A terminally ill South Australian has implored the state's Health Minister to bring forward the rollout date for euthanasia laws.
New Health Minister Chris Picton yesterday announced the implementation of voluntary assisted dying would be brought forward from March to January next year.
But Mount Gambier advocate Jane Qualmann said it was not good enough, naming October as an ideal time because there would be time to "iron out any little things" before the Christmas break.
"I'm under the understanding that the implementation team and SA Health are just waiting for a date from Minister Picton, and they're vying for October," she said.
An 'agonising' wait
Ms Qualmann said it has been a long wait since the legislation was passed in June 2021.
"For a lot of terminally ill patients, people and their families who've been waiting, it's been agonising," she said.
The new state government prioritised mental health funding in its latest budget with over $200 million promised to the sector, and Ms Qualmann questioned why the attention did not extend to terminally ill patients.
"The mental health of a patient who is dying is just as important as everybody else," she said.
"This waiting and this procrastinating have really affected a lot of people."
Ms Qualmann says it has been "really, really hard" listening to the stories of people suffering.
"I get off the phone sometimes, and I'm crying because I feel for these people, I hear the desperation in their voices," she said.
Ms Qualmann said the waiting was too much for some people and she feared they would take their own lives rather than wait for a less dignified death.
"I really wish that those who can, can access it soon so that they don't make decisions that are going to hurt their family," she said.
"You see that light at the end of the tunnel, but you can't reach it."
Rollout 'should be a carbon copy'
Ms Qualmann said implementing voluntary assisted dying in SA was "lagging behind terribly" compared to Victoria and Western Australia.
"The other states have taken between 400-500 days [to implement], ours is getting up to around nearly 600 days before the legislation comes through," she said.
"[The implementation team] has made up that time, they've worked really, really hard, so SA is there ready."
Voluntary Assisted Dying Taskforce chair Chris Moy says the government is still addressing challenges with the rollout.
"We are talking about, for the first time, the prescribing of lethal medications on purpose," Dr Moy said.
"We don't want any accidents where people could die because they get access."
He said these situations needed to be addressed because of the "incredible consequences of that".
But Ms Qualman has described his words as scaremongering because "this legislation is tight, the protocols are tight".
"We have virtually a carbon copy of Victorian, WA [legislation], with a few differences," she said.
"[In] Victoria [and] WA there's been no adverse effects, they have no evidence of any accidents happening with the medication.
"Remote and rural communities are just as safe as in the city.
"The pharmacists will have protocols, the doctors have protocols; the medication's in a lockbox, it's put somewhere safe.
"I implore Minister Picton to have the compassion to bring this forward to October."
