Rachel Fieldhouse AN elderly man who died in Queens-

the medication , along with an investigation by the State Coroner .

coronial investigation was ongoing , it declined to comment further .

More than half of the 318 VAD-authorised practitioners in

land earlier this year self-admin-

The ABC reported that the man ’ s

In its latest report , the board

Queensland were nurses , including

istered voluntary assisted dying

wife had met the criteria for VAD

revealed 591 people in the state had

nurse practitioners , while the rest

medication prescribed for his termi-

and had been given the medication ,

applied for VAD , of whom 499 were

were doctors .

nally ill wife , it has been reported .

but she was subsequently admitted

deemed eligible and 340 eventually

The review board made five rec-

Around 1400 patients have ended

to hospital , where she died before

filled a prescription .

ommendations to improve the

their lives through the various vol-

taking the VAD substance .

A total of 245 patients died after

scheme , including that the Federal

untary assisted dying ( VAD ) schemes

Under the law , the husband was

administering VAD drugs .

Government fund VAD consultations

across Australia , including 200

required to return the medication

Almost 80 % had cancer , with

via the MBS , although it did not sug-

Queenslanders since the state legal-

within 14 days , but he consumed it

other diagnoses including respira-

gest a dollar figure for a rebate .

A man self-administered medication .

ised euthanasia this year . A Queensland Health investigation is now underway into the misuse of

instead . The state ’ s VAD Review Board said it was aware of the case , but while the

tory disease , neurological disorders , cardiovascular disease and end-stage renal and liver disease .

VAD schemes have been enacted in all states except NSW , which will join the rest on 28 November .

PAGE 5

a high-impact

peer-reviewed journal and

presenting at a scientific

conference in a few weeks .”

She said , while the early

scientific evidence was

promising , it was too early

to tell if this would translate

into clinical benefit .

“ Only follow-up scans as

the weeks and months go

by will determine that ,” she

said .

Professor Scolyer said he

had been asked why he had

volunteered to become a

human guinea pig .

“ Faced with certain

death , there ’ s no other decision

to make ,” he said .

“ I spent my life diagnosing

and researching cancer ,

so why would I stop now ?”

He too said the outcomes

were still far from certain .

But he had undergone additional

tests and procedures

as part of the research ,

including an open biopsy

and a delayed resection of

the tumour , along with multiple

lumbar punctures and

scans .

“ Science has a long history

of being pushed forward

by scientists themselves as

subjects ,” he said .

“ What I ’ m doing may not

be as extreme as the likes of

Marie and Pierre Curie , who

routinely exposed themselves

to radiation and suffered

the consequences for

the rest of their lives .

“ But hopefully , the scientific

learnings we will generate

will be just as profound .

“ And of course , I hope my

life will be saved .”

TWITTER / X