Calls for Inquiry as euthanasia deaths surge 243% in Western Australia

Western Australia is facing calls for an urgent investigation into its voluntary assisted dying system after new figures revealed a 243% increase in euthanasia cases over four years, raising concerns about patient safeguards, medical oversight and access to palliative care.

The Western Australian Voluntary Assisted Dying Board’s latest annual report, covering July 2025 to June 2026, recorded 541 assisted deaths, representing approximately 2.9% of all deaths in the state.

Of these, 508 involved euthanasia, where a medical practitioner administered the lethal substance, while 33 involved patients administering the substance themselves.

The number of euthanasia cases has risen from 147 in 2021–22 to 508 in 2025–26, an increase of approximately 246%. The total number of assisted deaths rose by 182% over the same period.

Outgoing board chairman Dr Scott Blackwell acknowledged that activity across the assisted dying service was more than ten times higher than originally anticipated when the legislation was introduced.

According Right to Life UK, Western Australia’s proportion of assisted deaths is now the highest among Australian states and second only to Canada’s rate at the equivalent stage of its legislation.

The figures have prompted concerns about the effectiveness of existing safeguards, particularly following revelations that more than a quarter of patients making initial requests submitted multiple applications.

In 2025–26, 333 patients, representing 26.7% of those making initial requests, made more than one request. The report acknowledges that repeat requests can occur when a doctor refuses an initial application and the patient subsequently approaches another practitioner.

Critics argue this raises questions about potential “doctor shopping”, although the figures do not establish that patients were deliberately seeking practitioners more likely to approve their requests.

The report also revealed that the statutory nine-day waiting period between an initial and final request was shortened in 227 cases during 2025–26, representing 29.1% of final requests. One patient died just one day after making their initial request.

Concerns have also emerged over the reasons patients seek assisted dying.

Nearly 75% of patients assessed cited an inability, or anticipated inability, to participate in activities that made life enjoyable. Another 59% identified concerns about losing autonomy, while 57.1% cited loss of dignity.

Almost one-third expressed concerns about becoming a burden on family members, friends or caregivers, while 39.7% identified inadequate pain control or fears about future pain management.

Meanwhile, the number of applicants not receiving palliative care at their first assessment increased from 124 in 2024–25 to 167 in 2025–26. Of those 167 patients, 154 had received no palliative care during the preceding year.

The report also highlighted questions surrounding language assistance and the concentration of assessments among a relatively small number of medical practitioners.

Six eligible patients were recorded as speaking little or no English, yet fewer than five eligible patients received interpreter assistance during their first assessment.

Just nine practitioners accepted 51.6% of all initial requests, while eight practitioners conducted more than half of the year’s first assessments.

Of particular concern to critics, none of the 1,077 first assessments conducted during the reporting period identified a patient as failing the requirement to act voluntarily and without coercion.

The board also recorded nine complications during practitioner-administered euthanasia procedures, including coughing, gasping, vomiting and intravenous line difficulties. However, it does not collect equivalent complication data for patients who administer lethal substances themselves.

Despite these findings, the board has recommended reviewing existing eligibility restrictions, including the requirement that patients generally be expected to die within six months, or 12 months for neurodegenerative conditions.

It has also proposed changes to Commonwealth legislation restricting assisted dying consultations through telehealth and the electronic transmission of prescriptions.

Dr Calum Miller, a medical doctor and research associate, questioned whether the existing safeguards were sufficiently robust.

“The report records an assisted death just one day after a first request. That is an extraordinarily short time for a process that ends a person’s life,” he said.

He called for greater scrutiny of how medical practitioners establish that requests are voluntary, considered and made with adequate knowledge of available care.

Alisdair Hungerford-Morgan, chief executive of the anti-euthanasia organisation Right To Life, urged Western Australia’s Health Minister Meredith Hammat to commission an independent inquiry.

“We are calling on Western Australia’s Health Minister, Meredith Hammat, to commission an urgent inquiry into Western Australia’s assisted suicide and euthanasia system, including potential doctor shopping and whether claimed safeguards in current legislation are protecting vulnerable people in practice,” he said.

The board referred two matters for further investigation concerning possible breaches of the legislation during 2025–26, alongside hundreds of referrals involving the timeliness of statutory documentation.

Since voluntary assisted dying became legal in Western Australia in July 2021, a total of 1,764 assisted deaths have been recorded.

Image credit: Joshua Hoehne