A DOCTOR will determine whether a terminally-ill patient is a resident of Victoria under the state’s assisted dying law, Health Minister Jill Hennessy says.
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The minister was quizzed by Liberal MPs in parliament over how residency status would be defined.
“A decision by the co-ordinating medical practitioner is made in the first assessment or by the consulting medical practitioner in the consulting assessment as to whether or not a person is or is not ordinarily resident in Victoria,” Ms Hennessy said.
She suggested it was unlikely candidates for euthanasia would be plotting to move to Victoria.
“We are talking about people that are terminally ill, potentially very close to death as well; so the concept or the suggestion that people are in a position to try and craft some falsehood for the purposes of accessing the provisions of the bill is one that I reject,” Ms Hennessy said.
The minister also rejected the notion, suggested by Benambra MLA Bill Tilley, that euthanasia may be accessible at Albury hospital because it is managed by the Victorian health system.
“There is no jurisdiction. It would have no application” Ms Hennessy said.