The Health Minister has shared a personal perspective on giving islanders the right to end their lives during a public Scrutiny hearing.
Deputy Tom Binet described the experience of witnessing his father’s final days after being asked by the Assisted Dying Review Panel about the proposed inclusion in the law of a waiver option. This option would allow a person to still have an assisted death should they lose mental capacity after their request has been approved but before the final steps of the process.
The Minister and Health Department officials took part in a two-hour hearing as part of the panel’s consideration of detailed legislation, which is set to be considered by politicians in January, after the States Assembly backed the principle of assisted dying following two earlier debates.
“We’re not going to please everybody”
Deputy Binet described the potential for giving patients the option to sign a waiver as “very difficult territory”.
“I watched my father die of pancreatic cancer, and die of dehydration over a six-day period, and that was pretty grim,” he said.
“And had my father had the opportunity to opt for assisted dying, and he’d signed the waiver, I think he’d been quite happy to be released from that pretty pitiful situation.
“Am I personally comfortable with that? I’m afraid I am, and I understand that will offend some people and please some people – we’re at the sort of point where we’re not going to please everybody.”
Panel chair Deputy Louise Doublet asked about concerns raised by islanders with disabilities about the potential for coercion to opt for assisted dying. She asked the Minister what protection would be provided to such people.
Deputy Binet said the impression he had gained during an “extensive” consultation process was that many disabled people had expressed a desire to be treated as individual cases.
“These people wanted the right to assisted dying,” he said. “I think we have to respect the rights of disabled people to be treated as individuals, rather than corralled into a batch of people that need someone else to protect them.”
“The law has safeguards hardwired into it”
Health Policy director Ruth Johnson added: “The law has safeguards hardwired into it, which are there to support and protect all people, including people with disabilities.
“These safeguards relate to the fact that the assessing doctors have to be satisfied as to the fact that the wish that is being made is voluntary and not subject to coercion.”
Ms Johnson said there would also be mandatory training with a focus on identifying signs of coercion, specific offences relating to coercion within the law, and that multi-disciplinary teams would include social workers experienced in this area.
Members of the panel asked about the proposed inclusion of a “waiver of future capacity” in the law, which would allow a person to still have an assisted death should they lose mental capacity after their request has been approved, but before the final steps of the process.
The hearing also focused on end-of-life care, with Ms Johnson saying that people at this stage “almost invariably” wanted to die at home, and that this was a fundamental part of proposed legislation.
Attention also turned to restrictions on the promotion of assisted dying. Ms Johnson said that it would be permissible for GPs to stock factual leaflets that could be given to patients as part of conversations about assisted dying, but that if the same doctor put a poster on the wall inviting patients to ask about assisted dying, this would not be permitted.
The panel will be producing a report summarising the review into the assisted dying legislation ahead of the debate in the States Assembly scheduled for 20 January.