2016-09-13
Victorian Greens health spokesperson Colleen Hartland welcomes the Government’s critical improvements to advance care planning but says the Government’s failure to implement assisted dying laws is prolonging suffering for terminally ill Victorians.
“We know that terminally ill Victorian’s are already ending their lives in painful and traumatic ways,” Colleen Hartland said.
“There is overwhelming support for assisted dying to be made legal. The Government needs to step up to the mark and give terminally sick people the power to end their suffering and decide when their life ends.
“It is critically important that people not only have full control over medical decisions at the end of their life through their advance care plans, but that they also have the choice of assisted dying and the Andrews Government is failing to act on this.
“Given the overwhelming community support for action to legalise voluntary euthanasia, it would be tragic for patients or the general community to confuse today’s announcement with any kind of progress on assisted dying.
"If the Government fails to move on this issue, the Greens will introduce our own private members bill,” said Ms Hartland.