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Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora (Health NZ) oversees and monitors all operational aspects of the Assisted Dying Service, including collecting data and generating summary reports. Information continues to be released quarterly, in line with the calendar year.

Due to low numbers, some quarterly data cannot be reported to protect the privacy of the people engaging with the service.

Please note that the current report reflects a summary of individuals’ interactions with the Assisted Dying Service within the three-month period ending 30 September 2024. Accordingly, medical assessments and outcomes may refer to applications initiated in a prior quarter.

A detailed report of the cumulative data across the first year of service (November 2021 – November 2022) is available on the Health NZ website.

Assisted Dying Service yearly reporting

In addition, the second Annual Service report reflects a summary of individuals’ interactions with the Assisted Dying Service between 7 November 2022 – 31 December 2023.

Assisted Dying Service Yearly Report - November 2022 to December 2023

More information

Registrar (assisted dying) Annual Report - Ministry of Health

Assisted dying service activities this quarter

Overview of assisted dying service

Between 1 July 2024 and 30 September 2024, the service received 287 applications for assisted dying. There were also 39 active applications that had been initiated before this quarterly reporting period.

Attending medical practitioners (AMPs) completed 280 assessments and independent medical practitioners (IMPs) completed 234 assessments. Psychiatrists also provided some assessments during this period. In total, 189 applications were confirmed as eligible for an Assisted Death.

AMPs facilitated 129 assisted deaths during this quarter.

Of the applications reviewed during this period, 96 were still in progress as of 30 September 2024.

During this quarter, 117 applications did not proceed to an assisted death due to:

  • the application being found to not comply with The End of Life Choice Act 2019
  • the applicant withdrawing their application
  • the applicant is found non-eligible or not competent to give consent at, or following, assessment
  • the applicant dying due to underlying conditions.

Of the 287 applications received during this quarter:

  • 82.2% were Pākehā
  • 2.8% were Māori
  • 51.9% were Female/ Wāhine
  • 78.7% were aged 65 years or older
  • 75.9% were receiving palliative care at the time of the application
  • 55.4 % had a diagnosis of cancer.

Demographic summary of applications

A demographic summary of the 287 applications received this quarter is presented in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Demographics of people that have applied for assisted dying services in the period

Demographics summary   Applications3 % of applications
Ethnic group1

 

 

 
 

Māori

8

2.79%
 

New Zealand European/Pakehā

237

82.23%
  Other5

44

14.98%
Sex

 

 

 
  Female/Wāhine

149

51.92%
  Male/Tāne

138

48.08%
 

Gender diverse

0

0.0%
Age group

 

 

 
 

18-44 years

5

1.74%
 

45-64 years

56

19.51%
 

65-84 years

164

57.14%
 

85+ years

62

21.6%
Diagnosis2

 

 

  
 

Cancer

158

 55.4%
 

Neurological condition

17

 5.96%
 

Chronic respiratory disease

18

 6.31%
 

Cardio-vascular condition

16

 5.61%
 

Other organ failures

3

 1.05%
 

Multiple/co-morbidities

8

 2.8%
 

Not known4

67

 22.86%
Receiving palliative care at time of application?

 

    
 

Yes

 218 75.96%
 

No

 69 24.04%
Reported a disability at time of application?

 

    
 

Yes

 33 11.50%
 

No

 254 88.5%

Notes:

  1. Total ethnicity has been used. This means that individuals reporting more than one ethnicity are included within each category to which they identify. Ethnicity in this report is based on patient records in the health system, while in the previous reports ethnicity in the application form was used.
  2. Total diagnosis has been used. This means that individuals presenting with multiple diagnoses are included within each applicable diagnostic category.
  3. Valid repeat applications are included as unique instances. This means, in cases where an individual submits multiple applications during this period, their information is recorded in the demographic data each time.
  4. ‘Diagnosis not known’ includes individuals who have applied but have not yet completed their first assessment with their AMP (Attending Medical Practitioner) as well as those that withdrew, died before this assessment was completed, or were ineligible.
  5. “Other” ethnic group includes all other ethnicity groups including Pacific.

Assisted deaths by location

Between 1 July 2024 and 30 September 2024, 73 people had an assisted death. Assisted deaths can take place at the person’s home or elsewhere in the community. The summary by location is:

  • 94 (or 72.9%) at the person’s home
  • 14 (or 10.9%) in a public hospital
  • 16 (or 12.4%) in an aged care facility
  • 5 (or 3.9%) in a hospice facility.

SCENZ (Support and Consultation for End-of-Life in New Zealand) group practitioner lists

The Support and Consultation for End-of-Life in New Zealand group (SCENZ) is responsible for maintaining the list of practitioners involved in providing assisted dying services.

As of 30 September 2024, 154 medical practitioners (including Doctors, and Psychiatrists) and 15 Attending Nurse Practitioners (ANP) were on the SCENZ list.

This marks an increase from the previous reporting period. The numbers above may include practitioners who are temporarily inactive but still appear on the list for a variety of reasons. This is an expected variation in practitioner availability.

Support and Consultation for End-of-Life in New Zealand group - Ministry of Health

Disclaimer

An earlier version of this quarterly report was published with a validation error. The report has since been corrected as of 13 November 2024 to remove duplicate applications.