Terminally ill people could sign a 'death contract' allowing doctors to help them end their lives under new legal proposals. A template for a patient's declaration of their desire to die has been included in the details of the Assisted Dying Bill, published for the first time yesterday. The legal document would be counter-signed by a witness and two doctors before someone would be given the drugs to end their own life.
TASMANIA'S lower house has rejected voluntary euthanasia by the narrowest of margins. The private members bill, co-sponsored by Labor Premier Lara Giddings and Greens leader Nick McKim, was defeated 13-11 with Speaker Michael Polley effectively using his casting vote against it.