The Ministry of Health will be inviting the public to share their views on the End of Life Choice Act as part of a review of the Act.
The End of Life Choice Act is the law that makes assisted dying legal in New Zealand. It came into force on 7 November 2021, following a public referendum that was held alongside the 2020 General Election.
The Ministry of Health administers the Act. Under the legislation, the Ministry is required to review the operation of Act within three years of it coming into force, and every five years after.
The review of the Act is being undertaken in two parts:
- a review of the operation of the Act by the Ministry of Health
- an online process to gather public feedback about changes that could be made to the Act.
The review of the operation of the Act is already underway. This is focused on how well the current operation of the Act achieves its purposes.
Many individuals and organisations have expressed interest in sharing their views on the Act. The Ministry will invite public consultation through a digital platform. People will be able to share their views on any aspect of the Act.
Public consultation will open on 1 August 2024 and close on 26 September 2024.
The Ministry will collate the public feedback it receives into a summary report and provide this to the Minister of Health Hon Dr Shane Reti. The Ministry will also provide Dr Reti with a report outlining findings from its review of the operation of the Act.
Both documents will be tabled in Parliament. The Government will not make changes to the End of Life Choice Act 2019 following the review. However, individual political parties can decide whether they wish to pick up and progress changes through members’ bills.
The purposes of the End of Life Choice Act are to:
- give people who have a terminal illness and who meet certain criteria the option of lawfully requesting medical assistance to end their lives
- establish a lawful process for assisting eligible people who exercise that option
- provide for safeguards to ensure that assisted dying is only provided to those who are eligible, who actively seek and consent to it, and that this consent is provided without pressure from others.
More information about the Assisted Dying Service and the review can be found at Assisted Dying Service.
Advice is available for media around the legal restrictions on information that can be made public about individual assisted deaths. This can be found at Advice for media reporting assisted deaths.
