The End of Life Review Committee members are appointed by the Minister of Health. The Committee includes a medical ethicist, a doctor specialising in end-of-life care, and one other health practitioner.
The Minister of Health appointed the Committee for a period of two years commencing on 7 November 2021. Secretariat support for the Committee is provided by Manatū Hauora – the Ministry for Health.
Due to the vacancy of the Medical Ethicist position on the Committee, the End of Life Review Committee is not currently meeting and replacement appointments are expected to be announced by the Minister of Health in due course.
The Committee’s role is specified in the Act.
The Review Committee has the following functions:
- to consider reports sent to it under section 21(3) (assisted death reports); and
- to report to the Registrar whether it considers that the information contained in an assisted death report shows satisfactory compliance with the requirements of this Act; and
- to direct the Registrar to follow up on any information contained in an assisted death report that the Review Committee considers does not show satisfactory compliance with the requirements of this Act.
The Committee meets regularly and examines every death report once sent to them by the Registrar (assisted dying) under Section 21(3) of the Act.
The Committee can only look at information contained in the death reports to arrive at its decision about whether the death shows satisfactory compliance with Section 21(2) of the Act. The information provided to the Committee is:
- the name of the attending medical practitioner or attending nurse practitioner; and
- the person’s name; and
- the person’s last known address; and
- the fact that the person has died; and
- which of the methods described in section 19(2)(a) was used; and
- a description of the administration of the medication; and
- whether any problem arose in the administration of the medication and, if so, how it was dealt with; and
- the place where the person died; and
- the date and time when the person died; and
- the name of the medical practitioner or nurse practitioner who was available to the person until the person died; and
- the names of any other health practitioners who were present when the person died.
To contact the Review Committee please email [email protected] and write ‘For the Review Committee’ in the subject line.
End of Life Review Committee members
Ms Brenda Close
Ms Brenda Close (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Maniapoto) as a health practitioner member of the Review Committee. Ms Close has been the Director of Nursing at Ashburton Rural Health Services since 2018 and is co-chair Māori of both the Nurses Executive New Zealand and the National Nurse Leaders Group. Ms Close has 31 years’ experience managing and handling sophisticated health needs of people in hospitals and communities across Aotearoa and Australia with a focus on indigenous health, clinical supervision and corporate and clinical governance.
Dr Jane Greville
Dr Jane Greville as a medical practitioner member who practises in end-of-life care. Dr Greville (NZ European) is a Palliative Care Consultant at Harbour Hospice in Auckland and previously worked as the Medical Officer at North Shore Hospice. Dr Greville previously served as a member on the board of Dove Hospice and has over 30 years’ experience working in health care, primarily in general practice, and has been working specifically in palliative care since 2013.