More than 2,000 healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses and geriatricians, have signed an open letter stating that they are “gravely concerned” about the attempt to introduce euthanasia and assisted dying in the Republic of Ireland.
The open letter is a response to the second stage of the “Dying with Dignity Bill”, seeking “to make provision for assistance in achieving a dignified and peaceful end of life to qualifying persons and related matters”, in the Republic of Ireland. The Bill is currently being assessed by a committee.
“We believe the bill creates risks for many receiving healthcare that outweigh any potential benefits. This concern is based on our collective experience over many decades of providing health care to people and their families in Ireland”, the open letter stated.
One of the reasons why the signatories signed the letter was that “We fear that the most vulnerable may be made to feel a burden to their families and come under pressure to end their lives prematurely”.
The wording of the proposed legislation was also called into question, specifically dying with “dignity”, with the letter making the point that “as good healthcare already allows people to die with dignity in Ireland, a Bill introducing assisted suicide is therefore not necessary”.
Dr Kevin McCarroll, a geriatrician and consultant physician who added his name to the letter, said that “There is an endemic prejudice about older people and unfortunately that leads into Euthanasia becoming an option… Even families can be that way: ‘My mother’s terrible, I can’t stand to see her this way’. Well, her mother mightn’t feel quite as bad as they do.
“I think it creeps in as an option and in most countries it’s extended beyond the initial indication that they had in law. Then older people will begin to think, am I a burden on my family? It becomes a terrible option for people to start thinking about.”
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “This is not the first time that medical professionals have condemned the move to introduce assisted dying in Ireland. Last October, the Irish Palliative Medicine Consultants’ Association (IPMCA) called on politicians to oppose the Dying with Dignity Bill.
“As Dr McCarroll rightly points out in this most recent open letter, this Bill would put increasing pressure on the elderly to take their lives.
“Ireland should listen to those professionals such as Dr McCarroll, who, working with the dying every day, seek to care for, not kill, their patients.”
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