Member

It is important to place the panel process in its proper context. I recognise that there is an important cluster of intrinsic ethical values around the right to self-determination and autonomy, and the right to be treated with dignity. For many, the justification for assisted dying is that people should be able to exercise that right. I have some sympathy with those arguments, but there is a further very important question: will everyone who requests an assisted death be doing so on the basis of a true exercise of autonomy, and a true exercise of self-determination? People across our family of nations cannot access good help with their mental health, and good treatment can help people with mental health issues to have a fulfilling life, even at the end of that life. I speak from personal experience with various family members.