Doctors fight telehealth euthanasia consultation

The Australian states, all of which now have voluntary assisted dying laws, are seeking an exemption from the Philip Nitschke-era federal ban on the use of phone or the internet to “counsel or incite” suicide or “promote” suicide methods

States and euthanasia advocates argue that federal law frustrates access to VAD for regional patients with limited access to local doctors and specialists

However, the 1000 medicos – including past senior figures in key professional bodies – have penned an open letter in The Weekend Australian warning it would create “great hazards and injustice”

“Further relaxation of criminal codes to facilitate telehealth for VAD assisted suicide would remove protections owed those vulnerable to suicide under duress and in need of palliative care, aged care and mental health services, especially so in regional and remote Australia,” their letter says.

“It is oversimplistic and in breach of a patient’s rights and owed dignity in healthcare to imagine competence, informed consent, lack of coercion, mental illness and comprehensive health care or palliative care needs can be adequately assessed using telehealth by VAD doctors.”

One signatory, NSW geriatric care specialist John Obeid, said the changes would effectively force regional patients into VAD, due to the lack of geriatric and palliative services in their areas. However, some doctors support amending the Nitschke law to exempt VAD telehealth, arguing it is not assisting suicide but rather managing end-of-life care

South Australian palliative care specialist Roger Hunt said that while telehealth for VAD consultations may not always be appropriate, it should be an option – as in other areas of medicine

Thousands gathered to remember the contribution of Australian defence personnel at Anzac Day commemorations across the country Events were held in major cities, suburban centres and country towns honouring men and women who served in past conflicts and those serving today

During the dawn service at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese led tributes on the 108th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings during World War I

The Canberra dawn service started with the sounds of a didgeridoo permeating the silence in front of the more than 30,000 attendees

Wreaths were laid in commemoration by Governor-General David Hurley and New Zealand High Commissioner Annette King and by Malta High Commissioner

HE Mario Farrugia Borg amongst others

(See how the Maltese community commemorated Anzac Day on pages 2 and 3) Ceremonial lanterns, which were placed in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, were carried by veterans and serving members into the war memorial as the reveille was played by a lone bugler

In his first Anzac Day speech since taking on the top job, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was important to remember the contribution of defence personnel who did not make it home “As we gather here, in towns and suburbs across the country, and in former battlefields across the world, we are surrounded by their names and the places that made their final claim on them, laid out in an atlas of grief," he said

“If we are to truly honour our veterans, we owe them something more than just