A new podcast series on Australia’s Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) laws launches this week to address public confusion about eligibility, process and access to VAD.
The series is being produced by QUT School of Law PhD students Sinead Prince and Ruthie Jeanneret to look at what has worked well and what hasn’t since Australian states legalised VAD.
Ms Prince said the podcasts were based on years of research by Professor Ben White and Professor Lindy Willmott, founding members of QUT’s Australian Centre for Health Law Research (ACHLR), whose research was central to the legalisation of VAD and the development of VAD laws in Australia.
“A key aspect of the podcasts is to provide information or tips for change, and we ask each interviewee what the listener needs to know (often busting myths) or can do to help change VAD law and practice in Australia for the better,” Ms Prince said.
“The series covers how VAD came about and how it has worked in practice for patients and families in Victoria and Western Australia, as well as Queensland doctors’ expectations of participating in VAD.
“The interviews also cover national issues such as bans on telehealth and on doctors initiating discussions about VAD, the lack of remuneration for providing practitioners, and institutional objections to providing VAD to patients.”
Ms Jeanneret said that given the infancy of VAD systems in Australia and the differences in state laws around eligibility, it was important that the series enabled Australians to feel confident, educated and prepared should the situation arise where they or a loved one are considering VAD.
“The podcasts inform listeners that VAD is legal in their state and equip them with the knowledge to have conversations about VAD when appropriate,” Ms Jeanneret said.
“The series aims to promote an understanding of some of the key challenges and limits to change in VAD systems, and how to support someone who may be seeking access to VAD.”
The VAD podcast series is an offshoot of Ms Prince and Ms Jeanneret’s bioethics and health law podcast for a mainstream audience called Learn Me Right, which translates evidence-based research in these areas into an accessible format.
Both researchers started the podcast to ensure that everyone has access to resources that can inform and help them make decisions.
“I realised that my family was being disadvantaged by media paywalls and did not know where to find accessible and reliable information on many of the issues researched in ACHLR,” said Ms Prince.
“A podcast is the perfect way to share information: short, snappy, interesting and reliable episodes that anyone with or without research training can listen to.”
Similarly, Ms Jeanneret, who is the first in her family to go to university, was motivated to get involved in translating research to share it with the wider community.
“I realised how exclusive and inaccessible legal systems and legal knowledge are for many people, and Learn Me Right is a way to provide a permanent, available resource on issues where health and law intersect.”
The Learn Me Right in Voluntary Assisted Dying podcast series covers VAD law reform, access barriers and facilitators, remuneration and regional access, comparison of state laws, the telemedicine ban, institutional objection, the Belgian model, doctors’ perspectives on VAD, the role of patients and families in regulation, and end-of-life education, and is available on the ACHLR website and on Apple Podcasts.