Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health
In 2024, the Ministry of Health completed the first review of the End of Life Choice Act 2019.
The End of Life Choice Act is the law that makes assisted dying legal in New Zealand. The Act came into force on 7 November 2021, following a public referendum held alongside the 2020 General Election. The Act is administered by the Ministry of Health.
Under the legislation, the Ministry of Health is required to review the operation of the Act within three years of it coming into force, and every five years after that.
The review of the Act was undertaken in 2 parts:
- a review of the operation of the Act by the Ministry of Health
- an online process to gather public opinion about changes that could be made to the Act.
This publication provides a summary of the feedback received through the online process. The online process was open for submissions from the public from 1 August to 26 September 2024. The Ministry received 2759 submissions from organisations and individuals as part of that process.
The Ministry’s review of the operation of the Act can be found at Review of the End of Life Choice Act 2019.
