A person is dying every two days from euthanasia in Western Australia only eight months after the introduction of “voluntary assisted dying” in the state, according to figures released last week by the WA Health Minister, with numbers set to rise rapidly.
One hundred and twenty-five people have ended their lives through euthanasia, out of a total of 378 who have applied for the procedure.
Of that total, two hundred and sixty “first assessments for eligibility” have been undertaken, a number likely to rise rapidly once more doctors qualify to administer euthanasia in WA.
“WA Labor now has an overwhelming majority in both houses of Parliament, allowing them to act with impunity on any issue they wish.”
Currently 59 of 102 medical practitioners who have applied for certification have completed the WA government’s mandatory training.
Amber-Jade Sanderson, the WA Health Minister, gave the statistics during an update to WA Parliament on 23 March.
“VAD is an important end-of-life choice for people diagnosed with a terminal illness,” Ms Sanderson told Parliament, adding that the government “continues to improve access to palliative care across WA”.
Ms Sanderson’s figures mean 16 Australians are dying from euthanasia a month in WA, one every two days, which would rise to one per day if the majority of applications are accepted.
By comparison, Lifeline WA notes that WA’s suicide rate is 381 per year, or one per day on average, placing it higher than the national rate (14.3 versus 12.1 deaths per 100,000).
Western Australia also has the highest age-standardised suicide rate among Indigenous people, and the second highest among children aged 5-17.
“In fact wherever in the world that VAD is introduced it has been soon amended to allow even greater ‘freedom’ over death.”
VAD came into effect on 1 July 2021 in WA after it passed Parliament in December 2019, despite staunch opposition from Liberal MP Nick Goiran, who debated every single clause of the bill.
Ms Sanderson, who was recently made Health Minister, “has been an advocate for euthanasia for some time,” WA Right to Life President Steve Klomp told The Catholic Weekly.
“She wrote the paper My Life, My Choice which was the basis of the WA Government’s decision to allow VAD in Western Australia.
“WA Labor now has an overwhelming majority in both houses of Parliament, allowing them to act with impunity on any issue they wish.
“As a result, as well as the VAD legislation we have already also seen the ‘breaking of the confessional seal’ legislation pass, the outlawing of prayer outside abortion clinics and other examples of anti-Christian legislation in the pipeline.
“I suppose the real warning for NSW is that VAD legislation is not something that is set and then remains so ad infinitum.
“The Andrews government is amending the legislation to allow euthanasia for those who are not terminally ill.”
“In fact wherever in the world that VAD is introduced it has been soon amended to allow even greater ‘freedom’ over death.
“Close to home in Victoria, the Andrews government is amending the legislation to allow euthanasia for those who are not terminally ill, but are ‘tired of life’, for example if they are old and their spouse has passed away.
“These amendments generally don’t take long to come about – once the genie is out of the bottle it cannot be put back in.”
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