A person has killed themselves using assisted suicide drugs originally prescribed for their partner, a report in the Australian state of Victoria has revealed.
The Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board’s Annual Report explained that the original patient died in hospital in April 2026 before they could take the lethal drugs they had been prescribed, and the subsequent suicide most likely occurred two days later. By law, the partner had been required to return the drugs to a pharmacist within 15 days, but instead used them to commit suicide.
Between June 2019 and July 2026, there have been 2,452 batches of lethal drugs given to assisted suicide applicants, but there are only records of 1,755 people dying by those means. This leaves 697 drugs left unaccounted for, some of which may have been returned or could still remain in people’s homes.
Despite reporting the case, the Review Board claimed to find “no evidence that any aspect of the VAD request and assessment process, or the dispensing of the substance, contributed to the circumstances that followed”.
It continued: “The program continues to operate safely, and this incident does not alter the Board’s assessment of the safety and integrity of the VAD framework.”
It is extraordinary to give that reassurance when drugs supplied through the system appear to have been used to end someone else’s life.