Euthanasia doctors forced to charge terminally ill patients fees for access to VAD
Some doctors have begun charging fees for voluntary assisted dying care, raising concerns the cost could become prohibitive for “vulnerable” patients.
It is taking at least eight hours to complete the consultations and the paperwork needed to help deliver an assisted death in the state, says the Voluntary Assisted Dying Board of WA.
Its chair, GP Dr Scott Blackwell, said while most doctors had tried to absorb the additional costs, some were now charging a fee-for-service amid “insufficient” Medicare remuneration.
“Practitioners deserve to be adequately remunerated for the extensive time they spend assessing and supporting patients through the voluntary assisted dying [VAD] process and for the mandatory administrative and reporting activities involved,” Dr Blackwell wrote in its annual report.