On his heyday, Alan Clark was a gun centre-forward who left everything on the field.
Footy was in his blood. He earned best and fairest accolades at almost every suburban club he played for and as a player-coach proudly led the Frankston reserves to a gritty grand final showdown in 1971.
They lost to the boys from Brunswick that day and the outcome still stings.
A Melbourne GP is taking legal action against the federal Attorney-General to fight what he calls an “extraordinarily prohibitive” law that prevents doctors from communicating via modern technology with terminally ill patients about assisted dying.
Key points:
Dr Nick Carr says doctors are unable to talk via phone, text, email or telehealth services about assisted dying
He says he has been lobbying the federal government to change the law for nearly two years
Victoria’s assisted dying scheme requires two doctors to verify that a terminally ill patient has limited time to live
Dying with Dignity Victoria board member Nick Carr said he had pursued legal action in the Federal Court to clarify the definition of suicide in the Commonwealth Criminal Code 1995.
Under the code, it is illegal for a person to discuss suicide through a carriage service, which includes phones, text messages, emails and telehealth services.
Dr Carr said he filed the affidavit after federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus did not respond to a letter warning legal action would be taken if the code was not clarified.
He also said former Attorney-General Michaelia Cash wrote to him in February saying she would not change the code.
Big ends for breaking the law
To be approved for Victoria’s assisted dying scheme, two doctors need to verify a patient has less than six months to live for a physical illness and 12 months for a neurological condition.
But breaking the communication laws can result in ends of up to $222,000 for individuals or $1,110,000 for businesses.