Authorities in Queensland, Australia, have admitted that the state’s Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) laws may need some adjusting after a man killed himself using the assisted suicide drugs meant for his wife.
According to The Guardian, the incident was mentioned in the Queensland Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board Annual Report. The elderly woman was approved for assisted suicide at home and had received the drugs for the procedure, but she died suddenly in the hospital before she had a chance to use them. Following her death, her husband used the drugs to kill himself.
While a coroner is investigating the death, the state’s health minister, Shannon Fentiman, admitted that this was a misuse and that the laws may need to be adjusted. Currently, VAD drugs that are not used must be returned within 14 days, which means in this case that the husband should have sent the drugs back.
“We will look at absolutely whether we need to strengthen the legislation about that 14-day turnaround for medication to be returned, which I suspect we will do,” she said. “But we’re going to await the outcomes of that investigation. That investigation will also go to the coroner and I also expect the coroner will have some recommendations around that.”
READ: After legalizing assisted suicide, this Australian state saw spike in all suicides
Fentiman also noted that she believed this was the first instance of VAD misuse in all of Australia.
Despite this misuse, Fentiman said that the Queensland VAD laws were some of the best in the world, and terminally ill people who wished to die should feel comfortable pursuing assisted suicide.
“They have expressed their wish to die with dignity, and we’ve provided a world-class system that has enabled people to do that,” she said.
The man’s death underscores the dangerous double standard that exists when assisted suicide and euthanasia are legalized. It is considered a tragedy if a healthy person wants to commit suicide, but when a terminally ill person expresses a wish to die, they are handed the drugs to do so. The taking of a human life should never be celebrated.
