SPUC has called on the people of Ireland to protect the vulnerable by rejecting assisted suicide legislation which is currently advancing through the Irish Parliament. Michael Robinson, SPUC Director of Communications said: “We know that in countries where assisted suicide is legal, many who ‘choose’ to die report that they want to avoid becoming a burden on family and carers. It is vital that the lives of vulnerable people are protected and that this suicide legislation is crushed.”
Irish politicians voted earlier this week to progress the Dying with Dignity Bill which would allow vulnerable people to take their own lives.
The suicide bill was debated for 70 minutes. Politicians who opposed the move were only permitted four minutes of speaking time.
SPUC’s Mr Robinson said: “If this Bill is successful, people in the Republic of Ireland will be able to self-administer lethal drugs and anyone helping would have legal protection. This is such a negative and soul-destroying way to treat a sick or dying person.
“Over a third of Canadians who were killed by assisted suicide in 2019 claimed that they feared being a burden on family, friends and caregivers if they continued to live.
“In Washington State in 2018, 51% of people who were killed by assisted suicide said that being a burden on family, friends and caregivers was a reason to end their lives.
“Similarly in Oregon in 2018, 54.2% of people killed by assisted suicide said that being a burden on family, friends and caregivers was a reason to end their lives.
“It is crucial that Ireland does not make the same mistake.”
Resistance to suicide in Ireland
SPUC has been reporting on the resistance to assisted suicide surfacing within the medical community in Ireland.
Doctors from the Irish Palliative Medicine Consultants’ Association (IPMCA) said: “Based on our collective experience over many decades of providing specialist care to thousands of individuals in Ireland and their families each year, we have closely observed the experiences of people who have lived and are living with serious illness.
“We worry about the impact on people who already struggle to have their voices heard in our society - older adults, the disabled, those with mental illness and others.
"We fear that the most vulnerable are those who may be made to feel a burden to their families and come under pressure to end their lives prematurely.”
“Undermining the ethos of healthcare”
Catholic Bishops in Ireland have also spoken out in defence of healthcare workers in Ireland, stating that “doctors and nurses are called to be advocates for life and should never be required to assist in any way in the deliberate ending of life.”
Bishops in Ireland warned that “once assisted suicide is accepted in principle, it becomes very difficult to draw a line. Many countries, which began by legalising assisted suicide on a very limited basis, have moved on to widen significantly the scope of that legislation.”