#Australia #Victoria – A person died by suicide after consuming lethal medication that had been supplied under the state’s euthanasia program for their partner, according to a government review board report released in September 2026.
The partner, who held a cancer diagnosis and had been assessed as eligible, received a self-administration permit in February 2026 and had the medication dispensed. In April 2026 the partner died in hospital without having taken the substance. The surviving partner, who had been designated the contact person responsible for returning any unused medication, was assumed to have consumed it within the following two days. Authorities were notified of both deaths three days after the applicant’s death, and the case was referred to the coroner.
The Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board and the Department of Health investigated the circumstances. The board stated that it found “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 added that the assisted suicide program “continues to operate safely” and that the incident “does not alter the Board’s assessment of the safety and integrity of the VAD framework.” The report noted the importance of grief and bereavement support for partners, families, and carers, rather than accountability for this mishap, describing dedicated services in this area as a recognized gap.
Under Victorian law, a contact person must return any unused or remaining medication to the Statewide Pharmacy Service within 15 days of the applicant’s death, whether or not the substance was used. The board’s annual report recorded that overall non-compliance with program requirements remained low, at about 2 percent of applications, and that most issues involved administrative matters. Six completed applications reviewed that year involved delayed returns of unadministered substance; in five of those the medication was eventually returned, while the sixth was the case described above.
Coverage of the report noted cumulative figures showing thousands of self-administration batches of the medication had been dispensed since the law took effect in 2019, alongside a smaller number of recorded self-administered deaths. Not all of the difference necessarily represented medication remaining in the community, as returns occur and comprehensive return totals were not fully detailed in published summaries.
The incident was described as the first of its kind in Victoria. However, a similar case occurred in Queensland in 2023, when a spouse used unused euthanasia medication after the eligible partner died in hospital. A Queensland coroner later examined that death and described aspects of the self-administration and return processes as inadequate for medication safety, warning of further harm if safeguards were not strengthened.
Victoria’s euthanasia program, which began in 2019, recorded rising numbers of applications and deaths in subsequent years. The 2025–26 report showed hundreds of deaths under the scheme that year, accounting for 1.1 percent of all deaths in the state. Amendments expanding eligibility and other aspects of the law were scheduled to take effect in 2027.
A Victorian government spokesperson described the death as a tragic accident and extended condolences to those affected. The coroner’s review of the partner’s death remained ongoing at the time of the board’s report.
Cover Image: Department of Health office building in Melbourne, Victoria.
