Health
Medics and Care Workers Outline Concerns Over Assisted Dying Bill
Manx Duty of Care (MDOC) is an informal grouping of Manx Health and Social Care workers
A group of medical and care workers have written to members of Tynwald to state their legal, ethical and medical concerns with the proposed Assisted Dying Bill.
Manx Duty of Care (MDOC) says it is an informal grouping of Manx Health and Social Care workers who oppose the intentional killing of patients by assisted suicide or euthanasia.
The Private Member’s Bill, being driven by Dr Alex Allinson, is due to return to Keys for a second reading on October 31.
MDOC say that it will ‘not only assisted suicide but also euthanasia – more radical than anything permitted in the United States or recently proposed in the United Kingdom’.
The Bill would allow those with a terminal illness, who are over the age of 18 and resident on the island for at least a year to request and be provided with medical assistance in ending their life.
However, MDOC say: ‘Terminal illness is defined as an expectation of death within six months. However, such prognoses are notoriously difficult to determine with certainty.’
They also have concerns that in other jurisdictions where similar laws have been passed, further expansion has typically followed and pointed to the public consultation which saw a slender majority saw they opposed the introduction of a law (49.61% to 49.01%).
The health and care workers also have concerns around the moral ethics of doctors agreeing to end people’s lives and any potential pressure they may face if they have a conscientious objection to the change in the law.
Tourism?
The MDOC members point in their letter to a residency requirement that was put in place in Oregon having been removed. They said: ‘It is probable there would be pressure over time for a similar loosening of the law in the Isle of Man, leading to the likelihood of ‘suicide tourism’.’
You can read the briefing letter sent to members on the link below:
MDOC Parliamentary briefing – Assisted Dying Bill 2023 Isle of Man
A meeting will be held on Thursday evening in support of the Bill at the South Douglas old Friends Association on Finch Road from 7pm to 8.30pm.
