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Committee backs assisted-dying legislation

An Oireachtas committee report has called on the Government to introduce legislation allowing for assisted dying, “in certain restricted circumstances”.

The Joint Committee on Assisted Dying was set up to make recommendations for legislative and policy change relating to a legal right to assist a person to end their life, and a legal right to receive such assistance.

The committee’s report, published today (20 March), makes 38 recommendations, though the members agreed that it could not put forward any detailed proposals on draft legislation.

It said that the issues examined should be the subject of a debate in both Houses of the Oireachtas.

Medical conditions

The committee recommends that only people diagnosed with certain diseases, illnesses, or medical conditions should be eligible for assisted dying. It says that such conditions must be:

• Both incurable and irreversible,
• Advanced, progressive, and will cause death,
• Expected to cause death within six months (or, in the case of a person with a neuro-degenerative disease, illness or condition, within 12 months), and
• Causing suffering to the person that cannot be relieved in a manner that the person finds tolerable.

Among its other recommendations are:

• Eligibility for assisted dying should be limited to Irish citizens or those ordinarily resident in the State for a period of not less than 12 months,
• Assisted dying should be limited to people aged 18 or over,
• Two formal requests for assisted dying must be made, with a set specified interval between. At least one of these requests must be recorded in writing, and before two independent witnesses.

Coercion

The report also includes several recommendations aimed at identifying and preventing potential coercion.

The committee also identifies other areas that should be covered by any changes in legislation or policy:

• The Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities should be ratified as a pre-condition of the commencement of assisted-dying legislation,
• The right to conscientious objection of all doctors and health workers directly involved in the provision of assisted dying should be protected in law,
• Any potential legislation on assisted dying should use “clear and unambiguous terms and definitions”, to avoid scope for uncertainty,
• A person inquiring about assisted dying, following a terminal diagnosis, should be informed of, and assisted in, accessing all end-of-life care options – including palliative care,
• Palliative care and the operation of assisted dying should operate “completely separately and independently of each other”.

Committee chair Michael Healy-Rae said that committee members did not always agree with each other, “but all views were listened to and respected”.

Deputy Healy-Rae said yesterday (19 March) that he would be launching a dissenting report on the issue with Independent Senator Rónán Mullen.