Doctors fear they could face criminal prosecution under WA's proposed voluntary assisted dying laws if they discuss euthanasia with patients electronically due to differences between state and Commonwealth law.

Key points: Concerns centre on discussions via phone calls, emails or telehealth

Concerns centre on discussions via phone calls, emails or telehealth WA's Health Minister concedes there are no guarantees for doctors

WA's Health Minister concedes there are no guarantees for doctors Victoria has told doctors to limit non face-to-face conversations on euthanasia

The WA Government is seeking assurances doctors will not be placed at risk after concerns from medical groups that doctors who discuss voluntary euthanasia by phone, email or telehealth could fall afoul of Commonwealth laws that prohibit using a carriage service "for suicide related material".

The issue is being taken sufficiently seriously that Victoria has instructed doctors to limit discussions about voluntary assisted dying (VAD) to face-to-face conversations.

"Providing patients with information about voluntary assisted dying over the telephone, via email or through the use of telehealth could be a breach of the Commonwealth Criminal Code," recent advice provided by the Victorian Government to doctors stated.

It cites the Commonwealth Criminal Code, which makes it an offence to "counsel or incite" someone to commit suicide, promote a particular method of suicide or provide instructions.

Debate on voluntary assisted dying will begin in Parliament next week. ( ABC News: James Carmody )

The issue has been raised in Government briefings on VAD with MPs in Western Australia, ahead of a vote in State Parliament due later this year.

No real concern, but no guarantees: Minister

Health Minister Roger Cook said he believed there was no reason to be concerned, but he admitted there were no guarantees.

"This is a matter of law and legal opinion and you can never resolve legal opinion definitively in that sense," Mr Cook said.

"There is always the potential that people will have a difference of opinion."

Mr Cook said WA was working with the Federal Government on the issue, with discussions taking place between the state and commonwealth attorneys-general.

"We have received extensive legal advice around this issue and we do not believe there is any impediment," Mr Cook said.

"[WA's legislation] specifically states in the bill that this is not about suicide, it is about voluntary assisted dying."

Criminality concerns need to be resolved: AMA

But the Australian Medical Association (AMA), an organisation highly critical of the Government's VAD proposal, said doctors had good reason to be concerned.

"Medico-legally, doctors are quite rightly conservative and we have long experience of being investigated for far less than this," AMA WA president Andrew Miller said.

Dr Miller says doctors need assurances before the introduction of any assisted dying laws in WA. ( ABC News: Courtney Bembridge )

"We need to sort that out before we introduce anything in Western Australia."

Nationals MP Martin Aldridge, a key undecided vote in the Upper House of State Parliament, said the issue needed to be resolved before debate progressed.

"We need to know whether or not voluntary assisted dying discussions, by another means than face-to-face contact with a doctor, would constitute a crime," Mr Aldridge said.

"It is not good enough to simply seek the assurance of the Commonwealth that they will not prosecute a potential crime."

Debate will begin on the VAD laws in State Parliament on Wednesday, with the legislation expected to pass the Lower House comfortably.

But numbers are much tighter in the Upper House, with the outcome likely to hinge on a small handful of MPs yet to definitively make up their minds.