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Euthanasia deaths in Queensland, Australia, have increased by 57.14% in two years as a record 836 people died in 2025-26, amid calls from the official review board to consider changing the eligibility criteria.

According to the ‘Queensland Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board Annual Report’, there were 532 euthanasia deaths from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024, accounting for 67.09% of all assisted dying deaths, while from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026, there were 836 euthanasia deaths, accounting for 77.26% of all assisted deaths in the region.

Assisted Deaths Reach Record Highs

The total number of people who have ended their lives by euthanasia or assisted suicide in Queensland has also increased for the financial year 2025-2026 to a record 1,082, marking a 36.44% increase since the first full year the practice was legal in 2023-2024 when there were 793.

The report reveals that the number of people requesting assisted suicide or euthanasia who were recorded as not having accessed palliative care at their first assessment increased from 359 in 2023–24 to 503 in 2025–26, an increase of over 40.11% in two years.

The total number of people who have ended their lives in Queensland through this programme since it was introduced in 2023 is now 3,192.

The board also revealed that deaths by euthanasia and assisted suicide accounted for approximately 3% of all deaths in Queensland in 2025-26, an increase from approximately 2% in 2023-24.

Only around 1 in 16 applicants (6.2%) had a neurological condition, a relatively small proportion, despite the alleged need for people with neurological conditions to access assisted suicide or euthanasia regularly being referred to by campaigners as a key reason for introducing assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Review Board Considers Changes to Eligibility Criteria

Despite the significant increase in the number of people ending their lives in Queensland by euthanasia, the Queensland Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board has called for changes to the eligibility criteria to be considered.

According to the Board, there should be a “broad consultation with the public and other stakeholders to determine the desirability and feasibility of amending existing eligibility criteria”.

This consultation around changing the eligibility criteria should include “the anticipated time to death/prognosis and the implications for individuals living with dementia and other medical conditions”, according to the Board.

Controversial Cases Fuel Safeguard Fears

The report has been published amid concerns about the lack of adequate safeguards in Queensland’s assisted suicide and euthanasia law, resulting from several controversial incidents.

Last year, during the period to which the latest report relates, a man from the Gold Coast was accused of illegally supplying lethal drugs to a quadriplegic man so he could end his own life after he had failed to qualify for assisted suicide or euthanasia in Queensland, Australia.

According to reports, the 53-year-old, Brett Daniel Taylor, was charged with aiding in the suicide of quadriplegic David Bedford, 43. Police alleged Taylor and two accomplices were involved in an assisted suicide racket that used a charity called ‘Cetacean Compassion Australia Ltd’ as a front to access the veterinary euthanasia drug pentobarbital, doses of which were then given to “vulnerable” people for thousands of dollars.

Police later investigated 20 deaths involving Taylor.

Additionally, last year, a man in Queensland nearly died after allegedly taking his partner’s lethal drugs for an assisted suicide.

The couple allegedly joined a health worker in drinking shots of alcohol at Gold Coast University Hospital’s ‘Voluntary Assisted Dying’ (VAD) unit before the woman used lethal drugs to end her life. The man then allegedly took the drugs his partner had just used and nearly died before being resuscitated with Naloxone, a drug used to reverse opioid overdoses, and was admitted to the hospital’s emergency department.

Alisdair Hungerford-Morgan, Chief Executive of Right To Life UK, a charity that opposes the introduction of assisted suicide and euthanasia, and campaigns instead for greater investment in palliative care, said:

“It is tragic that euthanasia deaths in Queensland have risen by nearly 60% in just two years. A record 1,082 people died by assisted suicide or euthanasia in the last year alone.”

“Sadly, as in other jurisdictions, once assisted dying is made legal, often more and more people have their lives ended every year.”

“Yet the Review Board is already calling for consultation on changing the eligibility criteria. The prospect of extending these laws to more vulnerable people is deeply concerning.”

“People nearing the end of their lives deserve protection and the best possible care, not a pathway to suicide.”

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Republished with thanks to Right to Life UK. Image courtesy of Adobe.