The Role of the Medical Profession in Victorian Assisted Dying Law Reform

The Voluntary Assisted Dying Act Vic will commence operation on 19 June 2019. Doctors were highly visible in the debate which informed the recent law reform process, and Victorian legislators relied considerably on the diverse views of the medical profession. It is important to pay attention to the role played by doctors in the legalisation of assisted dying in Victoria, not only because the current political environment suggests that further reforms may be likely in other Australian jurisdictions, but also because doctors' knowledge and expertise visibly contributed to the outcome of that process in Victoria. This article aims to map the participation of doctors in the recent law reform process to analyse how their professional attributes positioned them in the Victorian assisted dying space. It is suggested that doctors were afforded a place in law reform because of the routine acceptance of doctors as knowledge keepers in matters of life and death and an acknowledgment of the integral role of medical expertise in the legislation. A textual analysis of the Hansard record of the Victorian debate reflects that individual practitioner advocacy for legalisation prevailed over opposition by the national branch of the Australian Medical Association in the deliberations of parliamentarians.