The consultation on plans to bring euthanasia and assisted suicide to Jersey closes on 14th January.
In recent weeks the Isle of Man government and House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee have announced further consultations, and like our one all close in January.
For now though, we need to focus on what is happening in our Island.
What happens here will be felt in Holyrood and Westminster - activists pushing for legislation have made that clear.
We still have an opportunity to highlight the deficiencies of the proposals, and the lessons of comparable laws abroad, but the clock is ticking.
The Government of Jersey’s main report is a substantial document, and not easy for everyone to digest.
The Government envisages the following timeline (should there be successive votes in favour of moving forward):
States Assembly debate on policy proposals: March 2023
Law drafting (minimum 12 months): March 2023 to March 2024
States Assembly debate on draft law: Late spring / early summer 2024
Implementation period: Early summer 2024 – to end 2025
Legislation comes into effect: By end of 2025
The consultation is not restricted by location, allowing responses from Jersey residents and healthcare professionals based in Great Britain. This area of public policy concerns deeply personal issues, and anonymous responses are accepted, meaning respondents need not disclose their identity or location. Respondents also need not answer all 33 questions (p103).
Most of the questions invite tick box answers and accompanying comments, but in many cases, it is impossible to answer yes or no without endorsing the underlying principle of law change; for this reason, you may wish to submit your answers by email or post.
The current consultation is not based around whether assisted dying should be permitted, as a decision has already been taken in principle on that, and is therefore asking how it should be implemented.
We urge all readers, friends, colleagues and family to spend the time to go through the online consultation which can be accessed by this link - https://www.gov.je/Government/Consultations/Pages/AssistedDying.aspx