Volume 212 - Issue 3
A perfect storm: fear of litigation for end of life care
Authors: Geoffrey K Mitchell, Lindy Willmott, Ben P White, Donella Piper, David C Currow and Patsy M Yates
Med J Aust 2020; 212 (3): 140-140.e1. || doi: 10.5694/mja2.50460
Published online: 17 February 2020
Published online: 17 February 2020
To the Editor: We thank Anaf and Hunt for their letters and accept their points about using the words “voluntary assisted dying”. Language does matter and this term, with the passing of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 in Victoria, is now the accepted phrase in Australia. However, we consider the existing point remains that a doctor is being asked to assist a patient to take their own life. While that is acceptable to a substantial number of doctors, it is something with which many doctors have a problem, and the argument that we have put forward still stands. If doctors are concerned with the act of a person taking their own life, then they will not want to be accused of this. If a person dies at the time they have been prescribed appropriate doses of medicines (including opioids), they may feel they have promoted that person's death. If they try to avoid accelerated death by using doses of medicines that are less than effective, then they are not providing the care they should deliver. They lose either way.
The choice of whether to provide voluntary assisted dying for a patient is one every Victorian doctor has to decide for themselves. But for all doctors providing end‐of‐life care, there should not be the risk of undertreatment and providing less than effective palliative care because of concerns about legal sanctions. Our study1 shows that sanctions are unlikely to be applied.
Competing interests
No relevant disclosures.
References
- Mitchell GK, Willmott L, White BP, et al. A perfect storm: fear of litigation for end of life care. Med J Aust 2019; 210: 441. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2019/210/10/perfect-storm-fear-litigation-end-life-care