A mandatory three-year review of New Zealand’s End of Life Choice Act 2019 has found the law is generally working well but needs some improvements including removal of the ‘gag clause’.
The Ministry made 25 recommendations to improve operation of the Act, noting there had been no wrongful deaths among the 978 people who had gone ahead with the procedure.
The review of the Act was undertaken in two parts – a review of the operation of the Act by the Ministry of Health, and an online process to gather public opinion about changes that could be made to the Act.
VADANZ is cited in the Summary of Online Submissions, on issues such as:
Eligibility: “The 6 months timeframe restricts patient access, and some patients die in process who would like to access Assisted Dying. Patients fall broadly into 2 groups: the planners and the late applicants. The former would benefit from the reassurance of being able to commence the process earlier especially those with neurological disease, even if the Assisted Dying could not be delivered until 6months.”
And Conscientious Objection: “This Act is silent on the concept of ‘institutional objection’ but has been interpreted to allow institutions to conscientiously object with significant impact on patient access to Assisted Dying care. This should be explicitly revised to ensure patients can access the legal service of Assisted Dying in their home environments [including] residential care institutions and any govt-funded institutions including hospices.”
Key recommendations in the review include:
- Allowing health practitioners to discuss assisted dying as part of broader end-of-life care.
- Requiring minimum years of experience and mandatory training for practitioners.
- Expanding nurse practitioner roles for continuity of care.
- Mandating care facilities to provide reasonable access for assisted dying services.
- Removing the need to choose a date and time for an assisted death.
The Ministry said changes to eligibility criteria and definitions about terminal illness were beyond the scope of the review and things for Parliament to consider.
However Health Minister Shane Reti told media: “further amendments are not a current priority for the Government”.
The End of Life Choice Act came into force on 7 November 2021, following a public referendum held alongside the 2020 General Election. The Act is administered by the Ministry of Health.
To read the findings of the Ministry’s review of the operation of the End of Life Choice Act CLICK HERE