Danes to put forward their case against assisted dying
Ethics council will recommend total ban to Oireachtas committee
LEGALISING assisted dying sends a message that ‘some lives are not worth living’ an Oireachtas Committee will hear today.
Representatives from the Danish National Council on Ethics, who recently rejected legalisation of euthanasia and assisted suicide in Denmark by a 16–1 vote, will present for politicians on the Assisted Dying Committee.
This year, the 17-member Danish council reviewed all ethical considerations around introducing different models of assisted dying in Denmark and recommended to their parliament that it remain prohibited, despite public and political support.
Representatives from the council will tell Irish politicians who are undertaking similar deliberation that they concluded: ‘If we offer assisted dying, it says, directly or indirectly, that some lives are not worth living.’ The council will also tell TDs and Senators they believe the introduction of assisted dying, ‘risks causing unacceptable changes to basic norms for society and healthcare’.
‘If assisted dying becomes an option, there is too great a risk that it will become an expectation aimed at special groups in society’ the opening statement, seen by the Irish Daily Mail, reads.
‘The decision to request assisted dying is a serious one. So is the decision to offer assisted dying.
‘If assisted suicide or euthanasia is carried out, it is an irreversible act. We do not believe that legislation can be developed which will be able to function properly,’ the statement will say.
The council’s representatives will tell politicians that they are concerned ‘about the ability to adequately monitor and restrict the practice and possible expansions’.
‘The only thing that will be able to protect the lives and respect of those who are most vulnerable in society will be a ban without exceptions,’ they will state.
The Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying is coming to the end of nine months of hearings on the topic, as they weigh up whether Ireland legalises assisted dying.
The push for assisted dying in Ireland was sparked by a highprofile legal battle by right-to-die campaigner Marie Fleming.
Ms Fleming took a landmark case against the State when she wanted to travel to Switzerland to end her life which had been made unbearable by multiple sclerosis.
It is an offence to aid, abet, counsel or procure the suicide or attempted suicide of another person. The offence has a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
Her case argued that the ban on assisted suicide breached her constitutional rights and discriminated against her as a disabled person. The court ruled against her in April 2013, but it ignited a national conversation.
The campaign for legalisation of assisted dying was also supported by late CervicalCheck campaigner Vicky Phelan during her own terminal cancer diagnosis.
The politicians on the committee will also hear from a palliative care expert in New Zealand, who disagrees with the use of assisted dying in his country, along with an Australian professor who is supportive of the practice.
New Zealand Professor in palliative care Roderick MacLeod will tell politicians he is ‘strongly opposed’ to legalisation in any form.
‘By assisting people to end their life, our society would be sending the message that some lives are not worth living,’ he will say.
He will also warn from his study of assisted dying legislation across the world, ‘legislated safeguards cannot detect coercion behind closed doors’.
He will continue: ‘International experience shows that the circumstances under which assisted dying can take place are often extended over time and the practice can also be open to abuse.’
Meanwhile, Australian professor of end-of-life law and regulation Ben White will say that voluntary assisted dying is ‘working safely’ in his country and that the safeguards are making it ‘difficult for some people to access’.
‘Safeguards cannot detect coercion’