Australian state, Victoria, became the first in the country to legalise assisted dying, or euthanasia, with lawmakers voting to allow terminally ill patients the right to request a lethal drug to end their lives from June 2019.
- The legislation was passed after 100 hours of often fiery debate, making it the only place in Australia where the practice will be legal.
- The scheme will be accessible only to terminally ill patients over 18 living in Victoria with less than six months to live, down from an originally proposed 12 months.
- Those applying must be determined by multiple doctors to be suffering intolerable pain and be of sound mind.
- If they are able, the patient will administer the lethal substance themselves, but if they are not, a doctor will help.
- Assisted suicide is illegal in most countries around the world and until now had been banned in Australia
