A decade into the brave new world of the 21st Century attempts to legalise assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia through courts and parliaments became commonplace around the globe.
But it was 15 years earlier that the Northern Territory of Australia became the first place in the world to pass legislation to legalise voluntary euthanasia. The Rights of the Terminally Ill Act which came into effect in 1996, allowed a doctor, in defined circumstances, to comply with a request from a patient to end the patient's life or assist the patient to end his or her own life. This controversial Act lasted just 9 months before being overturned by the Australian Federal Parliament.
It was not long before bills for similar legislation were being introduced in other Australian States, and overseas. The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Albania, and Luxembourg passed euthanasia legislation, and in some USA States, medically assisted suicide became a legal practice.
In the decades following the overturning of the NT Act there have been dozens of unsuccessful bills in Australia. In NSW a euthanasia bill (Rights of the Terminally Ill) was overwhelmingly defeated in 2002. A 2008 Euthanasia Bill in Victoria (Physician Assisted Dying Bill) also met with a resounding defeat. By 2009 three State parliaments, South Australia, Western …show more content…
As autonomous beings with their own moral values, the rights of doctors who may be asked to assist must be considered. They are separate moral agents, with responsibility for their own actions, yet their autonomy totally escapes examination by proponents of euthanasia. Nurses too have an immediate interest in any legislation since they would sometimes be called on to assist in the administration of the drug intended to bring about death, as we understand they are in the Netherlands and
But it was 15 years earlier that the Northern Territory of Australia became the first place in the world to pass legislation to legalise voluntary euthanasia. The Rights of the Terminally Ill Act which came into effect in 1996, allowed a doctor, in defined circumstances, to comply with a request from a patient to end the patient's life or assist the patient to end his or her own life. This controversial Act lasted just 9 months before being overturned by the Australian Federal Parliament.
It was not long before bills for similar legislation were being introduced in other Australian States, and overseas. The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Albania, and Luxembourg passed euthanasia legislation, and in some USA States, medically assisted suicide became a legal practice.
In the decades following the overturning of the NT Act there have been dozens of unsuccessful bills in Australia. In NSW a euthanasia bill (Rights of the Terminally Ill) was overwhelmingly defeated in 2002. A 2008 Euthanasia Bill in Victoria (Physician Assisted Dying Bill) also met with a resounding defeat. By 2009 three State parliaments, South Australia, Western …show more content…
As autonomous beings with their own moral values, the rights of doctors who may be asked to assist must be considered. They are separate moral agents, with responsibility for their own actions, yet their autonomy totally escapes examination by proponents of euthanasia. Nurses too have an immediate interest in any legislation since they would sometimes be called on to assist in the administration of the drug intended to bring about death, as we understand they are in the Netherlands and