Euthanasia In Australia

Euthanasia is often a controversial topic around all areas of the world. The idea of ‘assisted suicide’ has sparked debates and many countries, including Australia, are still hesitant or reluctant in allowing legislation for legalising Euthanasia to pass. This inquiry will aim to provide sufficient evidence as to why and how Euthanasia should become legalised while also evaluating and examining other cases and laws in other states regarding this topic.
To clarify first, there are, in fact, three different types of Euthanasia. These are Voluntary, Non-Voluntary and Involuntary. Voluntary Euthanasia refers to assisted suicide performed with the patient’s consent. Non-Voluntary Euthanasia refers to a patient that could not give consent (such as a comatose or minor patient). Involuntary Euthanasia is assisted suicide on an individual that did not give consent or was against their
For every person that dismisses Euthanasia, there will no doubt be those who advocates for it, with their own arguments too. Most commonly, allowing for an individual to be in great pain until their ultimate demise is often argued as crueler and more inhuman than letting them pass away quietly and peacefully. Enforcing the illegality of euthanasia is also very difficult for numerous reasons. Firstly, as mentioned before, there are certain areas in the world that allows for euthanasia, and the laws of Australia have no jurisdictions in areas such as the Netherlands. The current laws are also too ambiguous to enforce, and thus, goes against what makes a ‘good’ law. For example, if family members were to suggest and encourage a terminally ill person to end their own lives without directly contributing, could it be counted as euthanasia in the current laws? In a democratic society such as Australia, banning euthanasia goes against its system, as in a 2015 survey of 34,000 NSW voters, 72% of the people were for the prospect of Euthanasia