Andrew Denton marks decade of VAD reform with new research fund
Ten years after launching Go Gentle at the National Press Club, founder Andrew Denton has returned to mark a transformation in end-of-life care and warn that the work is far from finished.
When Go Gentle Australia co-founder Andrew Denton first called for change in 2016, more than 50 attempts to pass voluntary assisted dying (VAD) laws in Australian parliaments had failed. Today, every state and territory has passed legislation allowing eligible terminally ill people to seek medical assistance to die.
“Back then, it seemed impossible,” Denton said. Yet over the following decade, sustained public advocacy and parliamentary reform transformed VAD from a politically contentious proposal into a legal end-of-life option across Australia.
Denton told the National Press Club (NPC) the reforms represented a profound shift in both law and medical culture. Thousands of Australians have now accessed VAD, while many of the fears raised before legalisation – including that palliative care would be weakened or vulnerable people would be coerced – had not materialised.
But significant barriers remain.
Among the most pressing is obstruction by hospitals and aged care providers that object to VAD. Denton described distressing cases where seriously ill patients had been required to leave hospitals for assessments, prevented from receiving VAD care on site, or forced to choose between remaining in a facility for other care and continuing their VAD application.
Go Gentle research into aged care found only seven of 70 major providers examined offered residents both comprehensive information and full access to VAD.
Denton called for stronger protections to ensure institutions that object do not prevent patients from exercising their legal rights, including allowing external VAD practitioners to enter hospitals and providing neutral spaces where assessments and other parts of the process can take place.
He also highlighted one of the most difficult questions facing VAD policy: whether people diagnosed with dementia should ever be able to access help to die.
Currently, Australian VAD laws require a person to retain decision-making capacity throughout the process, effectively excluding people once dementia has progressed beyond a certain point.
“Ethically, medically, legally and politically this is as complex as it gets,” Denton said. However, “saying ‘too hard’ is not an option”.
To help address these and other unresolved issues, Denton announced the establishment of the Go Gentle VAD Research Fund, designed to produce evidence that can drive policy reform, advocacy and education.
Its first project will examine VAD practitioners’ attitudes towards access for people with dementia and the safeguards that would be needed. A second project will investigate institutional obstruction, including where it occurs and how it affects patients.
“The research it enables will be chosen specifically for its ability to drive change, through evidence, advocacy, and education,” Denton said.
After a decade spent securing VAD laws across Australia, Go Gentle’s next task is ensuring those laws deliver fair and meaningful access.
The goal, Denton said, remains giving every Australian “the chance of a good death” and “the choice not to suffer”.
Watch the address on ABC iView