Within Australia, there have been many attempts to pass voluntary euthanasia (VE) or physician-assisted suicide (PAS) legislation. From 16 June 1993 until the date of writing, 51 Bills have been introduced into Australian parliaments dealing with legalising VE or PAS. Despite these numerous...

Objective: The aim of the present study was to identify online resources community members may access to inform themselves about their legal duties and rights in end-of-life decision making. Methods: Resource mapping identified online resources that members of the public in New South Wales,...

The law regulates many aspects of decision-making around the withholding and withdrawing of life-sustaining medical treatment from adults who lack decision-making capacity and are approaching the end of their lives. For example, it governs whether an adult’s advance directive is binding and...

The principle of self determination in the context of medical decision making is an important one. For many years now, the common law has recognised that a person can give a directive about a health matter that may be effective if that person later loses capacity to make the decision. The...

This article examines the law in Australia and New Zealand that governs the withholding and withdrawal of ‘futile’ life-sustaining treatment. Although doctors have both civil and criminal law duties to treat patients, those general duties do not require the provision of treatment that is...

This paper reports on mixed method empirical research undertaken with individuals who have completed advance health directives (‘principals’) and doctors who have either attested to the principal’s capacity when the document was completed or been called upon to use these documents in...

Background: For the benefits of advance care planning to be realised during a hospital admission, the treating team must have accurate knowledge of the law pertaining to implementation of advance care directives (ACDs) and substitute decision making.Aims: To determine in a sample of Junior...

Background: Junior medical doctors have a key role in discussions and decisions about treatment and end-of-life care for people with dementia in hospital. Little is known about junior doctors’ decision-making processes when treating people with dementia who have advance care directives (ACDs),...

Despite the potential harm to patients (and others) and the financial cost of providing futile treatment at the end of life, this practice occurs. This article reports on empirical research undertaken in Queensland that explores doctors' perceptions about the law that governs futile treatment at...

Objective: Futile treatment, which by definition cannot benefit a patient, is undesirable. This research investigated why doctors believe that treatment which they consider to be futile is sometimes provided at the end of a patient's life.Design: Semi‐structured in‐depth interviews.Setting:...