The fear about the arrival of assisted dying legislation in Jersey

A letter to the editor of the JEP by Harry Walsh, published on Tuesday 9th April.

'“I fear that the arrival of assisted dying legislation could affect palliative care provision in Jersey”

Let us be clear, the legislation that is being proposed in Jersey under the name of ‘assisted dying’ is really legislation for ‘assisted suicide’.

It is a natural death with palliative treatment that is ‘assisted dying’.

As an elderly person I have no fear of being duped by relatives and friends (or the traditional late-arriving blonde bombshell) into doing anything that I do not wish to do. Every old person feels to some extent that they are a burden. There is nothing the state can or should do about the feeling that the old consume but do not produce much for current consumption. We clearly cannot get into the mind of a particular person and make them change their view about how valuable they are. The fear I do have, however, is that the arrival of legislation to permit assisted suicide will affect the provision of palliative care in Jersey.

Many of us would prefer to die at home or, failing that, at the Hospice. This means a lot of assistance. When the new legislation arrives, I hope that it will provide for post-mortem reports by the doctor signing the death certificate following an assisted suicide, giving assurance that the deceased or a representative was offered the alternative of good quality palliative care at the relevant stage, both orally and in writing.

If the above assurance is absent, then the health authorities would be subject to being sued unless they had good reasons in the particular circumstances. In other words, every dying person would be given a fair choice and not coerced in any way or feel that their option to chose to live was being curtailed. Crucially, this would require the maintenance of good palliative care in the Island, which is neither easy nor cheap.

In my view, the best way to treat a very ill person is to be perfectly natural. Offer any help they need, for instance with Swedish cleaning - decluttering before death. If you are a financial person, help them turn those old share certificates in a drawer into cash in their bank accounts. Do not reassure them by saying ‘everything will be all right’. You do not know that, and it is very patronising. Further, this is a negative form of the Tolstoy problem, making them think of things being not all right. It is worse than the Tolstoy problem because an indefinite assurance will make them worry about things not yet thought of and not a simple white bear.