Legalising assisted dying possible with 'strict' parameters, committee hears

The committee on assisted dying, which was set up in January of this year, heard from three academics on the ethics of the issue of assisted dying or euthanasia.

An Oireachtas committee has heard that if Ireland is to legalise assisted dying, it will need to be done within “strict, ethically defensible parameters.” 

The committee on assisted dying, which was set up in January of this year, heard from three academics on the ethics of the issue of assisted dying or euthanasia on Tuesday morning.

Dr Annie McKeown O’Donovan, who completed her thesis on the matter in 2021, argued that it could be legalised — but with certain parameters.

These included that the person involved has “repeatedly and rationally requested assistance in dying”. She said that the repeated requests should be fulfilled if it came from someone:

• Who is imminently dying;
• Has exhausted all avenues of available respite; 
• Finds their current and prospective quality of life unacceptable; 
• Who values death now, more than an inevitably short period of life judged by them as intolerable, resulting in death soon anyway. 

The committee heard countering points from Dr Tom Finegan, assistant professor in the Department of Theology at Mary Immaculate College, and Professor Kevin Yiull, CEO of Humanists Against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia.

Mr Finegan argued that there was “no stable middle ground” when it came to assisted dying or euthanasia.

He said: “The current law is the only credible safeguard on offer against the normalisation of consensual killing in healthcare.” 

He urged legislators to “inhabit the central rational” of the possible positions and “think through whether a middle ground genuinely makes sense.”

Professor Yiull said that defining killing as “medical treatment for suffering” was “inherently problematic.” 

He said: "Protecting life can only occur with a law against killing."

He argued: "In every country where it (euthanasia) has been legalised for a reasonable length of time, cases have increased rapidly and the criteria for eligibility have expanded."

Professor Yiull noted that he was not against the idea of euthanasia — clarifying that he was against changing the law on it.

“(If the law is changed) how could you deny it to some who reports that they need it?” 

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In response to questioning from Senator Ronán Mullen, Dr O’Donovan said she would not support the idea outside of those who were suffering from terminal illness — adding that she believed euthanasia should remain illegal.

She said: “The patient must be capable of administering the medication to themselves”, noting that this "makes sure that it's an instance of assisted dying as opposed to euthanasia".

Dr Finegan noted he would not support the idea in any case.

Fianna Fáil’s Robert Troy asked whether decriminalising euthanasia was an option, but Dr O’Donovan noted that support systems are in place when something is legalised where they would not be if it were decriminalised.