Tas Voluntary Assisted Dying Commission - Annual Report 2023-24 - consideration & noting

Tuesday 11 March 2025

[12.59 p.m.]

Ms ARMITAGE (Launceston) - Madam Acting President, I have a very short response. I am not sure it is actually going to be short enough.

I thank the member for Mersey. I was not going to contribute, but listening to your heartfelt comment and also having had a dear friend of mine who actually is a doctor who has been administering the VAD, I thought I needed to at least make some comment and let the member for Mersey know, particularly from this doctor's perspective, what is actually felt. It is hard to describe the words he actually used, the comfort that he actually gets and the time he spends with the patients. I note, in one of the recommendations, about the compensation for doctors, but I think from his perspective -

Sitting suspended from 1.00 p.m. to 2.30 p.m.

Ms ARMITAGE (Launceston) - Mr President, I do not have a long contribution. I just rise to thank the member for Mersey for his really heartfelt contribution. He almost brought a tear to your eye listening to some of the comments and some of the letters received.

I was not going to stand and contribute, but having heard the member, I just wanted to relay a call I had from a dear friend of mine who is a medical practitioner who is undertaking voluntary assisted dying and the thanks he wanted me to pass on to the member for Mersey.

I note in the annual report the comment about medical practitioners being underfunded for the work they do. I know in this gentleman's instance, he was telling me that sometimes you might be there six, seven, eight hours. He said he has been there until one or two in the morning, just talking to someone again to know them. I know that money did not come into it. It really was not. He certainly did not mention to me anything to do with being underfunded, just the fact of how rewarding it was to help someone in this circumstance and getting to know the family and getting to know the person - but also how exhausting it was and time consuming. The fact that you would be there for so long in many instances. He said to me on one recent occasion when he performed - I guess that is the word you would use for a voluntary assisted dying helper - that before the person closed their eyes they looked at him and said thank you.

I think that says it all for the member for Mersey, for the work you have done. I know we are noting the report. Obviously, the report would not be here without the work you have done to get this where it is.

One of the other things that was mentioned to me that many people may apply for voluntary assisted dying and they may get the medication, but sometimes it is just a matter of having it in case they actually need it. When you look at the amounts here and the figures here on how much that is dispensed and how much is returned and not used, I think that is the case.

Hearing from this doctor how grateful he was to the member for Mersey - one thing he said that was probably a difficulty with the legislation - and I am not sure how it is in all the other states or countries - but sometimes you will have someone - and he did mention that he had a couple of patients who fell into the category - that they were terminally ill. They were dying, but they did not know whether it was going to fit the time frame. There may have been a shorter time frame or may have been a longer time frame.

That was a real problem, he felt, that they possibly could have died earlier but were not available because of the possibility of taking longer to pass. They actually could not get the medication or could not get the voluntary assisted dying help they actually needed. He felt that was one area that maybe needed addressing. I am not really sure how you address it and whether the member for Mersey has any suggestions or ideas with regard to that. I notice it is not addressed in the report. This was the one area the doctor mentioned to me where he felt most helpless. He wanted to help the people, thought they probably are going to die sooner rather than later, but the time frame for their death was actually longer and ruled them out at the time.

I thank the member; it was heart-warming, tear jerking, whatever you would like to say, to hear from this doctor when he was telling me of the instances with the families - particularly, with the families and with the people and how they had such a calmness at the time they were actually passing. As I said, for the gentleman just about to close his eyes for the final time to look at this doctor and say thank you. He just said it was something he would never forget.

Thank you, member for Mersey, for all the work that you have done. I note the report.

Motion agreed to; report noted.