Our advisors
Dr. Greg Mewett MBBS FAChPM
Greg was a GP in Bendigo, Central Victoria (Australia) for 22 years during which time he developed a special interest in palliative care and was an educator & clinical advisor with the Loddon-Mallee Regional Palliative Care Team. He left general practice in 2004 and retrained as a palliative care physician in Melbourne, completing his Fellowship in 2007.
He is a ‘conscientious provider’ of VAD which he incorporates into his specialist palliative care practice. gregmewett@bigpond.com
Dr. Cam McClaren
Medical Oncologist from Victoria, Australia. He signed up to provide VAD assessments to Victorians from the day it became legally available. In Victoria, one of the doctors assessing eligibility must be a specialist in the area of disease that the patient has. Due to the low uptake by his colleagues, Dr McLaren began to be asked if he would assist other doctors’ patients to access VAD, and his answer has never been “no”. In the three years of operation of VAD in Victoria, Dr McLaren has been involved in over 200 cases of application, often attending in support of his patients and their families if the patients choose to take their VAD medicines. cam.mclaren@gmail.com
Dr. Nick Carr MD
Nick is a GP working in St Kilda, Victoria and honorary clinical senior lecturer in the Department of General Practice at The University of Melbourne. He did his medical training at Cambridge University and in London before moving to Melbourne in 1988.
Nick is also a writer and broadcaster. He has written for many sources, including Crikey.com.au, and published a book for first time fathers. He appears regularly on radio and television. Nick is a Board member of Dying with Dignity Victoria, and has been actively involved with providing Voluntary Assisted Dying care since the Act commenced in June 2019.
Stephen Duckworth OBE
Stephen is Founder and Chief Executive of Disability Matters Global – a world class company promoting diversity and equality. Stephen is a Non-Executive Director of the Palace of Westminster Restoration & Renewal Delivery Authority. He is also a Trustee at Leonard Cheshire, RFU Injured Players Foundation and Global Disability Innovation Hub. Stephen has held a variety of roles during his career, including Non-Executive Director of Route2Mobility in 2003 and Adviser to the Minister for Welfare Reform and Minister for Disabled People in 2005.
dr.s.duckworth@gmail.com https://youtu.be/AB45D79hVl4 via @YouTube
Helen O’Shaughnessy
Since graduating in 1981, Helen’s nursing experience extended to working in Scotland before working in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Yemen and on to Australia and New Zealand for 28 years. Helen loves the outdoors, sport, hiking, cycling .and swimming and as a keen triathelete, participates in marathons and Ironman events. Helen moved back to Ireland in 2017 to care for her sister who was terminally Ill. Assisted Dying is, she feels is a fundamental human right something not afforded to her sister, or many others. Now back in NZ, Helen continues to work with us, bringing her experience of working with End of Life Choice NZ where Assisted Dying is now available to us here in Ireland
Dr Roger Hunt
Palliative Care Physician for over 30 years and a founding member of the Australia New Zealand Palliative Care Association. Dr. Hunt is on the SA VAD Review Board set up under the SA VAD Act. Roger was a founding member of Daw House Hospice, site of world’s first Chair in Palliative Care (established in 1988); he developed undergraduate and post-graduate courses in end-of-life care; he was a founding Fellow of the Chapter of Palliative Medicine in the College of Physicians; he was foundation Secretary of Palliative Care Australia; and was Chairman of the Palliative Care Council of SA. He was on the Victorian and WA Ministerial Advisory Panels when VAD legislation was being drafted. Interestingly worked in Ireland as a palliative consultant for three months 15 years ago. dr.roger.hunt@gmail.com
Gary Payinda, MD
Dr Gary Payinda is an emergency medicine specialist who campaigned for the legalisation of assisted dying in New Zealand in 2018, and in 2019 saw the law passed by a resounding majority of voters.
In 2021 he began work as one of the first medical practitioners with the Assisted Dying Service of the New Zealand Ministry of Health.
Dr. Stefanie Green
Dr Green spent 10 years in general practice and another 12 years working exclusively in maternity and newborn care before changing her focus in 2016 to medical assistance in dying (MAiD). Dr. Green is the co-founder and President of the Canadian Association of MAID Assessors and Providers (CAMAP). She is medical advisor to the BC Ministry of Health MAID oversight committee, moderator of CAMAP’s national online forum, and has hosted three national conferences on the topic. She is clinical faculty at the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria and author of the bestselling book THIS IS ASSISTED DYING (Scribner) on her first year providing assisted dying in Canada
Silvan Luley
Director at Dignitas, the swiss non-profit human rights organisation. “To live with Dignity, to Die with Dignity.”Speaks widely throughout the world.
The Right Honorable Kyam Maher, MLC
Kyam grew up in Country South Australia, initially in Littlehampton in the Adelaide Hills and then in Mt Gambier in the South East of the State. Kyam graduated from Adelaide University with degrees in Law and Economics, spending part of his Law Degree studying in the United States at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg Virginia. In 2018 Kyam was appointed as the Chairperson of the Budget and Finance Committee. At the 2022 election Kyam was sworn in as the first Aboriginal Attorney-General in South Australia, as well as Minister For Aboriginal Affair and Minister for Industrial Relations and the Public Sector.
The Right Honorable Mike Gaffney
Mike Gaffney led 115 community and stakeholder forums across Tasmania, to consider and incorporate community feedback into the legislation. His genuinely impartial approach resulted in all sides actively engaging with him. Through this greater community understanding and confidence in the Tasmanian Bill resulted in Members of the Legislative Council, Tasmania’s Upper House voting unanimously for the Bill. Mike then consulted extensively and was actively supported by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel to draft the proposed legislation and the subsequent refinements. Michael.Gaffney@parliament.tas.gov.au
Andrew Denton, Founder of Go Gentle Australia
Go Gentle is a charity working nationally to promote choice at the end of life, including the option of voluntary assisted dying.
Go Gentle were instrumental in passing voluntary assisted dying laws in all six states.
Dr David Grube MD
David practiced Family Medicine in a small rural town in Oregon (USA) for 35 years, retiring in 2012. In 1999 a first patient asked him for medical aid in dying, and over the ensuing years he responded to patient’s requests approximately 30 times, both as Prescribing and Consulting Physician. In his role as National Medical Director for Compassion & Choices he lectures and mentor’s physicians, hospices, and medical staff about end-of-life options, and he has testified in the legislatures of numerous States.
Former Advisors
Dr. Ayke Smook MD
Ayke, a retired Dutch oncologist and surgeon, gave End of Life Ireland considerable time when we first set up. After a lifetime’s commitment to educating others, by sharing his experience of Assisted Dying, he sadly died on March 6th 2023. Curing patients he said is an obligation, recognising though when treatment becomes futile, the next step is care, then terminal care and only if requested, Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD). Ayke was one of the founders of Right to Die Europe (RtDE), a branch of WFRtDS. After euthanasia law was enacted in Holland, Ayke founded Support and Consultation Euthanasia in the Netherlands, to ensure due care, as listed in the law during assisted deaths.