Voluntary assisted dying laws come into effect

Voluntary assisted dying is now legal in Victoria and terminally ill Victorians will have the power to end their life through Australia's first set of euthanasia laws. Patients with less than six months to live can now apply to end their lives, but are required to meet 68 safeguards before they are approved. Premier Daniel Andrews says it's the right time to have the laws, saying ‘we made this choice, it was the right time to make this choice and I think that the vast majority of Victorians support the choice that the Parliament made’. ‘Having said that though, I fully respect those that have a different view to me, part of having a respectful debate is to acknowledge that not everybody shares my view,’ he says. More than a dozen terminally ill people are expected to end their lives with the help of doctors over the next year. Image: News Corp Australia

from National | Daily Telegraph http://bit.ly/2MVyR35