Tragic flaw sees man use voluntary assisted dying drugs prescribed for his wife
Warning: This article contains discussions of suicide and depression that some readers may find upsetting
A Queensland coroner has criticised the state's voluntary assisted dying laws, after an elderly man took his own life using drugs prescribed for his wife.
The Coroner's Court in Brisbane held an inquest into the May 2023 death of a man in his 80s, referred to by the pseudonym ABC.
The man's partner, who had a terminal illness, was found eligible for the voluntary assisted dying [VAD] program in March 2023.
Under that law a person can self-administer a VAD substance in a private location but they must nominate a "contact person" who will be legally required to return any unused or leftover portion within 14 days.
The self-administered drug was delivered to the couple's home a month later, and the man was the "contact person" responsible for the substance.
On the same day the drug arrived, his wife was admitted to hospital with Covid, where they decided to take an intravenous VAD drug. She died in hospital on May 8, 2023.
The man was told to return the drug within two days of his partner's death, but he failed to do so, using it to take his own life eight days later.
He did not return the drug as he was unable to leave his home, and there was no arrangement made for a health professional to collect it.
ABC’s adult daughter recalled the moment she found her lifeless father after returning from running errands.
“I thought he was asleep in the chair. I put my arms around him. He was cold,” she told the inquest.
The woman became emotional and said that she found an empty box in the kitchen and “knew immediately it was the VAD”.
In his findings, coroner David O’Connell said he was not judging the merits of VAD, but it had led to a "tragedy" only 107 days after it was legalised.
“Persons should not be placed in a position where they can be led into unwise decisions,” the coroner said in his findings handed down on Wednesday.
O'Connell said that the laws had failed to find a balance between a patient's autonomy and lethal medication safety.
“The VAD law has (the substance) provided to persons with no medical training, no regulatory oversight, and in a period of great personal and emotional turmoil,” he said.
The inquest heard ABC had previously been diagnosed with, and received medication for depression, which should've been considered before approving someone as a contact person.
"The fact that ABC had been medically diagnosed with depression and took medication was not something the VAD authorities considered, or even enquired on, when approving them to be a Contact Person. Indeed, there are simply no checks or enquiries of the Contact Person's suitability," he said.
He added that while there was no breach of protocol or legislative processes by QVAD personnel, it was "not a well-considered law".
O'Connell recommended the Queensland government implement an earlier draft of VAD laws that required oversight by a medical professional at all times.
Queensland Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said the government would consider the coroner’s recommendations.
“Following that case, we are working on a review of that legislation coming up to three years that will start next year, and that will obviously be one of the things that we look at,” she said.
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