MELBOURNE, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Victorians with advanced terminal illnesses will be able to seek voluntary euthanasia from 2019 onwards under a proposal put forward by the government of Australian Victorian State on Friday.
The Victorian Parliament will hold a conscience vote on medically assisted suicide in late 2017, meaning Members of Parliament (MPs) will be free to vote on the legislation however they see fit regardless of their party's position on the issue.
An expert panel, chaired by the former president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) Brian Owler, on Friday delivered its report with 66 recommendations that will establish the framework for the legislation.
"In essence this reform is about alleviating the suffering of people who are dying and it's about respecting their choice about the manner and the timing of their death," Owler told reporters in Melbourne.
"I'm sure that this topic will be debated in the coming weeks and months and months.
"We think that this model, which we acknowledge is the most conservative model for assisted dying in the world, is the right model for Victoria."
The panel recommended that euthanasia be made available to patients aged 18 or older who possess a "sound decision-making capability" with a condition that is expected to cause death within 12 months.
The request to die must come from the patient themselves and they must be assessed by two independent doctors, one of whom must be an expert in patient's illness, before they are given the lethal drug.
"This is the most conservative model or framework that exists in the world," Owler said.
If the legislation is passed by parliament, Victoria will become the first Australian state to legalize euthanasia.
Jill Hennessy, the state's minister for health, said there were 68 safeguards within the recommendations to protect Victorians and medical professionals.
"It is my very firm, yet personal view, that we need to do better by those that are dying, those that are terminally ill, those that are bearing suffering that is unspeakable for them," Hennessy said.
"We are a death-denying society. It's my view that it is cruel to let the status quo continue to be the state of law in the state of Victoria."
