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 below.

Queensland Services, Information and Legislation

The Queensland Voluntary Assisted Dying Support Service (QVAD-Support)

QVAD-Support is run by the Queensland Government.
For Qld Elegibility Criteria to access VAD click here.
For the Qld Govt Website for information about VAD click here.
For the Qld Health Department Website for information about VAD click here.
Phone: 1800 431 371 (Monday to Friday 8:30 am to 4 pm)
Email: QVADSupport@health.qld.gov.au
A future blog post will discuss our Qld Eligibility Criteria. Stay tuned.

Support for families, friends and carers during VAD

For information, and details on available support and crisis services click here.
There is a list of 24/7 crisis services, as well as other support services.
All services have weblinks and phone numbers to call.

Palliative Care - Queenland Government Website

Qld Govt Website for information click here.

End of Life and Palliative Care at Home

For many people, care at the end of life and palliative care is provided in their home.
For the Qld Govt website to get started click here.

Advance Health Directive (AHD)

Qld Govt Website for understanding advance care planning click here.
Qld Govt Website for explanation about the advance health directive click here.

For your legally binding Advance Health Directive use “Form 4 Advance Health Directive”
For the Form 4, use the pdf download found here.

In conjunction with Form 4, use Form 10 Advance Health Directive - Explanatory Guide
Read this guide before you begin filling in your Form 4 Advance Health Directive.
For the explanatory guide, use the pdf download found here

The Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2021

This Queenland Legislation, which came into force on 1st January 2023, can be found in its entirety at this link.
The eligibility requirements to access VAD in Qld are defined in “Part 2; Section 10 Eligibility” of this legislation.

Reports

State of VAD Report – Go Gentle Australia 2024

For the above named excellent report click here.
The download for the report is via the link at the bottom of the page, which takes you to the Go Gentle Australia Policy Library.
Please don’t just confine your reading to this report. Be curious. Check out some of the other and many worthy Go Gentle Australia reports and documents.

Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board Annual Reports (Qld)

“Division 4, Section 134 Annual Report” of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2021, requires that the VAD Board must prepare an annual report:

The annual reports can be found here.
2023–2024 Annual Report: Read about the main points from the 2023‑2024 annual report and download the full report here.
2022–2023 Annual Report: Read about the main points from the 2022‑2023 annual report and download the full report here.

End of Life Law in Australia (QUT)

This website “provides accurate, practical and relevant information for individuals, families, health and legal practitioners, the media, policymakers and the broader community about Australian laws relating to death, dying and end of life decision-making.”
For the webpage that discusses the laws on VAD in Australia, and their intersection with palliative care and medical treatment decision-making click here.

Other National, & Federal Government Information / Resources

HealthDirect

“Free Australian health advice you can count on” from the federal government’s healthdirect website. For their page on Voluntary assisted dying click here.

National Palliative Care Services Directory

Website for information click here.

My Aged Care

Many of us will one day run headlong into the issue of not being able to care as much as we once could, for ourselves, and/or our loved ones. For the basics of where to start to seek assistance, for either in our own homes, or in terms of aged care facilities, information can be found on the My Aged Care website. For the website click here.

Aged Care Institutions are Best Avoided - see Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety

Speaking of aged care, we believe that very little has changed in many institutions, since the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. For Reports from the Royal Commission click here.

• The Royal Commission was a prescient warning into the pitfalls of the Aged Care System.
• We recommend strong due diligence on any facility you are planning on spending your end days in.
• However, many do not get the luxury of choice. If events conspire against you, and injury (eg. falls), or illness prevents you looking after yourself, or being looked after by a loved one, the system will not let you go home from a hospital, alone and uncared for. The system will find you a “bed” in a nursing home (if you’re lucky you may get a shortlist of vacancies to choose from). The solution may not be close to your home, or your loved ones, and may be a horror house of the forms of neglect and abuse as espoused in the Royal Commission.
• There must be “good” facilities out there. But with a bogus and fraudulent star rating system, and a non-existent public-accessible incident and near-miss reporting system, it’s a lottery - that has tragic outcomes for many. For an ABC news article from 19 August 2024, on these issues click here.
• Be warned.

If you happen to live in a Qld aged care institution that tells you they do not support access to VAD or attempts to hinder your access to VAD, this is forbidden under the Qld Act. Service providers must not hinder (delay or stop) your access to voluntary assisted dying. If your aged care institution does attempt to hinder your access, contact QVAD-Support directly - see the top of this page for contact details. Alse see this Qld Govt website for information, click here.

Websites - Australia

Go Gentle Australia

Go Gentle Australia is an excellent source of information on VAD. Click here for their website.
Comprehensive information on Voluntary Assisted Dying in Your State is provided on this page of the Go Gentle website, click here. See above for Qld details.

VADANZ

VADANZ is the peak body for voluntary assisted dying health professionals in Australia and New Zealand. Click here for their website.

Australian State & Territories VAD Organisations

Most Australian states and territories have state based organisations focussed on VAD issues. See below for details.
Voluntary Assisted Dying South Australia. This website is rich in resources. They have extensive resources in their factsheets and newsletters - found under their resources tab. They have an amazing number of Ambassadors (18 were listed when we last checked). Highly commended!!!
Canberrans for a Good Death (ACT). This website is noteworthy for its resources also - especially their candidate surveys and community surveys. For their candidate surveys click here. Scroll down for the cartoon at the bottom of the page. It’s message is particularly telling. For their community surveys click here.
Dying With Dignity - ACT
Dying With Dignity - NSW
Dying With Dignity - Vic
Dying With Dignity - WA
Dying With Dignity - Qld

The World Federation of Right to Die Societies (WFRtDS)

For an international perspective, and to stay up to date with VAD developments world wide, WFRtDS may be of interest. Click here for their website.

Media Articles

“Given the choice, would my wife have chosen to ‘let dementia take its course’?”
25 Sept 2024 - by Ian Chubb: Available at Pearls and Irritations here; or at The Canberra Times here. It is powerfully written. A quote from the article:

They might have religion, I do not. They might be philosophers, I am not. They might be healthcare workers, I am not. They might be protecting votes, I am not. They might be prepared to prolong their own life to the last possible moment regardless of some incurable, utterly debilitating, dignity-destroying illness. I am not.

And:

But surely it isn’t beyond our wit to develop a policy with safeguards that allows individuals with particular conditions the right to choose – not to tell others what to do, but to determine for themselves how their own lives should end when sensible conditions are met.

“Voluntary assisted dying in dementia – compassion in adversity.”
5 Oct 2024 - By John Ward - Available at Pearls and Irritations here.
This is a follow up to Ian Chubb’s article directly above.

“Experts say it will take courage to include dementia in NT’s voluntary assisted dying laws”
21 Nov 2023 - ABC News article - Available here.

“On Their Own Terms”
19 July 2023 - Available at ABC News here. Keep scrolling down the page, it’s a long read.

“The legal pioneers behind end-of-life law in Australia”
4 May 2024 - Available at QUT Real Focus here.

“Slippery Slope Or Wise Demise? The Pros And Cons Of Medically Assisted Dying”
8 November 2022 - Available at Forbes here. We loved the quote: “A good death may be either natural or assisted. Neither is preferable for all. But we’d suggest more deaths will be good if both options are available. Death on our own terms, whatever they may be.”

Dementia

As we age, the looming threat of dementia becomes much more of a concern, and a tangible threat. Below are a few resources we have come across in this area:

Dementia Australia

Click here for their website.

Dementia Action Alliance

The Dementia Action Alliance (DAA) was recommended in Sanjay Gupta’s book called “Stay Sharp” (see the books section below). For the DAA website click here.
DAA is USA based. However under their “Discovery Centre” menu there are extensive resources that may be of assistance, click here. For their extensive podcast options, click here.

Websites That Sometimes Cover VAD and End of Life Issues

National Secular Lobby

Click here for their website. Click here to be taken to their blog.

Humanists Australia

“Helping people lead compassionate, ethical and fulfilling lives without religion”. Click here for their website.

Websites - Other International Organisations

Dying With Dignity Canada

In June 2016, The Canadian Parliament passed federal legislation that allowed eligible adults to request medical assistance in dying. The MAID legislation has been updated several times since. It does a great job too.
Check out the DWD Canada website here.

End-of-life Choice Society of New Zealand

In New Zealand, medically assisted dying services became available on 7 November 2021. Check out the End of Life Choice Society website here.

My Death, My Decision - United Kingdom

My Death, My Decision is a grassroots movement that campaigns for assisted dying reform. Check out the My Death, My Decision website here. They do great work, including their YouTube channel, which you can check out here.
Note: On Friday 29 November 2024, Lawmakers in the House of Commons successfully voted to support the bill to legalise assisted dying - to allow terminally ill adults to request medical assistance in dying.

Dignity In Dying - United Kingdom

Check out the Dignity in Dying UK website here.
Note: On Friday 29 November 2024, Lawmakers in the House of Commons successfully voted to support the bill to legalise assisted dying - to allow terminally ill adults to request medical assistance in dying.

Dignitis Switzerland

Check out the Dignitis Switzerland website here. Very few jurisdictions in the world permit VAD or its equivalent, for non-residents, but Switzerland is one country that does allow this. We will discuss our Qld Act’s stringent residency requirements in a future blog post.

Death With Dignity (Oregon USA)

“Proven safe, effective, and above all, meaningful, the Oregon Death with Dignity Act works exactly as intended and exactly for whom it was intended, without fail” - since 1997.
The Death with Dignity website is available here

Dying With Dignity South Africa

Check out the Dignity South Africa website here

Books

Below is a list of books we have come across that deal with the issues of dying, death, aging, the medical industrial complex, dementia and keeping your brain sharp:

• “Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age” by Sanjay Gupta. For goodreads information about the book click here.
• “Hippocrasy” by Rachelle Buchbinder & Ian Harris. For goodreads information about the book click here.
• “Advice for Future Corpses* (*And Those Who Love Them)” by Sallie Tisdale. For goodreads information about the book click here.
• “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory” by Caitlin Doughty. For goodreads information about the book click here.
• “After” by Nikki Gemmell. For goodreads information about the book click here.
• “Dying: A Memoir” by Corey Taylor. For goodreads information abour the book click here.
• “The Coffin Confessor” by William Edgar. For goodreads information about the book click here. Also catch the video - see below for details.
• “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch & Jeffrey Zaslow. For goodreads information about the book click here. Also catch the video - see below for details.
• While searching for books on mortality, we came across this site as a possible resource: “The Mortal Athiest”. For their list of books on mortality click here.

Videos / YouTube / TED Talks

• “Dave on accompanying his wife to Dignitas” is from the My Death, My Decision YouTube channel. Click here for the YouTube about Dave and his wife. Click here for the My Death, My Decision channel. Dave’s wife suffered from MS. Sufferers of MS are locked out of VAD laws in most jurisdictions due to their narrow scope of only allowing access for the terminally ill - with a requirement of an expected death within 6 or 12 months. This needs to change. We need more Track 2 of the Canadaian MAiD legislation to allow MS sufferers access to VAD.
• “Palliative care & VAD sit side by side.” Andrew Denton, founder Go Gentle Australia on “Thursdays@3” by Palliative Care Australia. Click here for the YouTube.
• “Why I tell people to ‘f*** off’ at funerals” by Bill Edgar - The Coffin Confessor. Click here for his TED talk.
• “Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch (Oct. 23, 1960 - July 25, 2008) gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. Click here for the YouTube.

Your Financial Well Being (Australia)

• Are you eligible for the aged pension? When assessing eligibility for the aged pension, applicants are given an income test and an assets test - the test that produces the least amount of pension is the one used. Noel Whittaker has all the details and a calculator on his website, click here.
• Or how about the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card? Noel again has the details, click here.
• Noel also has many other calculators on his website to help you sort out your financial well being, and plan for the future in retirement. Click here for more details.

If We Missed Something

If you’ve made it this far down our resources page, thank you! 🤗
And if you know of other resources we haven’t included and you think that they’d make a worthy addition to this resource page, please let us know via email or Bluesky. See our contact page for details.