"I get this sense that once you experience extreme suffering there's no way you would ever not vote for this to go through," she said.

"I just really regret so much that my dad's own experience was so horrific and I can't take that back."

Ms Coghlan said her dad Michael, who had worked as a public servant for many years, loved so many different things.

"He loved literature, sport. He was a collector and he collected 20th century decorative art so he was passionate about art," she said.

Ms Coghlan's dad died in 2014. He was 75. He had suffered with prostate cancer for more than a decade.

"He was given a seven-year life expectancy but he went on some trial drugs and was quite a physically strong person and he lived for about 11 years," Ms Coghlan said.

Over those 11 years Michael's cancer had spread into his bones and his last two years were particularly horrific.

In the month before his death, Michael's bowel ruptured and he was rushed to hospital where he was operated on against his wishes.

"When he was rushed to hospital he said he didn't want to be operated on and my mum was sent away to get some X-rays and they put him under and operated on him against his wishes," Ms Coghlan said.

"Apparently he didn't have a say in that because of the seriousness of the situation but he did want to have a say in it."

If he did not go through with the operation he would have died, but Ms Coghlan said he would have chosen that. "If he had an option of being able to end his life this is where he tried to say, 'I don't want to live anymore'," she said.

"He was very sick before it happened."

After the surgery Michael had a ventilator down his throat for three weeks.

"He lost his advocacy because he could no longer speak due to the ventilator," Ms Coghlan said.

Michael died five weeks after receiving the surgery. It took three weeks for doctors to be convinced to remove the respirator and Michael had lost most of his voice from the damage done by the ventilator.

In the week-and-a-half before his death Michael was too sick to be moved to palliative care. He was unable to even swallow water at that point.

The Federal Parliament's debate is only about allowing the ACT and Northern Territory the right to debate voluntary assisted dying and not about legalising euthanasia. Federal politicians have been urged to set aside their personal views on the matter when voting.

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But any repeal of the so-called Andrews bill will likely result in the ACT passing voluntary assisted dying laws. Any vote in the ACT Legislative Assembly would be a conscience vote but it would likely have majority support.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has said any legislation to create voluntary assisted dying laws in the territory would not be rushed but he hoped laws would be passed before Canberrans headed to the polls in 2024.

He said the ACT had the benefit of being able to learn lessons from other states when drafting its own legislation. Every Australian state has passed voluntary assisted dying laws.