Lindy Willmott
Biographic Data
| ID | 1244831 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lindy Willmott |
| GIVEN NAMES | Lindy |
| FAMILY NAME | Willmott |
| SIGNATURE | WILLMOTT L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Queensland University of Technology |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9750-287X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Did doctors’ moral experiences of providing assisted dying align with their expectations? A qualitative longitudinal study of doctors in Queensland, Australia
Rationale Assisted dying (AD) is now legal in all Australian states, joining a growing number of countries internationally which permit the practice. Limited studies have investigated the moral impact of AD participation on doctors, despite their essential role in the process. Objective This study aims to establish whether there is alignment between doctors’ expectations of providing AD and their experiences one year into practice. Methods Qualit…
Institutional objection to abortion care in Australia: Exploring the perspectives and experiences of key interest-holders
Each Australian jurisdiction has decriminalised abortion. Despite this, abortion-seekers face multiple barriers to access, among them is encountering objection by individual health practitioners (conscientious objection) or institutions (institutional objection [IO]). This article reports on a qualitative interview study that examined 41 key interest-holders’ perspectives and experiences of institutional objection to abortion. Framework analysis …
How Are Healthcare Providers Conscientiously Objecting to Abortion in Australia? A Qualitative Study
The findings demonstrated that conscientious objection provisions provided a flexible mechanism for healthcare providers to opt-out of providing abortion care at different times, in different contexts, and for different reasons (including reasons other than conscience). Education and guidelines may improve healthcare providers' understandings and interpretations of conscientious objection provisions. Destigmatizing interventions may also reduce t…
Physicians’ preferences for their own end of life: A comparison across North America, Europe, and Australia
OBJECTIVE: To study physicians' personal preferences for end-of-life practices, including life-sustaining and life-shortening practices, and the factors that influence preferences. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey (May 2022-February 2023). SETTING: Eight jurisdictions: Belgium, Italy, Canada, USA (Oregon, Wisconsin, and Georgia), Australia (Victoria and Queensland). PARTICIPANTS: Three physician types: general practitioners, palliative care physi…
Comparative Analysis of Individual Case Reviews in Assisted Dying Oversight Systems Internationally
As more jurisdictions consider introducing assisted dying laws, questions are raised as to optimal oversight mechanisms. There have been a variety of approaches taken internationally to oversight of individual cases of assisted dying. All jurisdictions examined in this article require clinical prospective review, where a second practitioner assesses the person’s eligibility. Jurisdictions also uniformly permit some kind of state retrospective rev…
Changing perspectives on participation in assisted dying in Queensland, Australia: A one-year qualitative longitudinal study of doctors
Although assisted dying (AD) is increasingly legalized globally, in limited circumstances, many doctors choose not to participate. This study is the first qualitative longitudinal study comparing doctors' intentions to participate in AD in Queensland, Australia to actual participation, to identify any changes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 doctors at two time points: after the law passed but before AD was legally available and…
Community knowledge of voluntary assisted dying: A cross-sectional survey of the public in Queensland, Australia
This research, undertaken in Queensland, Australia aimed to explore community members' knowledge of voluntary assisted dying (VAD) 17 months after it became a lawful option. Adults living in Queensland ( n = 1000) completed an online survey about knowledge of VAD as a legal option and awareness of how to access VAD and information about it. Quotas were set for age, gender and geographical region within Queensland. Only 33% ( n = 329) of community…
Preparing for voluntary assisted dying: A qualitative analysis of practitioners’ perceptions of voluntary assisted dying before the law begins in Queensland, Australia
Legalization of voluntary assisted dying (VAD), is increasingly being considered in many countries worldwide. Some regimes have a designated implementation period, after the law has passed but before it comes into force, to develop processes and systems required for VAD to be integrated within existing healthcare. This study is the first qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with 31 medical practitioners holding no in-principle objec…
Patients' and Caregivers' Suggestions for Improving Assisted Dying Regulation: A Qualitative Study in Australia and Canada
INTRODUCTION: Assisted dying (AD) has been legalised in a small but growing number of jurisdictions globally, including Canada and Australia. Early research in both countries demonstrates that, in response to access barriers, patients and caregivers take action to influence their individual experience of AD, as well as AD systems more widely. This study analyses how patients and caregivers suggest other decision-makers in AD systems should addres…
Australian Indigenous people and treatment decision-making at end-of-life
This article analyses Australian law and literature to identify the key cultural and legal considerations that can arise in medical treatment decision-making with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples at the end-of-life. The authors explore how First Nation peoples’ cultural values, connection to Country, family, and community, history, and health care experiences, intersect with end-of-life medical treatment laws, providing valuable insi…
Regulatory Action’ by Patients and Family Caregivers to Overcome Barriers to Accessing Voluntary Assisted Dying: A Qualitative Study in Victoria, Australia
Voluntary assisted dying (‘VAD’) commenced in Victoria, Australia, in 2019. Drawing on qualitative interviews, we investigate how patients’ and family caregivers’ actions to overcome access barriers may be conceived of as ‘regulatory’. We adopt Julia Black’s definition of regulation as sustained, focused, and intentional action to alter behaviour. Participants performed various actions to overcome access barriers, primarily motivated by a desire …
Barriers to connecting with the voluntary assisted dying system in Victoria, Australia: A qualitative mixed method study
INTRODUCTION: Voluntary assisted dying (VAD) is increasingly being legalised internationally. In Australia, all six states have now passed such laws, with Victoria being the first in 2019. However, early research in Victoria on the patient experience of seeking VAD shows that finding a connection to the VAD system is challenging. This study analyses the causes of this 'point of access' barrier. METHODS: We conducted semi-structured qualitative in…
Junior doctors and conscientious objection to voluntary assisted dying: Ethical complexity in practice
In jurisdictions where voluntary assisted dying (VAD) is legal, eligibility assessments, prescription and administration of a VAD substance are commonly performed by senior doctors. Junior doctors’ involvement is limited to a range of more peripheral aspects of patient care relating to VAD. In the Australian state of Victoria, where VAD has been legal since June 2019, all health professionals have a right under the legislation to conscientiously …
Voluntary Requests, or Vulnerable Adults? A Critique of Criminal Sentencing in Assisted Suicide and ‘Mercy Killing’ Cases
Mercy Killing’ Cases Author Katrine Del Villar, Lindy Willmott and Ben P White This article examines the sentencing remarks in all publicly reported Australian cases on assisted suicide and mercy killing since 1980. Themes emerging from judicial reasons for sentencing confirm that many traditional aims of sentencing – such as specific deterrence, retribution or rehabilitation – are inapposite in cases where relatives or friends act outside the la…
Who is Eligible for Voluntary Assisted Dying: Nine Medical Conditions Assessed against Five Legal Frameworks
Eligibility criteria in voluntary assisted dying legislation determine access to assistance to die. This article undertakes the practical exercise of analysing whether each of the following nine medical conditions can provide an individual with access to voluntary assisted dying: cancer, motor neurone disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, Alzheimer’s disease, anorexia, frailty, spinal cord injury and Huntington’s…
Medical practitioners' views and experiences of being involved in assisted dying in Victoria, Australia: A qualitative interview study among participating doctors
Regulating voluntary assisted dying practice: A policy analysis from Victoria, Australia
What the Doctor Would Prescribe: Physician Experiences of Providing Voluntary Assisted Dying in Australia
Doctors perceive or experience VAD to fundamentally challenge traditional medical practice. Barriers to access to VAD derive from applicant, communication, and doctor-related factors. Doctors' willingness to participate in VAD is situation specific
Comparative and Critical Analysis of Key Eligibility Criteria for Voluntary Assisted Dying under Five Legal Frameworks
Eligibility criteria determine a crucial question for all voluntary assisted dying frameworks: who can access assistance to die? This article undertakes a critical and comparative analysis of these criteria across five legal frameworks: existing laws in Victoria, Western Australia, Oregon and Canada, along with a model Bill for reform. Key aspects of these criteria analysed are capacity requirements; the nature of the medical condition that will …
Legal Challenges to ICU Triage Decisions in the Covid-19 Pandemic: How Effectively Does the Law Regulate Bedside Rationing Decisions in Australia
The COVID-19 pandemic has raised the difficult question of how to ration scarce intensive care resources when a health system is overwhelmed. Despite substantial ethical scholarship addressing these rationing decisions, little is known about the legal position in Australia. This article considers various legal challenges in response to a clinical scenario denying intensive care admission and a ventilator to a critically ill patient with COVID-19.…
Australian Health Professionals' Attitudes toward Voluntary Assisted Dying: A Cross-Sectional Survey
Voluntary assisted dying (VAD) is when a terminally ill person with decision-making capacity consensually ends their life with assistance from an authorised professional. Many countries have legalised VAD, and health professionals' roles within VAD frameworks are varied. Health professionals must be well informed of their legal obligations to ensure they practice within the legal boundaries, and those professionals with objections toward VAD shou…
Does the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 (Vic) Reflect Its Stated Policy Goals
With the commencement of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 (Vic) in June 2019, Victoria became the first Australian State to permit voluntary assisted dying. This article considers the extent to which this novel Act reflects its stated policy goals. The first part of the article identifies the purported policy goals of the Act. This analysis draws on the explanatory material accompanying the law, in particular the expert Ministerial Advisory …
Australian doctors’ knowledge of and compliance with the law relating to end-of-life decisions: Implications for LGBTI patients
In most developed countries, competent patients have the legal right to refuse any medical treatment; Advance Care Planning mechanisms extend this right to non-competent patients. However, some groups, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, risk their wishes not being respected if they lose capacity, more than others. Little is known about medical practitioners' knowledge of, or attitudes to, the law in this ar…
Informing the Euthanasia Debate: Perceptions of Australian Politicians
In the debate on euthanasia or assisted dying, many different arguments have been advanced either for or against legal reform in the academic literature, and much contemporary academic research seeks to engage with these arguments. However, very little research has been undertaken to track the arguments that are being advanced by politicians when Bills proposing reform are debated in Parliament. Politicians will ultimately decide whether legislat…
Medical practitioners' views and experiences of being involved in assisted dying in Victoria, Australia: A qualitative interview study among participating doctors
Does the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 (Vic) Reflect Its Stated Policy Goals
With the commencement of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 (Vic) in June 2019, Victoria became the first Australian State to permit voluntary assisted dying. This article considers the extent to which this novel Act reflects its stated policy goals. The first part of the article identifies the purported policy goals of the Act. This analysis draws on the explanatory material accompanying the law, in particular the expert Ministerial Advisory …
Comparative and Critical Analysis of Key Eligibility Criteria for Voluntary Assisted Dying under Five Legal Frameworks
Eligibility criteria determine a crucial question for all voluntary assisted dying frameworks: who can access assistance to die? This article undertakes a critical and comparative analysis of these criteria across five legal frameworks: existing laws in Victoria, Western Australia, Oregon and Canada, along with a model Bill for reform. Key aspects of these criteria analysed are capacity requirements; the nature of the medical condition that will …
Who is Eligible for Voluntary Assisted Dying: Nine Medical Conditions Assessed against Five Legal Frameworks
Eligibility criteria in voluntary assisted dying legislation determine access to assistance to die. This article undertakes the practical exercise of analysing whether each of the following nine medical conditions can provide an individual with access to voluntary assisted dying: cancer, motor neurone disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, Alzheimer’s disease, anorexia, frailty, spinal cord injury and Huntington’s…
Australian Health Professionals' Attitudes toward Voluntary Assisted Dying: A Cross-Sectional Survey
Voluntary assisted dying (VAD) is when a terminally ill person with decision-making capacity consensually ends their life with assistance from an authorised professional. Many countries have legalised VAD, and health professionals' roles within VAD frameworks are varied. Health professionals must be well informed of their legal obligations to ensure they practice within the legal boundaries, and those professionals with objections toward VAD shou…
Informing the Euthanasia Debate: Perceptions of Australian Politicians
In the debate on euthanasia or assisted dying, many different arguments have been advanced either for or against legal reform in the academic literature, and much contemporary academic research seeks to engage with these arguments. However, very little research has been undertaken to track the arguments that are being advanced by politicians when Bills proposing reform are debated in Parliament. Politicians will ultimately decide whether legislat…
Australian doctors’ knowledge of and compliance with the law relating to end-of-life decisions: Implications for LGBTI patients
In most developed countries, competent patients have the legal right to refuse any medical treatment; Advance Care Planning mechanisms extend this right to non-competent patients. However, some groups, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, risk their wishes not being respected if they lose capacity, more than others. Little is known about medical practitioners' knowledge of, or attitudes to, the law in this ar…
Informing the Euthanasia Debate: Perceptions of Australian Politicians
In the debate on euthanasia or assisted dying, many different arguments have been advanced either for or against legal reform in the academic literature, and much contemporary academic research seeks to engage with these arguments. However, very little research has been undertaken to track the arguments that are being advanced by politicians when Bills proposing reform are debated in Parliament. Politicians will ultimately decide whether legislat…
Does the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 (Vic) Reflect Its Stated Policy Goals
With the commencement of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 (Vic) in June 2019, Victoria became the first Australian State to permit voluntary assisted dying. This article considers the extent to which this novel Act reflects its stated policy goals. The first part of the article identifies the purported policy goals of the Act. This analysis draws on the explanatory material accompanying the law, in particular the expert Ministerial Advisory …
Regulating voluntary assisted dying practice: A policy analysis from Victoria, Australia
What the Doctor Would Prescribe: Physician Experiences of Providing Voluntary Assisted Dying in Australia
Doctors perceive or experience VAD to fundamentally challenge traditional medical practice. Barriers to access to VAD derive from applicant, communication, and doctor-related factors. Doctors' willingness to participate in VAD is situation specific
Comparative and Critical Analysis of Key Eligibility Criteria for Voluntary Assisted Dying under Five Legal Frameworks
Eligibility criteria determine a crucial question for all voluntary assisted dying frameworks: who can access assistance to die? This article undertakes a critical and comparative analysis of these criteria across five legal frameworks: existing laws in Victoria, Western Australia, Oregon and Canada, along with a model Bill for reform. Key aspects of these criteria analysed are capacity requirements; the nature of the medical condition that will …
Legal Challenges to ICU Triage Decisions in the Covid-19 Pandemic: How Effectively Does the Law Regulate Bedside Rationing Decisions in Australia
The COVID-19 pandemic has raised the difficult question of how to ration scarce intensive care resources when a health system is overwhelmed. Despite substantial ethical scholarship addressing these rationing decisions, little is known about the legal position in Australia. This article considers various legal challenges in response to a clinical scenario denying intensive care admission and a ventilator to a critically ill patient with COVID-19.…
Australian Health Professionals' Attitudes toward Voluntary Assisted Dying: A Cross-Sectional Survey
Voluntary assisted dying (VAD) is when a terminally ill person with decision-making capacity consensually ends their life with assistance from an authorised professional. Many countries have legalised VAD, and health professionals' roles within VAD frameworks are varied. Health professionals must be well informed of their legal obligations to ensure they practice within the legal boundaries, and those professionals with objections toward VAD shou…
Junior doctors and conscientious objection to voluntary assisted dying: Ethical complexity in practice
In jurisdictions where voluntary assisted dying (VAD) is legal, eligibility assessments, prescription and administration of a VAD substance are commonly performed by senior doctors. Junior doctors’ involvement is limited to a range of more peripheral aspects of patient care relating to VAD. In the Australian state of Victoria, where VAD has been legal since June 2019, all health professionals have a right under the legislation to conscientiously …
Voluntary Requests, or Vulnerable Adults? A Critique of Criminal Sentencing in Assisted Suicide and ‘Mercy Killing’ Cases
Mercy Killing’ Cases Author Katrine Del Villar, Lindy Willmott and Ben P White This article examines the sentencing remarks in all publicly reported Australian cases on assisted suicide and mercy killing since 1980. Themes emerging from judicial reasons for sentencing confirm that many traditional aims of sentencing – such as specific deterrence, retribution or rehabilitation – are inapposite in cases where relatives or friends act outside the la…
Who is Eligible for Voluntary Assisted Dying: Nine Medical Conditions Assessed against Five Legal Frameworks
Eligibility criteria in voluntary assisted dying legislation determine access to assistance to die. This article undertakes the practical exercise of analysing whether each of the following nine medical conditions can provide an individual with access to voluntary assisted dying: cancer, motor neurone disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, Alzheimer’s disease, anorexia, frailty, spinal cord injury and Huntington’s…
Medical practitioners' views and experiences of being involved in assisted dying in Victoria, Australia: A qualitative interview study among participating doctors
Barriers to connecting with the voluntary assisted dying system in Victoria, Australia: A qualitative mixed method study
INTRODUCTION: Voluntary assisted dying (VAD) is increasingly being legalised internationally. In Australia, all six states have now passed such laws, with Victoria being the first in 2019. However, early research in Victoria on the patient experience of seeking VAD shows that finding a connection to the VAD system is challenging. This study analyses the causes of this 'point of access' barrier. METHODS: We conducted semi-structured qualitative in…
Patients' and Caregivers' Suggestions for Improving Assisted Dying Regulation: A Qualitative Study in Australia and Canada
INTRODUCTION: Assisted dying (AD) has been legalised in a small but growing number of jurisdictions globally, including Canada and Australia. Early research in both countries demonstrates that, in response to access barriers, patients and caregivers take action to influence their individual experience of AD, as well as AD systems more widely. This study analyses how patients and caregivers suggest other decision-makers in AD systems should addres…
Australian Indigenous people and treatment decision-making at end-of-life
This article analyses Australian law and literature to identify the key cultural and legal considerations that can arise in medical treatment decision-making with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples at the end-of-life. The authors explore how First Nation peoples’ cultural values, connection to Country, family, and community, history, and health care experiences, intersect with end-of-life medical treatment laws, providing valuable insi…
Regulatory Action’ by Patients and Family Caregivers to Overcome Barriers to Accessing Voluntary Assisted Dying: A Qualitative Study in Victoria, Australia
Voluntary assisted dying (‘VAD’) commenced in Victoria, Australia, in 2019. Drawing on qualitative interviews, we investigate how patients’ and family caregivers’ actions to overcome access barriers may be conceived of as ‘regulatory’. We adopt Julia Black’s definition of regulation as sustained, focused, and intentional action to alter behaviour. Participants performed various actions to overcome access barriers, primarily motivated by a desire …
Physicians’ preferences for their own end of life: A comparison across North America, Europe, and Australia
OBJECTIVE: To study physicians' personal preferences for end-of-life practices, including life-sustaining and life-shortening practices, and the factors that influence preferences. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey (May 2022-February 2023). SETTING: Eight jurisdictions: Belgium, Italy, Canada, USA (Oregon, Wisconsin, and Georgia), Australia (Victoria and Queensland). PARTICIPANTS: Three physician types: general practitioners, palliative care physi…
Comparative Analysis of Individual Case Reviews in Assisted Dying Oversight Systems Internationally
As more jurisdictions consider introducing assisted dying laws, questions are raised as to optimal oversight mechanisms. There have been a variety of approaches taken internationally to oversight of individual cases of assisted dying. All jurisdictions examined in this article require clinical prospective review, where a second practitioner assesses the person’s eligibility. Jurisdictions also uniformly permit some kind of state retrospective rev…
Changing perspectives on participation in assisted dying in Queensland, Australia: A one-year qualitative longitudinal study of doctors
Although assisted dying (AD) is increasingly legalized globally, in limited circumstances, many doctors choose not to participate. This study is the first qualitative longitudinal study comparing doctors' intentions to participate in AD in Queensland, Australia to actual participation, to identify any changes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 doctors at two time points: after the law passed but before AD was legally available and…
Community knowledge of voluntary assisted dying: A cross-sectional survey of the public in Queensland, Australia
This research, undertaken in Queensland, Australia aimed to explore community members' knowledge of voluntary assisted dying (VAD) 17 months after it became a lawful option. Adults living in Queensland ( n = 1000) completed an online survey about knowledge of VAD as a legal option and awareness of how to access VAD and information about it. Quotas were set for age, gender and geographical region within Queensland. Only 33% ( n = 329) of community…
Preparing for voluntary assisted dying: A qualitative analysis of practitioners’ perceptions of voluntary assisted dying before the law begins in Queensland, Australia
Legalization of voluntary assisted dying (VAD), is increasingly being considered in many countries worldwide. Some regimes have a designated implementation period, after the law has passed but before it comes into force, to develop processes and systems required for VAD to be integrated within existing healthcare. This study is the first qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with 31 medical practitioners holding no in-principle objec…
Did doctors’ moral experiences of providing assisted dying align with their expectations? A qualitative longitudinal study of doctors in Queensland, Australia
Rationale Assisted dying (AD) is now legal in all Australian states, joining a growing number of countries internationally which permit the practice. Limited studies have investigated the moral impact of AD participation on doctors, despite their essential role in the process. Objective This study aims to establish whether there is alignment between doctors’ expectations of providing AD and their experiences one year into practice. Methods Qualit…
Institutional objection to abortion care in Australia: Exploring the perspectives and experiences of key interest-holders
Each Australian jurisdiction has decriminalised abortion. Despite this, abortion-seekers face multiple barriers to access, among them is encountering objection by individual health practitioners (conscientious objection) or institutions (institutional objection [IO]). This article reports on a qualitative interview study that examined 41 key interest-holders’ perspectives and experiences of institutional objection to abortion. Framework analysis …
How Are Healthcare Providers Conscientiously Objecting to Abortion in Australia? A Qualitative Study
The findings demonstrated that conscientious objection provisions provided a flexible mechanism for healthcare providers to opt-out of providing abortion care at different times, in different contexts, and for different reasons (including reasons other than conscience). Education and guidelines may improve healthcare providers' understandings and interpretations of conscientious objection provisions. Destigmatizing interventions may also reduce t…
Medicine (15 works) · Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues (15 works) · Political science (15 works) · Law (14 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Law (11 works) · Nursing (11 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Qualitative research (10 works) · Ethics in medical practice (9 works)