Terminal cancer patient urges Albanese to amend law for telehealth VAD access

Sandra Sarantou, a 58-year-old Adelaide resident preparing for voluntary assisted dying, is asking Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to revise a criminal-code rule that prevents telehealth consultations for VAD, a barrier for people living outside cities.

Facing a terminal lung cancer diagnosis, Adelaide paramedic Sandra Sarantou is set to undergo voluntary assisted dying tomorrow and has appealed to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to change a Commonwealth Criminal Code clause that bars telehealth advice for the procedure. The rule, intended to prevent the use of "carriage services" to incite suicide, has been interpreted to prohibit doctors from using phone, email, internet or video to discuss VAD, overriding state provisions that allow telehealth in remote cases.

At the Labor Party's national conference, delegates voted to amend the party platform to endorse telehealth for end-of-life care and to grant a conscience vote on VAD matters. Independent MP Kate Chaney will move a private-member bill in the lower house, and Greens Senator Sarah Hanson Young plans a similar measure in the Senate, though both lack government backing. Albanese, while personally supportive of VAD, argues that face-to-face consultations are essential to protect vulnerable patients, a view shared by Attorney-General Michelle Rowland. Rural practitioners such as Scott Lewis describe long travel distances and limited Medicare funding as obstacles that leave many patients unable to access VAD, reinforcing the equity concerns raised by advocacy group Go Gentle.