Coroner criticises Queensland's voluntary assisted dying laws after man took his life with partner's medication
An elderly person in regional Queensland took their own life with drugs prescribed for their partner. (Unsplash: Manny Becerra)
In short:
A coroner has found Queensland's voluntary assisted dying laws are not "well-considered" after an elderly man took his own life using drugs prescribed for his partner.
Coroner David O'Connell has recommended a health professional be present every time a deadly substance is administered.
What's next?
The government will consider bringing forward a review of the legislation.
A Queensland coroner has criticised the state's voluntary assisted dying laws after an elderly man took his own life using drugs prescribed for his wife.
Warning: This story contains references to self-harm.
The man's partner, who had a terminal illness, was found eligible for the voluntary assisted dying [VAD] program in March last year.
A self-administered drug was delivered to the couple's Queensland home a month later.
The man, who is referred to in court documents as ABC, was the "contact person" responsible for the substance.
On the same day it arrived, his wife was admitted to hospital with COVID-19, where they decided to take an intravenous VAD drug.
That was delivered, and they died in hospital on May 8, 2023.
The man was told to return the take-at-home drug within two days of his partner's death.
He failed to do so, and on May 16 used it to take his own life.
Coroner O'Connell heard evidence of "a number of near misses". (ABC News: Christopher Gillette, Brisbane, Australia, Chris Gillette)
In his findings, Coroner David O'Connell said the laws had failed to find a balance between a patient's autonomy and lethal medication safety.
The inquest heard ABC had previously been diagnosed with, and received medication for, depression.
Mr O'Connell said the inquest established a person underwent fewer identity checks to become a contact person than they did entering a Brisbane nightclub.
"The fact that ABC had been medically diagnosed with depression and took medication was not something the VAD authorities considered, or even enquired on, when approving them to be a Contact Person. Indeed, there are simply no checks or enquiries of the Contact Person's suitability," he said.
"At the inquest it was conceded that a person is required to undergo greater identity checks to enter a nightclub in Brisbane then to become a Contact Person."
The coroner found no breach of protocol or legislative processes by QVAD personnel but said, it was "not a well-considered law".
'Calamity and heartbreak await'
Mr O'Connell said the inquest heard evidence of "a number of 'near misses' … where various people have required the intervention of a health practitioner administer a supplementary IV VAD dosage to ensure a patient's death".
This included one patient who had alcohol before taking the drug and threw up some of the substance.
In hospitals, drugs designed to take a life are kept in drug safes where two staff must be present to sign it out, he said.
"The self-administration VAD oral substance is then simply handed over for future use … to an ordinary citizen with no medical training," he said.
"This highly dangerous drug can then, practical terms, simply be left on the kitchen table of a patient's residence.
"Further calamity and heartbreak await for patients and families if nothing changes," he added.
Mr O'Connell said the self-administered process was "not adequately thought through" and recommended a health professional be present every time a deadly substance was administered.
"The parliament passed oral substance administration laws which, in my respectful observation, did not have the appropriate balance struck between patient autonomy and lethal medication safety," he said.
"VAD oral self-administration laws unfortunately overwhelmingly favoured patient autonomy."
Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said the government will consider the recommendations. (ABC News: Chris Gillette)
Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said the government would consider the coroner's recommendations.
She said Queensland Health had already "done some work" after an investigation into the case.
"We are working on a review of that legislation, coming up to three years that will start next year and that will obviously be one of the things we look at it and if we need to bring that forward we will."