Journal of law and medicine
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The law recognises the right of a competent adult to refuse medical treatment even if this will lead to death. Guardianship and other legislation also facilitates the making of decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment in certain circumstances. ⋯ This article considers this tension in the law and examines various arguments that might allow for such decisions to be made lawfully. It ultimately concludes, however, that criminal responsibility may still arise and so reform is needed.
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Comparative Study
Accommodating the medical use of marijuana: surveying the differing legal approaches in Australia, the United States and Canada.
While the scientific and medical communities continue to be divided on the therapeutic benefits and risks of cannabis use, anecdotal evidence from medical users themselves suggests that using cannabis is indeed improving their quality of life by alleviating their pain and discomfort. Notwithstanding the benefits anecdotally claimed by these medical users and the existence of some scientific studies confirming their claims, criminal drug laws in all Australian and most United States jurisdictions continue to prohibit the possession, cultivation and supply of cannabis even for medical purposes. However, in contrast to Australia and most parts of the United States, the medical use of cannabis has been legal in Canada for about a decade. This article reviews these differing legal and regulatory approaches to accommodating the medical use of cannabis (namely, marijuana) as well as some of the challenges involved in legalising it for medical purposes.
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This article examines the legal regulation of active voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide in Australia. The Dying with Dignity Bill 2009 (Tas), which was recently defeated by the Tasmanian Parliament, is discussed, as well as other jurisdictions' past and present legislative developments in this context. ⋯ This is followed by a critical evaluation of the key arguments for and against euthanasia. The article concludes by examining the significance of the Tasmanian Bill and the implications of such legislation.
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There is evidence that the use of MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine), colloquially known as "ecstasy" particularly among late adolescents and young adults is increasing in Australia. Despite recent government-sponsored public education programs, there is a perception that recreational use of MDMA is much less harmful than other illicit substances like heroin. ⋯ In two recent Australian cases, appellate courts considered the legislative intent of both State and Commonwealth legislation and held that a quantity-based penalty regime applied which distinguished between "traffickable" and "commercial" quantities of illicit drugs and that no distinction turned on the relative "harmfulness" of MDMA. In examining the question of harmfulness, this column summarises the pharmacology and morbidity of MDMA and considers the links between MDMA and other substances of abuse and the implications for further prevention programs.
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The New South Wales Supreme Court has examined the statutory and common law duties of the New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission and the New South Wales Medical Board in the recent case of Attorney General (NSW) v Bar-Mordecai [2008] NSWSC 774. The judgment establishes that a professional practice body investigating the alleged misconduct of a doctor will rarely be liable under Australian statutory or common law duties to compensate that doctor for harm arising as a result of negligent investigatory practices. In particular, it establishes that such a body owes no duty to take reasonable care to avoid psychiatric injury to a medical practitioner against whom a complaint has been lodged and whom it is investigating. It is argued that the differing approaches to the tort of negligent investigation in Canada and Australia stem from differences not only in policy values but in the legal frameworks used in each jurisdiction to determine the existence of duties of care at common law.