A deeply reported investigation across The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age reveals that patients seeking access to voluntary assisted dying (VAD) are being “stonewalled” by parts of the medical establishment — even in states where the practice is legal.
Steve Lowe, who died via New South Wales’ VAD scheme in July 2025, filmed a video before his death describing the agonising bureaucratic battle he waged simply to obtain the necessary paperwork. “I’m running out of time,” he told his doctors, begging for a single piece of paper. Lowe’s case is not isolated. Patients across the country report that some healthcare sectors are effectively blocking access to a lawful end-of-life option.
In Victoria — the first Australian state to legalise voluntary assisted dying — the proportion of deaths attributed to the scheme is at least half that of other states. Cyril, another Victorian patient featured in the reporting, described his fight to die on his own terms with a simple plea: “Walk in my shoes for a bit.” His story illustrates how the gap between the law on paper and the reality of access remains dangerously wide.
The reporting points to a system where individual institutional objections — particularly from faith-based healthcare providers — can create insurmountable barriers for terminally ill patients at their most vulnerable. For advocates like the organisation Go Gentle, these accounts represent an urgent call for reform to ensure the law’s intent is actually carried out.
