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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 9 Hansard (22 November) . . Page.. 2303 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

Our community attitudes are changing. I think all members here would recognise that patients have more and more say about how their treatment should be dealt with. Mr Speaker, this Bill is just another step in recognition of patient autonomy as opposed to doctor power. It is a step to prevent us from going down the slippery slope. I shall come back to that.

A recent survey amongst doctors showed that over the past two years almost one in five doctors had assisted a person in the terminal phase of AIDS with voluntary euthanasia or suicide. This, the survey showed, indicated that doctors had complied with only half of the requests that had been made. The lead researcher, Dr Denise Fagan, said that the results of this survey represented the views of the members of the Australian Society of HIV Medicine and added:

There is no sense in burying our heads in the sand. Doctors feel strong enough about it to write the details in the survey. To some extent it may be for some not quite a cry for help but it's a very positive statement about their beliefs in participating in an activity that could get them into a lot of trouble.

Indeed, Mr Speaker, the penalties in our Crimes Act are severe. This study, conducted on behalf of the Australian Society of HIV Medicine, elicited responses from 233 members, or 56 per cent of members, around the country. Forty-one of those had received requests from HIV patients between August 1993 and August this year. Most doctors, 51 per cent, who were involved in euthanasia were general practitioners, 17 per cent were mixed practitioners in general practice and hospital work, and the remainder were doctors in clinics, mixed specialities and private specialists. The study found that one in four patients were assisted with euthanasia - 23 per cent in the terminal phase of AIDS and 10 per cent suffering with AIDS.

The study highlights the following facts. Firstly, doctors are already carrying out voluntary euthanasia and will continue to do so with no guidelines and no protection for themselves or their patients. There is no cooling-off period, no time for the patient to consider the situation, no protection against coercion, no protection against vested interests and no requirement for the patient to be advised of his or her options of treatment. Indeed, there is no pressure to even ensure that the request was voluntary. What we have done instead, Mr Speaker, is put all our faith in the doctors. No doubt, in the vast majority of those cases, the doctors go through those processes; but there are no guarantees. Secondly, doctors are breaking the law on a daily basis and daring the authorities to prosecute them. They run the risk of being prosecuted for murder for their actions and must falsify death certificates to protect themselves.

Thirdly, as I mentioned earlier, even though seven Victorian doctors dared the Premier and the police to prosecute them for publicly admitting to having assisted patients with voluntary euthanasia, the Premier and the police have not acted. Why is it that the Premier, the police and the Director of Public Prosecutions have not acted? It is probably because they believe that even though it is illegal it ought not to be, but they are

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