A House of Keys committee has published its report on Dr Allinson MHK’s Assisted Dying Bill, gathering expert evidence and suggesting amendments to ensure that a legal and safe choice for terminally ill Manx citizens can be as robust as possible
This follows MHK’s voting by a significant majority (17 – 11) to progress the Bill at Second Reading last October.
The Assisted Dying Bill, put forward by Dr Alex Allinson proposes that the option of assisted dying should be available as a choice for terminally ill, mentally competent islanders, subject to strict safeguards.
Tynwald Committee
The Tynwald Committee, established by an amendment following the Second Reading vote to provide further scrutiny to the Bill, gathered evidence from medical, legal and insurance industry experts, who have contributed expert advice on the detail of the Bill.
The Committee has recommended that those applying for an assisted death must have been resident on the Isle of Man for five years, and that their terminal illness must have a prognosis of twelve months rather than the six month prognosis initially outlined in Dr Allinson’s Bill.
The Committee makes further recommendations, suggesting several other amendments and highlighting areas for debate by the House of Keys as the Bill continues its passage through Tynwald after Easter.
Assisted Dying
The membership of the Committee consisted of David Ashford MHK for Douglas (elected by the Committee members as Chair), the Bill’s sponsor Dr Alex Allinson MHK for Ramsey, Rob Callister MHK for Onchan, Dr Michelle Haywood MHK for Rushen and Manx health minister Lawrie Hooper MHK for Ramsey.
The Committee report will soon be introduced for debate in the House of Keys by the Chair, David Ashford MHK.
The Bill will then move on to the Clauses stage, where all Members of the House of Keys can debate each clause, hear further evidence from external experts and put forward any amendments.
It will then receive a Third Reading in the House of Keys and progress onto the Legislative Council.
3 Comments