A committee of Oireachtas has heard the admonition that any euthanasia legislation must protect those who are at risk and may be forced to take their own lives.
However, Dr Louise Campbell, a professor of medical ethics at the University of Galway, noted that determining whether someone is making her own decision “is one of the most difficult things to achieve in practice”, reports RTE.
Dr. Campbell said that “overt pressures from family, or covert pressures from family or other interested parties” must be identified, reports RTE.
The objective must be “that nobody is assisted to die when it is not their own free, autonomous choice”, reports RTE.
“Permitting medical assistance in dying risks allowing people who may be vulnerable… to shorten their lives” where they might have chosen otherwise, she added, reports RTE.
Safeguards must be built into any legislation, including “second medical opinions, statutory waiting periods and reporting, review and oversight mechanisms”, reports RTE.
Dr. Campbell noted that 68 safeguards were discussed during parliamentary debates in the Australian state of Victoria.
“It is vitally important that screening for comorbid mental illness plays a central role,” she also said, reports RTE.
In her response to Labor Senator Annie Hoey, lawyer Finn Keyes said that an Irish person accompanying someone to take their own life in another country was breaking Irish law.
This interferes with how people can “struggle,” particularly those with a terminal illness, he said.
Dr. Campbell later said that there are “a lot of philosophical rumbling around these issues”, adding that “they are a legacy and we do not need them”, reports RTE.
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