Victoria’s Voluntary Assisted Dying law came into effect in June 2019. The first of its kind in Australia and touted as the most conservative in the world, the passing of Victoria’s law was a watershed moment for end-of-life care in this count

#13 Unintended Consequences

May 24th, 2021 41m 5s

When Victoria’s VAD law was passed in 2017, it was touted by Premier Daniel Andrews as ‘the most conservative in the world’. This was true. Its 68 safeguards made it a far more daunting law for terminally ill people to access than similar laws

#12 A Cry For Help

May 19th, 2021 51m 42s

Whether it is through the words of the pope, his representatives the bishops and archbishops, or its surrogates in the medical profession, the Catholic Church remains the most determined force against voluntary assisted dying in Australia.In

#11 The End of Life Lottery

May 17th, 2021 50m 5s

The assisted dying debate in Australia has revealed two parallel universes. The conservative Christian universe, which believes our lives belong to God; that whatever happens at the end of life is part of His plan. And the other universe – emb

#10 We Who Walk Towards Death

May 12th, 2021 51m 12s

At the heart of the political debate around voluntary assisted dying lies palliative care. On one side sits the argument that it can effectively deal with all pain and suffering, and that it should be made available to everyone before Assisted

#9 The Light Under the Bushel

May 10th, 2021 48m 57s

In September 2020, as Tasmania’s Upper House prepared to debate an Assisted Dying bill, an article appeared on the online publication Mercatornet. Above a picture showing a graph of a flatlining heartbeat superimposed over an elderly hand was

#8 The Good Samaritan

May 5th, 2021 44m 29s

The key word in Victoria’s voluntary assisted dying law is the first one: ‘voluntary’. By law, any doctor, nurse, or other health professional who conscientiously objects can choose not to participate in a person’s request for voluntary assist

#7 The ‘C’ Word

May 3rd, 2021 53m 40s

There are many firsts in Betty King’s life. First female prosecutor for the state of Victoria. First female prosecutor for the Commonwealth of Australia. First female silk in Victoria. Now another – first Chair of Victoria’s Voluntary Assisted

#6 The Locked Box

Apr 28th, 2021 37m 50s

Imagine turning up to work one day to discover flyers outside your office accusing you of being a ‘death peddler’ and an ‘Uber service for poison’.Professor Michael Dooley runs Victoria’s Statewide Pharmacy Service. When voluntary assisted dy

#5 I Choose Not to Suffer

Apr 26th, 2021 52m 10s

So much was said during Victoria’s parliamentary debate about the people who would choose voluntary assisted dying, were it to be made legal.That they could not possibly know their own minds.“I do not believe that an individual who is facin

#4 Do No Harm

Apr 21st, 2021 46m 54s

No group has done more to persuade politicians to oppose assisted dying in Australia over the last 20 years than doctors. Citing their Hippocratic Oath to ‘do no harm’, they argue that giving doctors the right to ‘kill’, instead of cure, will

#3 Lucky Phil

Apr 19th, 2021 39m 47s

“Thou shalt not kill” - The Sixth CommandmentVictoria’s Voluntary Assisted Dying law was written to allow an eligible, terminally ill patient to drink a lethal medication to end their suffering; choosing to drink being considered the ultimate

#2 The Fire or The Fall

Apr 15th, 2021 36m 12s

Warning: This episode of Better Off Dead contains references to suicide and self-harm. These include discussions about how some terminally ill people have tried to end their lives in the absence of voluntary assisted dying laws. We are aware o

#1 The Belly of the Beast

Apr 13th, 2021 33m 57s

Spurred by watching his own father die painfully, in 2015 Andrew Denton set out to investigate – why are good people being forced to die bad deaths? Five years later, Victoria is the first state in Australia to have passed a voluntary assiste

Season 2 Trailer

Mar 1st, 2021 3m 58s

Andrew Denton investigates the stories behind Victoria’s landmark Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) law: Who seeks to use it, and why? Who are the doctors stepping forward to help them? And how does the church continue to resist a law it describes

#17 Why Do I Have to Go Through Hell to Get to Heaven?

Apr 12th, 2016 52m 54s

20 years ago, four dying people were able to access the Northern Territory’s world-first law to help them die more mercifully, before the law itself was extinguished.By the end of 2016, over 100 million people on three continents will be able

#16 Abandon Hope

Apr 6th, 2016 46m 39s

Paul Russell — Photo: SuppliedMy search for the truth about assisted dying began when I was invited to attend the HOPE International Symposium in Adelaide, featuring anti-euthanasia speakers from around the world.* There, I heard dire warn

#15 Lawrie's Story

Apr 4th, 2016 43m 50s

Of all the arguments against assisted dying, the most heartless I’ve heard is this: Suicide is legal. Why do you need assistance to do something that you can do yourself?Every time I hear that thought expressed (and I’ve heard it more than

#14 Australia's Dark Little Secret

Mar 29th, 2016 52m 55s

The repeated call by opponents of assisted dying is that the elderly and the vulnerable must be protected from coercion. In this, they are right – and there are many safeguards built into existing laws overseas which do exactly that. But what

#13 Now They're Killing Babies

Mar 23rd, 2016 57m 36s

Assisted dying has no more committed opponent than the Catholic Church. They have thrown resources, and the full weight of their political influence, against it wherever it has been proposed.That’s why the words of Sydney’s Archbishop Anthony

#12 Velvet Ray

Mar 21st, 2016 52m 28s

Ray Godbold is a palliative care nurse faced with terminal cancer – but he doesn’t want to die in palliative care.Robyn and Ray Godbold — Photo: Andrew DentonRay knows what some doctors prefer not to admit. He knows that, even in palliati

#11 Whose life is it anyway?: palliative care in Australia, part 2

Mar 16th, 2016 55m 44s

Associate Professor Richard Chye is the director of the Sacred Heart palliative care unit at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney. A gifted physician and teacher, he is also a hugely influential figure in palliative care in Australia. Apart from bei

#10 Neither hasten nor prolong death: palliative care in Australia, part 1

Mar 15th, 2016 48m 8s

Speaking with doctors in Belgium, the Netherlands and Oregon, I’d learnt that in those places, palliative care and assisted dying are seen as things that go together – and assisting a patient to die may sometimes be the ultimate offer of help f

#9 Why should one church decide for all of us? Death with dignity in Oregon

Mar 7th, 2016 49m 51s

The success of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act – at 18 years, the world’s longest-running law of this kind – puts two things into sharp relief. Firstly, the increasingly desperate attempts of opponents to discredit it. Secondly, the truth they

#8 Darkness visible: Marjorie, Edith and Laura: Belgium, part 2

Mar 2nd, 2016 55m 28s

Shortly after arriving in Belgium, I learned of ‘Laura’ – a 24-year-old woman who had sought the right to be euthanised after years of unrelieved mental suffering.Immediately, I heard alarm bells.My gut reaction?A 24-year-old who’s not term