Terminally ill Victorian adults can legally ask for their doctor’s assistance to access legal euthanasia drugs from today, in an Australian first.
The assisted dying scheme will be available to patients suffering intolerable pain with fewer than six months to live and 12 months for neurodegenerative patients, providing they meet 68 conditions.
The Victorian government anticipates around 12 people will access assisted dying services under the new laws this year, increasing to about 150 each year thereafter.