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First study of Australian patient experience with voluntary assisted dying

July 3rd, 2023

Specially trained voluntary assisted dying care navigators have greatly improved access to assisted dying in Victoria, a patient experience study by QUT Australian Health Law Research Center has found. The study was published in the Medical Journal of Australia on July 3.

The study team (pictured above from left), Ruthie Jeanneret, Professor Ben White, Professor Lindy Willmott and Dr. Eliana Close all from QUT, interviewed 32 family caregivers and a patient about the features that helped or hindered their access to voluntary assisted dying (VAD).

"We conducted the study to shed light on people's experiences seeking an assisted death as, until now, research had centered on doctors' early VAD experience after Victoria became the first state to have VAD in 2019," Professor White said.

"A major finding was the high praise and gratitude expressed towards VAD Care Navigators. As one participant said, 'All the way through I've been in contact with the navigators. Without them this could not happen… I knew the whole process. I was familiar with everything … I could not have done it without them.'

"We found the main barriers patients encounter are:

finding trained and willing doctors to assess their eligibility, including a doctor who specializes in the person's condition.
objections to VAD from hospitals, aged care and other health facilities who block assessment or access to VAD medication.
the time it took to go through the application process when time was of the essence for people in pain and whose death was near.
a prohibition on VAD telehealth consultations had caused pain, distress and considerable hardship, especially for patients who lived in regional areas and had to travel long distances to VAD assessment appointments.
doctors not being allowed to initiate VAD conversations."

QUT Ph.D. researcher Ruthie Jeanneret said the study found that patients felt well-supported once they had made contact with the system through a willing doctor or a VAD Care Navigator.

"From this study we make several recommendations to continue improving the VAD process for patients," Ms Jeanneret said. "These are:

make it a priority to ensure more widely available information can enable patients to make earlier contact with the VAD system through eg VAD Care Navigators.
increase the pool of willing and qualified doctors involved in VAD with support to undertake the required VAD training and adequate remuneration.
mandate doctors must refer on to a willing doctor or provide contact details for VAD Care Navigators.
reform law to allow doctors to raise VAD with patients and to hold telehealth consultations.
ensure sufficient resources and support for VAD Care Navigators and the Statewide Pharmacy Service whose roles are critical in the VAD system."

More information:
Ben P White et al, Access to voluntary assisted dying in Victoria: a qualitative study of family caregivers' perceptions of barriers and facilitators, Medical Journal of Australia (2023). DOI: 10.5694/mja2.52004

Provided by Queensland University of Technology

Citation: First study of Australian patient experience with voluntary assisted dying (2023, July 3) retrieved 29 November 2024 from https://sciencex.com/wire-news/449859896/first-study-of-australian-patient-experience-with-voluntary-assi.html

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