Robbie Caliste's family will be forever grateful for Victoria's voluntary assisted dying laws.

Key points: Robbie Caliste was one of the youngest people to access the laws after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease

Robbie Caliste was one of the youngest people to access the laws after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease A new report has revealed 52 Victorians have used the laws to end their lives since the laws became active six months ago

A new report has revealed 52 Victorians have used the laws to end their lives since the laws became active six months ago Medical oncologist Cameron McLaren said there was room for the requirements under the law to be improved to make the process less stressful for patients

They feel it gave Robbie dignity in his death, two years after he was diagnosed with the debilitating motor neurone disease (MND).

On November 12 last year, Mr Caliste died at his home in Melbourne's west surrounded by his family.

At 36, he was one of the youngest people to use the laws.

Mr Caliste's mother Michelle said her son was a determined man who knew that he did not want MND to completely rob him of his life.

"There was no way MND was going to win," she said.

Ms Caliste described his final day as "beautiful" but said they were prepared to stop the process at any time.

"This is your decision," Ms Caliste told her son.

"And he said 'no, it's what I want'."

Ms Caliste said they were very lucky to have the opportunity to make the choice about how her son would end his life.

Her husband John said voluntary assisted dying allowed his son to die in a very "peaceful manner without suffering".

"It gave him dignity. It gave him a choice, a choice he didn't take lightly," he said.

His brother Paul said he would be forever grateful his brother had a choice to take his dignity back.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 41 seconds 1 m 41 s How pharmacists will dispense drugs to eligible Victorians under the state's assisted dying laws

Victorians wanted the laws and are using them

More than 50 Victorians legally ended their own lives in the first six months of the state's voluntary assisted dying laws — far more than the State Government expected.

A new report into the laws, which were introduced in Victoria in June last year, revealed that of the 136 people who applied to end their life, 43 self-administered the medication while nine had their doctor administer the drugs.

Nineteen applications for voluntary assisted dying were withdrawn because of administrative errors or the applicants died by other means.

Voluntary Assisted Dying Review board chairwoman Betty King said the rest of the applications were rejected for a range of reasons, including applicants not being Australian citizens.

"[The number of people who've accessed the scheme] shows that this is something that Victorians have wanted, and now that it is available they are utilising it as they require it," she said.

"The feedback has been predominately about how peaceful it was, how fabulous it was for my parent or my loved one to be able to choose to be surrounded by family, to play music and to just quietly go to sleep.

"We've had some problems because not everyone can access the legislation they thought they could, but that's a good thing because it's something that should be considered and talked about."

Only adults with incurable and advanced medical conditions can access voluntary assisted dying.

Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said it was a very reassuring start that the scheme was working as intended.

Almost 140 people applied to end their life between June and December last year. ( Supplied: Dying with Dignity Victoria )

"Fifty-two Victorians have actually had a compassionate death, a peaceful death at the time and manner of their choosing and that far exceeds our expectations," she said.

"We anticipate as more Victorians understand that this choice is available to them and more doctors undertake the mandatory training there will be a further increase."

More than 370 doctors have either completed the training or are undertaking the training required — a third of them are in regional Victoria.

Victoria was the first state in Australia to legalise voluntary assisted dying, and Western Australia passed its laws in December last year.

Requirements under the law are 'unintentionally cruel'

Medical oncologist Cameron McLaren works in Berwick and has been involved in 17 voluntary deaths.

Dr McLaren said he was not surprised by the number of people who had used the laws.

"There were many people hanging out for this to occur so we had a big rush of those people [using the law] in the earlier months," he said.

He said the law had been implemented well, but there was definitely room for improvement.

"I'd like to see more awareness in the community about their rights and access and I would like to be able to talk a patient about the option [of assisted dying] from the outset, instead of having to wait for them to prompt me," he said.

Oncologist Cameron McLaren said some patients had to travel significant distances to access a doctor trained in voluntary euthanasia. ( ABC News: Natasha Johnson )

Under the law, a doctor is not allowed to initiate discussion or suggest voluntary assisted dying to a patient.

Dr McLaren would also like to see more doctors trained in assisted dying so patients could access the service locally.

"My main practice is in Berwick and I've had to travel to Seymour to see a patient from Bright who had to meet me halfway," he said.

"I don't see that as equitable access, asking a patient in the last six months of his life to travel down twice to fulfil the requirements of voluntary assisted dying.

"I think it's little bit cruel, unintentionally cruel, but that's something we can work towards refining in the future."