By PA News Agency-
Proposals for how an assisted dying law in Jersey would work have been published.
Only adults who have lived on the island for 12 months and who are terminally ill or have an incurable condition with unbearable suffering would be eligible, the proposals state.
The proposals state that the person must have a voluntary, clear, settled and informed wish to end their own life, and have capacity to make the decision to end their own life.
They must be aged 18 or over at the point at which they make a first formal request for an assisted death and must be “ordinarily resident” in Jersey – meaning someone who lives on the island and not those only temporarily there for work, study or holidays.
The proposals state that the requirement to have lived there for a minimum of 12 consecutive months in the period immediately before making a first formal request for an assisted death is “intended to discourage ‘death tourism’”, whereby people travel to Jersey specifically for the purposes of accessing the assisted dying service.
The proposals also state there should be minimum timeframes between a person’s request to access the service and the date they die in an effort to “help safeguard against hasty decision-making or fluctuating wishes for an assisted death”.
For someone who is terminally ill, this would be a 14-day minimum timeframe – which the proposals state is in line with a number of other countries.
For those living with an incurable physical medical condition which gives rise to unbearable suffering “that cannot be alleviated in a manner the person deems to be tolerable”, the minimum timeframe would be 90 days.
The proposals state that for the latter, “a decision to end their life through assisted dying is altering the trajectory of their life in a way that is fundamentally different from a person who has a terminal illness” and states that the 90-day period allows time for additional assessments to be made as well as time to ensure all other treatment and pain relief options have been explored.
Anyone requesting an assisted death would need to be assessed for eligibility by a minimum of two doctors.
Assisted suicide is banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
In Scotland, it is not a specific criminal offence but assisting the death of someone can leave a person open to murder or other charges.
A Bill put forward by Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur to make assisted dying legal in Scotland is expected to come before Holyrood in the coming weeks.
On the Isle of Man, a committee has been scrutinising a Bill to legalise assisted dying and the proposed law is expected to be debated by the island’s wider Parliament soon.
The conversation around assisted dying has returned to the spotlight in recent months, with campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen revealing that she has joined Dignitas as she lives with stage four cancer.
Earlier this month, Sir Keir Starmer said he is “committed” to allowing a vote on legalising assisted dying should Labour win the general election.
Downing Street has previously said it would be up to Parliament whether or not to again debate legalising assisted dying.
P.S: This article was published with the knowledge and approval of the PA Agency.