Government-Run Euthanasia Surges in Western Australia
Frank Bergman
November 28, 2025
An alarming new report has exposed an unprecedented surge in the number of citizens being euthanized by their government in Western Australia, a spike so steep that critics warn the state is sliding toward a culture where suicide deaths are normalized, encouraged, and dressed up as “compassion.”
The shocking rise in medically assisted deaths was revealed in a new government report.
The WA government’s latest assisted-suicide data reveals a 63% jump in just one year for deaths executed under the government’s voluntary assisted dying (VAD) program.
The number of state-sanctioned deaths rose from 293 in 2023–24 to 480 in 2024–25.
VAD now accounts for 2.6% of all deaths in Western Australia, and the youngest victim was just 23 years old.
This is only the fourth annual report since the 2019 Voluntary Assisted Dying Act took effect.
However, the trend is unmistakable as assisted death is rapidly becoming a routine “solution” rather than a last resort.
A Government Report Wrapped in Poetry, Papering Over Reality
Instead of sober analysis, the report begins with a strange poetic metaphor, likening euthanasia to a pebble dropped into a tranquil pond:
“When a pebble drops into a pond of still water, there is an initial splash followed by a series of concentric waves…”
The syrupy language attempts to present state-approved death as gentle, meaningful, and even therapeutic.
But beneath the sentimental veneer, the report pushes for more resources, more VAD practitioners, navigators, pharmacists, and bureaucrats.
In other words, the government wants to expand the system.
Why Patients Are “Choosing” Death
For years, activists claimed assisted suicide was about extreme, unmanageable pain.
Yet, the government’s own data says otherwise.
The top reason patients gave for ending their lives was related to concerns about growing old:
“Less able to engage in activities making life enjoyable, or concerned about it.”
This was cited by 68.3% of patients.
Concerns about autonomy and dignity ranked second and third, both at 58%.
Meanwhile, less than half said inadequate pain control was their primary motivation.
The real picture is far more disturbing, as many patients are being euthanized over their fears about the natural losses that come with aging and illness, not because they are suffering uncontrollably.
Chilling Testimonials: Caregivers Railroad Patients Toward Death
The report openly includes testimonials that, intentionally or not, reveal how caregivers and medical staff often guide patients toward being euthanized by the government instead of seeking treatments.
One friend recounted convincing a suicidal patient to choose VAD over taking his own life:
“Much of my discussion with [my friend] was trying to convince him that the VAD process… would be a far better outcome for the family.”
Another testimonial positions VAD as superior to “illegal” suicide:
“The horrors of illegal procedures are best avoided…
“Thank goodness VAD is now available in WA.”
This is not a system protecting life; it’s a system smoothing the bureaucratic path to death.
The Myth of a “Peaceful, Painless” Death
“Assisted suicide” lobbyists insist VAD is serene and painless.
But global data contradicts that narrative.
Oregon has documented cases of patients taking up to 47 hours to die in agony after ingesting assisted suicide drugs.
Yet, this horrifying reality was never mentioned in WA’s glossy, euphemistic report.
Push to Destroy Conscience Rights
Some testimonials appear crafted to pressure lawmakers to strip doctors and hospitals of conscience protections:
“Conscientious objection… seems to be causing distress to patients…”
Another complains about Catholic hospitals blocking VAD access.
Victoria has already forced doctors to participate in referrals for VAD, making them complicit.
WA is now laying the rhetorical groundwork to follow the same path.
The Metaphor They Shouldn’t Have Used
The report’s saccharine pond metaphor accidentally reveals a truth its authors likely didn’t intend:
When the government turns death into “care,” the ripple effect doesn’t stay contained.
Families, institutions, and entire communities begin to absorb the message that life with difficulty isn’t worth living and that a quick state-approved death is the dignified alternative.
This is how a culture of life becomes a culture of disposal.
Western Australia’s massive spike in assisted suicide deaths isn’t compassion; it’s a warning sign.
Behind the bureaucratic poetry and emotional manipulation sits a system that is:
Normalizing suicide
Fast-tracking death for non-pain reasons
Pressuring caregivers to encourage VAD
Undermining conscience protections
Positioned for major expansion
The numbers are rising because the barriers are falling.
Meanwhile, the message being broadcast to vulnerable people is that their lives are less worthy of protection than the convenience of a sanitized, state-administered death.
From my POV as a believer in reincarnation, old age teaches us many lessons. If we want life with no struggle or hard knocks...well...good luck! The most valuable lesson in my life--as I began practicing Buddhism when my life was in danger at age 30--arrived through extreme anguish, hardship, and fear many times. Yet, the pattern I perceived at the time was a well-known one from childhood--same old same old--so I was determined to "break" or "extinguish" my karma. "Turning poison into medicine" as the Buddhist organization I used to participate in would phrase the practice of changing our karma.
By opting out of old age simply because of diminished abilities, diminished youthful strengths, and added limitations, I think the person misses out in all the glory: the added wisdom; the greater perception; and developing greater compassion. Old age buys time to continue developing the highest spirituality we can attain as human beings. These qualities don't dissipate into the ether when we "die" or pass from this physical plane. They continue and show up in another life. Even an "ascended" life as some imagine the coming age. In fact, how do people think we create an "ascension?" Certainly not by taking our own lives. Advancing as a human being means challenging our woes and problems and overcoming them.
I do stipulate this caveat. Any person in excruciating pain for which no treatment is available and with a life not envisioned shortened always has this option. I think they would not want to leave, but the pressing medical circumstances may dictate so.
Elites who specialize in shaping public perception continue to apply a principle identified long ago by Brembeck and Howell in their 1952 classic Persuasion: A Means of Social Control: “We have seen that great masses of men have a pattern of life designed for them to a great extent by those who persuade” (p. 7). This insight, which influenced me profoundly between 1969 and 1975, remains fully relevant.