Eligibility criteria for voluntary assisted dying
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The following information may be upsetting or confronting for some people. If this raises distressing issues, support is available.
There are strict eligibility criteria for accessing voluntary assisted dying. This is one of the safeguards in place to protect vulnerable people.
To access voluntary assisted dying, you must meet all the eligibility criteria:
- Have an eligible condition.
- Have decision-making capacity.
- Be acting voluntarily and without coercion.
- Be at least 18 years of age.
- Fulfil residency requirements.
1. Have an eligible disease, illness or medical condition
An eligible disease, illness or medical condition is one that is:
- advanced, progressive and will cause death and
- expected to cause death within 12 months and
- causing suffering that you consider to be intolerable. Suffering can include:
- physical suffering
- mental suffering
- suffering caused by treatment provided for the disease, illness or medical condition.
You can refuse medical treatment or symptom management and still be eligible to access voluntary assisted dying.
2. Have decision-making capacity
To access voluntary assisted dying, you must have decision-making capacity. This means:
- you cannot request voluntary assisted dying in advance care planning documents
- a substitute decision-maker cannot request voluntary assisted dying on your behalf.
Decision-making capacity refers to your ability to independently make decisions about voluntary assisted dying.
You are considered to have decision-making capacity for voluntary assisted dying if you can:
- understand the nature and effect of decisions about access to voluntary assisted dying
- freely and voluntarily make decisions about access to voluntary assisted dying
- communicate decisions about access to voluntary assisted dying in some way (verbally, or by other means of communication such as hand gestures).
You are presumed to have decision-making capacity for voluntary assisted dying unless there is evidence that you do not.
To determine if you have decision-making capacity, your coordinating and consulting doctors will consider the following:
- you may have decision-making capacity to make some decisions but not others
- capacity can change or vary
- you may temporarily lose and later regain capacity
- whether you have enough and suitable support.
It should not be presumed that you do not have decision-making capacity because:
- of a personal characteristic
- you have a disability
- you make a decision that other people don’t agree with.
3. Be acting voluntarily and without coercion
You must want to access voluntary assisted dying yourself.
You must be acting without force or persuasion by another person. No one can make you access voluntary assisted dying.
4. Be at least 18 years of age
Voluntary assisted dying will only be available to adults (people aged 18 years or older).
5. Meet residency and citizenship requirements
To be able to access voluntary assisted dying you must either:
- be an Australian Citizen, or
- be a permanent resident of Australia (this includes New Zealand citizens who hold a special category visa as defined by the Migration Act 1958 (Commonwealth)), or
- have been ordinarily resident in Australia for at least three years immediately before making the first request:
- ‘ordinarily resident’ is someone who regularly or normally lives in Australia. It does not include people who temporarily live in a place, for example, for a holiday, business or education, or
- have been granted an Australian residency exemption by Queensland Health.
You must also have been either:
- ordinarily resident in Queensland for at least 12 months immediately before making a first request, or
- granted a Queensland residency exemption by Queensland Health.
Queensland Health can grant an exemption:
- where there are compassionate grounds, and
- you have a substantial connection to Queensland. Examples include people who:
- are long-term residents of a place close to the Queensland border, who work in Queensland and receive medical treatment in Queensland. For example, someone who lives on the northern New South Wales border
- live outside of the state but are a former Queensland resident and whose family live in Queensland.
Learn more about residency exemptions.
A person accessing voluntary assisted dying needs to have decision-making capacity throughout the entire process and have a condition that is expected to cause death within 12 months. Based on this, it’s unlikely someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s would meet the eligibility criteria.
There are many different types of dementia, and the person's coordinating and consulting doctors will need to determine the person’s eligibility against the criteria.
Discussions with those wanting to access voluntary assisted dying will always include information about end-of-life care, palliative care and practical support.
People who are not eligible will be encouraged to talk to their doctor about other support and treatment options available to them.
People who are elderly or frail have the same right to ask for voluntary assisted dying as others in the community. People who are elderly or frail must still meet all the eligibility criteria, including the ability to make and communicate a decision about voluntary assisted dying throughout the process. Being elderly or frail alone does not meet the criteria for voluntary assisted dying.
People with disability have the same right to ask for voluntary assisted dying as others in the community. People with disability must still meet all the eligibility criteria, including the ability to make and communicate a decision about voluntary assisted dying throughout the process. Having a disability alone does not meet the criteria for voluntary assisted dying.
A mental health condition is not considered an eligible condition for the purposes of eligibility for voluntary assisted dying. A person with mental illness, including personality disorders, may be eligible if they also have a life limiting condition that is advanced, progressive and likely to cause death within 12 month, and meet all other eligibility criteria.
The strict eligibility criteria includes a requirement for a person to have decision-making capacity for voluntary assisted dying at each stage of the process.
People wanting to access voluntary assisted dying must undergo independent eligibility assessments by 2 doctors. There is no requirement for doctors to undertake an additional mental health assessment, or for one of the doctors to be a psychiatrist.
Doctors are required to meet minimum qualification, experience and training requirements. If either doctor is unable to decide whether the person meets the eligibility criteria, they must refer the person to a healthcare worker who has appropriate skills and training to decide.