« Go to related Bill

Supplementary Order Paper No 208

No 208

House of Representatives

Supplementary Order Paper

Wednesday, 1 May 2019

End of Life Choice Bill

Proposed amendment

Chris Penk, in Committee, to move the following amendment:

Clause 3

In clause 3, replace the definition of assisted dying (page 3, lines 1 to 7) with:

assisted dying, in relation to a person, means—

(a)

the administration by a medical practitioner of a lethal dose of medication to the person to cause that person’s death; or

(b)

the self-administration by the person of a lethal dose of medication to cause that person’s death

Explanatory note

This Supplementary Order Paper amends the End of Life Choice Bill to remove ambiguous language in the definition of assisted dying, to more accurately and dispassionately describe the action taken in assisted dying. The original definition does not effectively differentiate between the “double effect” of the hastening of death that can occur when providing medication in the course of quality palliative care treatment and the purposeful deaths that would occur by administering lethal medication to someone who had requested assistance to die.