A state’s euthanasia plan has come under scrutiny after a widower struggling with grief took a substance intended for his wife.
A Queensland man in his 80s known as ABC, whose wife had terminal cancer, took a lethal substance intended for her in May 2023.
An investigation was launched in Brisbane on Tuesday and ABC was found to be responsible for the safekeeping of the lethal drug.
His wife decided to self-administer the medications under Queensland’s voluntary assisted dying (VAD) laws to end his suffering while he was in the final stages of the insidious disease.
The investigation found that the woman’s husband of nearly 60 years was the designated contact person, a role that requires someone to return any unused VAD substances within 14 days of a patient deciding to undergo euthanasia.
A Queensland man in his 80s took his wife’s euthanasia substance after she died in hospital. An inquest into the man’s death said “improvements” could be made to the plan.
If a patient changes their mind and decides to self-administer the lethal medications, the same 14-day rule applies.
As reported by courier mailAccording to the investigation, a team of VAD specialists from Brisbane went to a hospital in the regional city where the couple lived to deliver the VAD substance.
The couple’s daughter said that during the handover the VAD team was “very concise” and consulted with her mother about whether she wanted to continue with VAD.
It was here that the team also explained to the husband his responsibilities as a contact person.
The daughter shared that her father took the substance home – where her mother wanted to die – and locked it up.
‘He took the fact that it was a controlled substance very seriously when it came to its custody. (He was) by the rules, he always has been,’ he said.
However, ABC’s wife had to be admitted to hospital due to her cancer symptoms progressing, which also meant she was physically unable to take anything orally.
To make matters worse, the cancer patient contracted Covid-19 in the hospital.
ABC’s wife retracted her decision to self-administer the substance VAD.
The 14 day period began when she changed her mind and the husband was told to take the VAD substance to a pharmacy.
However, ABC also contracted Covid and was frustrated at not being able to visit his wife.
Sadly, his wife died in hospital, leaving ABC to struggle with both her grief and Covid.
It was during this time that the VAD team called several times and told ABC how important it was for him to return the substance.
The daughter told the investigation that she and her father decided to take her to the pharmacy when he went to pick up some medication.
The day before her trip was scheduled, the daughter left her father to run some errands.
When she returned, she found him dead in a chair with the box of VAD substances next to him.
‘I thought he was asleep in the chair. I wrapped my arms around him. I was cold,’ she said.
The woman told the court that although she was “200 per cent behind” the VAD plan, she believed some details in the information leaflet could be highlighted.
“I think because of the intense emotion you tend to miss things,” he said.
One example, she said, is that she didn’t think to ask if she could be the person to return the deadly substance.
Coroner David O’Connell, who is investigating the man’s death, told the couple’s daughter that improvements could be made.
Queensland’s voluntary assisted dying scheme began in January 2023 and accepted 245 patients in its first six months.
Just under half of people opted for self-administration.
Just over half of those people had chosen to have a doctor administer a life-ending substance and the rest opted for self-administration.
The investigation carried out since ABC’s death, processes and monitoring had changed within the VAD scheme.
Research has raised the question of who in the community should have access to end-of-life medications and to what extent they should have access to them.
A witness working on the VAD scheme said expanding the number of people who can return the lethal substance was a possibility.
According to research, patients can keep the VAD substance for up to a year.
“I think the tension is … that the Act was designed so that someone could have that substance to take whenever and however they choose,” he said.
“And I think that inherently has a risk, no one would say those substances are in the community.”
The witness said patients often have other strong medications in their homes that are not monitored and this case is the only one in which someone else had taken the lethal substance that was intended for a terminally ill person.
The investigation also found that background and mental health checks were not carried out on contact persons in the scheme.
In fact, it is not even necessary to present your driving license.
‘Do you accept that there is greater security in entering a nightclub in Brisbane than in becoming a contact person?’ -Mr. O’Connell asked the witness.
“Yes,” she said.
However, the witness said the plan should be careful about who it should prevent from becoming a contact person.
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