a mouth full. How about: “Q 4 E Double-L O” - for short. 😎
You can also find us on Bluesky, click here.
We need your help to change our laws regarding Voluntary Assisted Dying and other end of life healthcare issues. Change to Qld state and Australian federal laws will not be easy.
Please Note
Voluntary Assisted Dying became available here in Queensland, Australia on 1 January 2023.
If your doctor is a conscientious objector or refuses to discuss voluntary assisted dying with you, get help directly from the Queensland voluntary assisted dying support service (QVAD-Support) run by the Queensland Government:
Phone: 1800 431 371 (Monday to Friday 8:30 am to 4 pm)
Email: QVADSupport@health.qld.gov.au
If the topic of voluntary assisted dying raises issues for you or your family, you can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Griefline on 1300 845 745. Or see the “Support for families, friends and carers during VAD” section on our Resources page here.
Our purpose
We advocate for Queensland state and Australian federal law reform to:
- Improve access to Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD);
- Widen the eligibility criteria for VAD;
- Decriminalise the use of Telehealth for VAD purposes.
We also aim to provide resources in order to:
- Educate Australians about their legal end of life options, and the laws that govern them and/or impede them;
- Update Australians with law reform developments in these areas on an ongoing basis;
- Foster public discussion about our laws as they relate to our end of life legal options and our end of life healthcare choices;
- Better arm Australians in order that they may engage with our aspiring and elected Government representatives, to advocate for further law reform in these areas;
- Foster the difficult public discussions required, to see a future Qld Parliament pass new laws to overcome the disease specific difficulties regarding VAD and dementia - to develop completely separate dementia specific laws commensurate with the requisite legally binding, watertight, Advance Directive; for people to instigate, while they still have decision-making capacity.
We also aim to meet informally and regularly over coffee, with like minded people, to discuss reforming these laws and the associated challenges we all face.
Our Website
Our “Law Reform” page outlines some of the options we would like to be considered for future law reforms relating to VAD, and/or the laws that impede its function. Specifically regarding impeding VAD access, the federal law that criminalises the use of Telehealth by clinicians for VAD purposes Australia wide needs urgent amendment.
Our “Resources” page provides an extensive list of resources with links to access them, about VAD and other end of life healthcare options including palliative care and aged care - in Queensland, in Australia, and throughout rest of the world. We are not alone in this, nor the first to implement VAD. There is a lot of information out there, much of it provided by Qld, Australian and overseas government entities.
Our “stories” page provides links to personal perspectives of the VAD process - in the form of podcasts, media articles, and documentaries from people who have had intimate involvement with VAD.
Our “legislation” page provides links to resources solely devoted to legislation, that governs VAD in Queensland, other Australian jurisdictions, and overseas jurisdictions as well. This is a work in progress and will be updated on an ongoing basis.
Our “blog” page provides our long form “essays” on VAD legislation, VAD and related law reform issues, the impediments to better VAD implementation (Telehealth use is criminalised), potential future reform advocacy ideas and educational discussions on VAD and end of life healthcare options.
Our “contact” page provides our email and Bluesky contact details. If you feel like a coffee and chat about some of these weighty issues and you’re living in or passing through Brisbane please email us, or use “chat” on Bluesky. However, please note the warning at the bottom of the contact page before hitting send on your email.