ArticleBMC medical ethics2020
Too much safety? Safeguards and equal access in the context of voluntary assisted dying legislation.
Article in BMC medical ethics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Factors That Influence Access to Medical Assistance in Dying Services: An Integrative Review.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2024Pooled it
- Medical assistance in dying in pediatrics: a retrospective case study of clinical interactions and implications for team training.Paediatrics & child health · 2026Article
- Pinpointing the politics of passing away. An empirical ethics case study on legislating assisted dying.BMC medical ethics · 2026Article
- [Voluntariness of requests for assisted suicide].Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz · 2026Review
- Practitioners' attitudes and approaches to assessing comorbid depression among patients seeking assisted dying in New Zealand.Psychiatry, psychology, and law : an interdisciplinary journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law · 2026Article
- Patients' and Caregivers' Suggestions for Improving Assisted Dying Regulation: A Qualitative Study in Australia and Canada.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2024Article
- Assisted dying: principles, possibilities, and practicalities. An English physician's perspective.BMC palliative care · 2024Review
- Barriers to connecting with the voluntary assisted dying system in Victoria, Australia: A qualitative mixed method study.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2023Article
- Health care providers' early experiences of assisted dying in Aotearoa New Zealand: an evolving clinical service.BMC palliative care · 2023Article
- What do health care professionals want to know about assisted dying? Setting the research agenda in New Zealand.BMC palliative care · 2023Article
- Ethical Diversity and Practical Uncertainty: A Qualitative Interview Study of Clinicians' Experiences in the Implementation Period Prior to Voluntary Assisted Dying Becoming Available in their Hospital in Victoria, Australia.Journal of bioethical inquiry · 2023Article
- Japan should initiate the discussion on voluntary assisted dying legislation now.BMC medical ethics · 2023Article
- Junior doctors and conscientious objection to voluntary assisted dying: ethical complexity in practice.Journal of medical ethics · 2022Article
- Being a safe place: a qualitative study exploring perceptions as to how a rural community hospice could respond to enactment of voluntary assisted dying legislation.BMC palliative care · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn June 2019, the Australian state of Victoria joined the growing number of jurisdictions around the world to have legalised some form of voluntary assisted dying. A discourse of safety was prominent during the implementation of the Victorian legislation. MAIN TEXT: In this paper, we analyse the ethical relationship between legislative "safeguards" and equal access. Drawing primarily on Ruger's model of equal access to health care services, we analyse the Victorian approach to voluntary assisted dying in terms of four dimensions: horizontal equity, patient agency, high quality care, and supportive social norms. We argue that some provisions framed as safeguards in the legislation create significant barriers to equal access for eligible patients.
conclusionsWhile safety is undoubtedly ethically important, we caution against an overemphasis on safeguarding in voluntary assisted dying legislation given the implications for equal access.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.