Western Australia, the second jurisdiction to enact voluntary assisted dying (VAD) laws, has undertaken its first review of its VAD system since it came into effect in July 2021. Professor Lindy Willmott, Professor Ben White and Casey Haining were engaged by the Western Australian Department of Health to…
The project, Assessing the operation of voluntary assisted dying laws in Australia, has been awarded $392,910 from the ARC Linkage Projects grant round. Lead chief investigators Professors Ben White and Lindy Willmott from QUT’s Australian Centre for Health Law Research said the project would conduct the first national…
Dementia is the second leading cause of death for Australians aged over 65. More than 421,000 Australians currently live with dementia and this figure is expected to almost double in the next 30 years. There is ongoing public discussion about whether dementia should be a qualifying illness under Australian voluntary assisted dying laws. Voluntary…
The Fourth Edition of Health Law in Australia was published recently. The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG (pictured, second from right) met with three of the editors (Professors Lindy Willmott, Ben White and Shih-Ning Then) and received the first copy of the book at the 2023 AABHL Conference,…
Specially trained voluntary assisted dying care navigators have greatly improved access to assisted dying in Victoria, a patient experience study recently published in the Medical Journal of Australia has found. The study team, pictured above from left, Ruthie Jeanneret, Professor Ben White, Professor Lindy Willmott and Dr Eliana Close…
QUT research projects have received nearly $30 million from Federal Government funding to fund palliative care projects. Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler announced a total of $68 million in funding for 14 National Palliative Care Projects, which included three QUT projects: $12.5 million for…
Much has been written about whether end-of-life law should change and what that law should be. However, the barriers and facilitators of such changes – law reform perspectives – have been virtually ignored. Why do so many attempts to change the law fail but others are successful? International…
In September 2021, the Queensland Parliament passed the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2021 (Qld), becoming the fifth Australian state to do so after Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and South Australia. Professors Ben White and Lindy Willmott (pictured), from QUT’s Australian Centre for Health Law Research, played a key…
Analysis by Professors Ben White and Lindy Willmott, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Faculty of Business and Law, QUT Our analysis of these proposed amendments include 5 key points: 1. It is difficult to know the consequences of the amendments The proposed amendments were delivered on the…
The Queensland Law Reform Commission’s Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill is the first in Australia to address objections by institutions, and has been welcomed by Professors Ben White and Lindy Willmott from QUT’s Australian Centre for Health Law Research. Ben and Lindy (pictured above) authored the original VAD Bill…
