Australia's first state to legalize euthanasia

Victoria has become the first Australian state to legalize assisted dying.

Supporters of the right-to-die legislation express their emotions in the Victorian Legislative Council. Photo: EPA

According to BBC (UK), Victoria has just become the first Australian state to approve a law allowing terminally ill people to die as they wish.

The approval of the law came after more than 100 hours of heated debate, including two all-night meetings of lawmakers.

Under this law, from mid-2019 onwards (June 2019), people with terminal illnesses in Australia's second most populous state will have the right to request death as their release.

The law also stipulates that citizens aged 18 and over and with an estimated life expectancy of less than six months are allowed to use this right. In some cases, the life expectancy can be up to 12 months.

The law supporting the right to die for terminally ill people is designed to benefit those who are already suffering from painful conditions.

To prevent the law from being used to coerce patients into dying, Victorian law includes 68 conditions.

These include conditions such as: The patient must have at least three requests from specialized doctors to end their life; there must be a specialized committee to evaluate specific cases; forcing a patient to end their life is a crime....

In addition, the patient must have lived in Victoria for at least 12 months and be completely sober.

According to Reuters news agency, many countries have also legalized the right to die for terminally ill people such as Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland and some US states.

In Australia, the federal government is still opposing the passage of legislation that would legalize the right to die.

According to Tuoi Tre