Voluntary Assisted Dying

The work of Catholic health and aged care services rests on a beautiful and courageous ethic of care, which is centered on the dignity of each and every person. This ensures that the dignity of all whom we encounter through our services are honoured. It also challenges us to consider how we contribute to our society, in which sadly so many still do not have access to adequate health or aged care, especially near the end of life.

Australian history bears witness to our ethic of care in action: for almost two centuries, our services have been responding to the suffering of those we serve at all stages of life, often with a special focus on those who are forgotten or cast aside by others. The reputation of Catholic services as places of hospitality and healing is testament to this.

All of this rests on a long tradition of care that it is at the heart of the Christian tradition: the very first hospitals were places of healing and hospitality, established in the first centuries of Christianity by communities who took up the Gospel challenge to “heal the sick” with courage and vision.

We share a commitment to these values of healing and hospitality with the Hippocratic tradition of medical practice, which has its beginnings over 2,000 years ago, and continues today in the many practitioners and providers – secular and religious – who direct their efforts to the provision and advancement of health and aged care that is orientated to the goals of healing and hospitality.

These traditions of care place special emphasis on serving those who have a life-limiting illness and/or are nearing the end of their lives. Our Code of Ethical Standards for Catholic Health and Aged Care Services in Australia sets out the main features of their commitments: to heal and never to harm; to relieve pain and other physical and psycho-social symptoms of illness and frailty; to withdraw life-prolonging treatments when they are medically futile or overly burdensome or when a person wants them withdrawn; and to never abandon patients.

We continue our long commitment to improving this care through research and advancement, and we endeavor to do whatever we can to ensure that it is available to all people who need and want it.

Though our services always strive to ensure that those in our care die in comfort and with dignity, a consistent feature of our ethic of care is that we do not assist them to end their own lives or provide euthanasia. Our position is consistent with the Hippocratic ethic, and is shared by the Australian Medical Association and the World Medical Association.