PROPOSALS that would allow assisted dying in Jersey outside cases of terminal illness are “not ethically appropriate”, according to experts.
Today’s publication of an ethical review of assisted dying in Jersey marks the final step before ministers work to refine the proposals that will come before the States Assembly in March 2024.
In that report, three specialists have expressed “serious reservations” about allowing assisted dying in cases of “unbearable suffering”, as the proposals currently stand.
Current proposals allow the procedure via the basis of terminal illness (Route 1) and of “unbearable suffering” (Route 2), both of which would have different approval processes and timeframes.
Health Minister Karen Wilson said: “This review has helped to cast light on a range of complex ethical issues, some of which were already in our minds. It has given us some clarity around areas where we might need to do more thinking around safeguards. It is clear that Route 2 is a far more complex area of the legislation.”
Deputy Wilson also confirmed that assisted dying in Jersey would “absolutely, categorically be for Jersey residents only”.
And she said the Council of Ministers remained committed to the original timeline of legalising assisted dying by the end of 2025.
Professor Richard Huxtable, Dr Alexandra Mullock and Professor Trudo Lemmens, medical experts who were previously involved in the Jersey Assisted Dying Citizens’ Jury, considered a range of arguments and evidence for and against particular answers to questions surrounding assisted dying.
In response to Route 2, the authors wrote: “We have serious reservations about allowing AD [assisted dying] in such circumstances and on balance we believe that the proposals regarding Route 2 (unbearable suffering) are not ethically appropriate.”
While they acknowledge that suffering can arise in “contexts beyond terminal illness”, the “substantial arguments” against that route including making an ableist judgment about the negative value of lives of people with disabilities, and that “suffering” is “too vague, multifaceted and subjective to be a useful or reliable eligibility criterion”.
The Council of Ministers is preparing to lodge proposals for debate by the end of March next year, with the intention to debate before the end of the summer. This follows a vote by States Members of 36-10 in favour of the principle of assisted dying in November 2021.
However, the report maintains that the consultation phase is not yet complete, and the authors have suggested that the views of Jersey-based doctors could be sought again “to ascertain levels of support for assisted dying as proposed and their willingness to participate in assisted dying as proposed”.
Alongside other ethical debates on whether healthcare professionals should be able to conscientiously object and whether it should be self- or practitioner-administered, the report also supports the principle that assisted-dying legislation should not be brought into force until the Assembly is satisfied that all Islanders can access good palliative and end-of-life services.
