Navigating and understanding the voluntary assisted dying experience

Navigating and understanding the voluntary assisted dying experience Voluntary assisted dying (VAD) is a legal end-of-life process through which eligible Western Australians dying from an advanced and progressive terminal illness or disease may legally choose the manner and timing of their death.

Through this podcast, families, friends and healthcare professionals generously share their VAD journeys to support others in understanding and exploring this end-of-life choice.

These stories reflect the perceptions and experiences of those involved. They were created to support Western Australians in their conversations and open discussion with their health practitioners, family, carers and community about treatment options and care preferences, and do not replace specialised advice from trained VAD healthcare professionals.

Listen to our podcasts – This is my stop

Content warning – this content discusses suicide and self-harm.

Join Roy as he openly shares his story, talking through his journey with motor neurone disease, feelings that his life was disposable and would lead him to take his own life, to his VAD experience after raising this with his health care team.

Roy generously explains his new lease on life after being found eligible for VAD and what this has meant for him in his exploration of faith, and the value of listening to his own gut, instinct and intuition in determining what choices are right for him.

Listen to:

Mental health support services

Join us as Lauren takes us with her family through the last few days of her dad's life and his VAD journey.

Brimming with love, she shares finding joy in the most unlikely of places and finding peace alongside the grief of losing her dad with the understanding that while his death was inevitable, his suffering didn't have to be.

Listen to:

Join Gina as she shares her love story with her courageous daughter Robbi, through acceptance of Robbi’s terminal illness and journey to end-of-life through death meetings, humour, memory making, accessing VAD and final goodbyes.

Gina talks us through how they approached this as a family to ensure Robbi’s control over the manner, timing and nature of her death, and her capacity to see the beauty in Robbi’s gift to her, embracing both joy and sorrow of her story.

Listen to:

Read the transcript of Gina's story (PDF 251KB).

In this episode of ‘This is my stop’ podcast, Lisa shares her story of supporting her husband, Stephen, with his pancreatic cancer diagnosis just after his 53rd birthday, through to his treatment and exploration of end-of-life choices.

Lisa talks through the challenges and the firsts they shared along the way, including when Stephen ultimately chose to access voluntary assisted dying and end his life on his own terms, with his ‘ace in his back pocket’.

Listen to:

Hear Kerri and Brodie chat about the voluntary assisted dying journey their nanna and mum, Betty, chose to take.

Betty made a long-term commitment to this end-of-life option and worked through the process following her disease progression.

They share the day that she died surrounded by her family, dressed exactly as the beautiful lady she was, and their journey as a family in finding meaning in this space – including the serendipitous visits just after her death.

Listen to:

Dr Gareth shares his journey of caring for people and their support network in exploring VAD and the richness of this role as a VAD practitioner.

From his experiences, Gareth outlines the broad brushstrokes of what patients and families can expect when navigating VAD, including answers to the questions they often ask their practitioners.

Listen to:

Dan takes us with him from his shock diagnosis of a brain tumour through his purposeful decision making around treatment and care planning with a goal to outlive his prognosis while maintaining quality of life.

Expressing overwhelming feelings of empowerment and release through exploring VAD as an unexpected end-of-life choice, Dan shares that whilst his diagnosis is immovable, being informed and holding some control over how his death may be as his 'get out of jail card' has freed him to focus on the time in between as a living journey with his wife and family.

Listen to:

Niki outlines the role of the VAD Statewide Pharmacy Service.

She talks about the unique role the service has in supplying the VAD substance to wherever it is needed across WA, and supporting people and their families as they reach the formal end of the VAD process.

Listen to:

Barbara describes her journey with her husband exploring voluntary assisted dying.

With his military precision, her husband carefully planned his death to ensure Barbara and their adult children were supported and prepared for life without him.

Barbara shares:

  • the things that helped her along the challenging journey in supporting him with his neurodegenerative condition
  • his decision to access VAD
  • the conscious choices they made to keep him at home using all resources available until he reached the day he had marked in his calendar.

Listen to:

Listen as Sam shares her experience of being by her mother’s side throughout her end-of-life journey from lung cancer, and their conscious commitment to making memories as a family.

Actively choosing to make the most of the time available to them, the family worked through her mother’s ‘bucket list’ before her death, using all services available to them including excellent palliative care to support her to die at home.

Listen to:

Care Navigator Nikki

Nikki discusses how the WA Voluntary Assisted Dying Care Navigator Service supports people and families by demystifying this end-of-life care option. 

She also shares some of her experiences since VAD became a legal end-of-life choice for Western Australians.

Tune in and listen to:

Learn more about VAD

Read information about VAD and other end-of-life care options (HealthyWA).

The free Statewide VAD Care Navigator Service (external site) supports anyone involved with voluntary assisted dying in WA, including healthcare workers, service providers, patients and members of the community. You can contact the service by:

  • email
  • phoning 9431 2755 between 8.30am – 5.00pm, Monday to Friday.

Voluntary assisted dying is not suicide. If you, or someone close to you is considering suicide please reach out to a support service such as LifeLine WA (external site) or phone 13 11 14.

If you need support

If listening to these podcasts on voluntary assisted dying has raised distressing issues for you, contact the following organisations support:

LifeLine WA

Phone 13 11 14 (available 24/7)

Chat online with LifeLineWA (external site)

Suicide Call Back Service

Phone 1300 659 467 (available 24/7)
Chat online (external site)

Disclaimer

The information in this podcast is provided in good faith by the South Metropolitan Health Service to assist the WA community understand voluntary assisted dying in WA. While every reasonable effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information, no guarantee is given that the information is free from error or omission.

It is the responsibility of the user to make their own enquiries and decisions about relevance, accuracy, currency and applicability of information in this circumstance. The podcast is not intended to be, nor should it be, relied upon as a substitute for legal, clinical or other professional advice.

Last Updated: 22/11/2023