THE OIREACHTAS COMMITTEE on Assisted Dying has heard statements from experts this morning calling for vastly improved healthcare supports to be prioritised over legislating for the practice of assisted death.

Over a series of meetings, the committee of TDs and senators have heard submissions from patients and a range of organisations about assisted dying, which have spanned a broad spectrum of views in favour and against the practice.

This morning’s meeting was focused on the topic of protecting vulnerable people from coercion.

The National Suicide Research Foundation offered five recommendations to the committee for policy and research.

“First and foremost, as a foundation focused on suicide prevention, we would strongly advocate for investment in the development and implementation of evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions for people recently diagnosed with a chronic or terminal illness and for older adults,” the Foundation said.

It called for an increase in targeted funding to reduce health inequalities and improve healthcare services and said it would advocate for clarification regarding the role of mental health professionals in the assessment of patient competency and decision-making capacity.

Additionally, “given the lack of reliable data on deaths, if a change in Irish legislation was to occur around assisted dying, it should be accompanied by a comprehensive data recording system, in order to reliably monitor trends in both assisted dying and suicide at a national level”, the Foundation said.

Finally, it said there is a lack of evidence regarding the effectiveness and standardisation of safeguards in the process of assisted dying and that as a result it is “difficult to identify what safeguards would be deemed sufficient based on the international experience and where responsibility lies in determining
adherence to safeguards”.

The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland also gave its position to the committee, outlining that “as psychiatrists, we believe it is not possible to clearly differentiate between suicidal patients and patients who request assisted dying”.

The College said that the answer to patients not receiving the optimal level of specialist palliative care and supports is “not to end our patients’ lives but rather is to interrogate each and every incident of concern, to clarify relevant contributing factors, and to provide the appropriate evidence-based interventions ranging from improved pain control to family support”.

It called for measures to address unequal distribution of palliative care services in Ireland and a lack of psychological and psychiatric supports available to people with “challenging health journeys”, as well as research into end-of-life care.

From beyond Ireland, the European Institute of Bioethics said that it has “developed expertise on the impact of assisted death laws on the protection of vulnerable people in society, particularly in the Belgian and Dutch context” and that its overarching observation is that “despite their alleged safeguards, each of these national laws rapidly tend to pose a threat to the lives of vulnerable people”.

The committee was also due to watch a posthumous video submission from an assisted dying advocate, Brendan Clarke, but the showing of the video was delayed due to technical issues playing the audio.

Ahead of the meeting, People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny said Brendan Clarke’s message “calls for people living with a terminal diagnosis to be granted much greater choice to continue or to not continue with their life”.

He also paid tribute to Vicky Phelan on the anniversary of her death and said the committee “should be cognisant that Vicky Phelan campaigned tirelessly so that people who are facing what she faced should have a level of control and choice in their end-of-life care”.