This law is intended to be used by those fully competent in their decision, however in its current form it fails to meet this requirement. Therefore this amendment is needed in order to ensure that only truly competent people are able to access euthanasia or assisted suicide.
While an attending medical practitioner needs to ask and confirm the person’s wish to receive a lethal dose on the day it is administered or ingested, the Act doesn’t require medical professionals to check whether the person is actually mentally competent at this time.
This is a risk because the Act does not place a maximum time limit between when the approval is granted and when the euthansasia or assisted suicide must be carried out.
This means that someone might be competent when they are approved, but could then subsequently lose competency before the lethal dose is administered or ingested. This opens the door for potential abuse in the process. For example, someone with a 6-month prognosis who has been approved may actually live many years longer (Vicki Walsh, for example, lived nine additional years after an initial prognosis of only 8-12 months). During this time there could be significant mental health deterioration or even dementia, which would mean they are no longer able to give free and informed consent on the day of the lethal dose.
Our amendment requires that mental competency be redetermined 48 hours prior to administering the lethal dose, to the same standards as the initial competency approval.
Amend the End of Life Choice Act: Sign the Petition
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