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Yes.

Dr Coelho, what are the key considerations and challenges that we should be looking at here in Scotland?

Dr—

Good evening. In 2019, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities expressed significant concerns about Canada’s approach to medical assistance in dying, particularly from a disability perspective. She noted the absence of a protocol to ensure that people with disabilities were offered viable alternatives before considering assisted dying. That concern was heightened when the federal Government passed bill C-7 in 2021, which relaxed safeguards for patients eligible for MAID, including the removal of the 10-day waiting period and the requirement to offer palliative care options. Most recently, the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario published the “MAiD Death Review Committee Report 2024”, which indicated that many individuals are seeking MAID due to factors that are unrelated to medical illness, such as homelessness and isolation, with MAID access notably higher in economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

Given the alarm that has been generated worldwide by Canada’s experience, do you believe that characterisation to be accurate, and have specific protocols or safeguards been introduced to prevent individuals from turning to MAID due to a lack of social support or access to complex care? I ask Dr Green to comment first.

Good morning to those joining us online. Is the service that is currently set up in Australia, and in Victoria specifically, a specialist service that has been set up to deal with assisted dying, or does it sit within other established healthcare services?

What level of resource was provided to healthcare providers to be able to upskill and train clinicians when voluntary assisted dying first came online?

Yes.

Julian, I come back to what you said a couple of minutes ago about the training that practitioners receive. Could you give us an overview of what that training looks like? Does it vary by state, or is it set out in the legislation that is provided in Australia?

So, if I am understanding—

Not at all. That is very useful, thank you.

Professor White, to come back to what you said, was the specialist service established purely due to issues of rurality and the size of the state that must be covered, or were there other considerations?