Jersey’s latest step towards offering a legal assisted-dying service has been branded a “terrifying development” by a senior Catholic bishop – who warned that it would place an “immoral and unacceptable demand” on medical staff.
Jersey’s assisted dying law was granted Royal Assent last week, marking the final constitutional step before the legislation takes legal effect. The service is expected to begin operating in late 2027.
Bishop of Portsmouth Philip Egan said the decision was “misguided”, describing the move as a “leap into the insatiable culture of death”.
“The new legislation in Jersey will place an immoral and unacceptable demand on medical staff,” he said. “It expects them to become accessories to killing.”
Bishop of Portsmouth Philip Egan
The new legislation in Jersey will place an immoral and unacceptable demand on medical staff. It expects them to become accessories to killing
Bishop Egan claimed that the introduction of a legal assisted-dying service would “irreparably damage” palliative care and the work of care homes, as it would be “cheaper and more efficient to euthanise than to care”.
“It’s easy to imagine a future in which doctors glibly advise patients to seek suicide, not treatment,” he added.
The Bishop said that the service would place “intolerable pressure” on vulnerable, disabled, sick, elderly and dying people.
“It will tempt them to feel they are an increasing burden and financial drain on society, family and friends,” he said. “The right to die will soon become a pressure to die, then the duty to die.”
He also highlighted concerns that the thresholds of eligibility would “creep forward to cover more and more categories of persons”.
“As experience elsewhere demonstrates, there is no limit,” he added. “In Canada, already one in 20 deaths are by lethal injection. Suicide will become the norm.”
Bishop Egan concluded: “For a Christian, taking one’s own life or assisting someone to take their own life, is a really grave offence against God. We believe that life is God’s gift. We did not choose our lives nor is life ours to dispose of.
“In Jersey, a red line has now been crossed. Please pray for the terminally ill and those who care for them. Pray too for the medical staff who will soon be pressurised to administer lethal injections.”
Under Jersey’s new law, assisted dying will be available free of charge through the Health Department, but only for adults who meet strict eligibility criteria.
Applicants must be aged 18 or over, have lived in Jersey for at least 12 months, have a terminal illness expected to cause death within six months – or 12 months for certain neurodegenerative conditions – and have the mental capacity to make the decision.
They must also demonstrate a voluntary, informed and settled wish to end their life, free from coercion, with the legislation requiring multiple assessments and safeguards throughout the process.
Assisted dying will not replace palliative or end-of-life care, but will provide an additional option for eligible terminally ill patients who are experiencing, or expect to experience, unbearable suffering.
