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Prior to its introduction in Australia, many people opposed euthanasia—or voluntary assisted dying as it is known—because of its potentially detrimental impact on grief and bereavement outcomes for family members and carers. We examine the novel experiences of grief and bereavement of VAD for family members and carers who were going through, had gone through, or were contemplating VAD, juxtaposing the international literature on grief and bereavement. As such, 42 semistructured interviews with family members and carers were undertaken in the state of Victoria, which was the first jurisdiction to legislate in favour of VAD. Interviews explored many themes around end‐of‐life decision‐making in order to ascertain the ways in which VAD helped or hindered grief and bereavement processes. A thematic analysis of the interview data was undertaken using QSR NVivo software. Four key themes were identified: values and meaning‐making, expression of a continuing bond, anticipatory grief, and the burden of care associated with supporting loved ones going through VAD. These themes were juxtaposed with the key literature on grief and bereavement to demonstrate how VAD presents novel challenges for carers. We argue that while VAD deaths share similar characteristics to other deaths; in some respects, grief and bereavement outcomes for family members and carers are unique. For family members and carers helping a loved one go through VAD, they were able to derive a sense of meaning from fulfilling their wishes and striving for them to have a "good death"; they were able to maintain a bond with them through advocacy of VAD and unique rituals; and they were able to plan and prepare effectively by knowing the exact time of death. Family members and carers also noted that VAD presents some significant challenges for grief and bereavement, especially in terms of the impact of VAD on familial relationships and burdens associated with moral predicaments. Nonetheless, VAD was generally viewed positively by family members and carers, who expressed gratitude for mitigating their loved one's suffering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voluntary assisted dying laws have now been enacted in all six Australian States with reform being considered in the remaining two. While there is an emerging body of literature examining various aspects of regulation, there has been scant consideration of what these reforms mean for First Nations peoples, and to what extent their experiences have been considered in the process of developing legislation. This article provides a critical analysis of how Indigenous perspectives both contributed to, and were engaged with, during the law reform processes in Victoria and Western Australia, the first two States to grapple with this topic. Findings reveal the sophistication in how Indigenous organisations and individuals engaged with this issue and highlight the critical importance of not universalising Indigenous perspectives. Significantly, there was much greater engagement with Indigenous views in Western Australia than in Victoria. We conclude by considering how Indigenous voices can meaningfully influence Australian law reform processes., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest but acknowledge this research was supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council funded project (APP1161502).

This column discusses the potential for conflict between the Federal laws forbidding the use of telecommunications to spread "suicide-related materials" and the laws in Victoria and Western Australia which have legalised forms of voluntary assisted dying. The column argues that the effect of the State laws is to differentiate the legal forms of voluntary assisted dying from suicide and assisted suicide, with the effect that Federal prohibitions do not apply to telecommunications between health practitioners and their patients regarding voluntary assisted dying., Competing Interests: None.