Mixed views on Assisted Dying Bill progress

The progression of proposed new Manx laws to give terminally ill people the right to choose to die has received a mixed response from campaigners on either side of the debate.

The Assisted Dying Bill passed its third reading in the House of Keys and will now be reviewed by the upper chamber of the Manx parliament the Legislative Council.

Chief executive of Dignity in Dying Sarah Wootton said the vote to take the bill forward was a "victory for compassion and common sense".

But campaign group Manx Duty of Care, made up of healthcare professionals, said the move was "deeply disappointing" and emotion had "overruled reason" during the debate.

Alex Allinson's private member's bill, which was supported by two-thirds of the island's 24 MHKs at its third reading, would give terminally ill adults with 12 months to live the right to end their life.

Those eligible would also have to have lived on the Isle of Man for five years.

Ms Wootton said she hoped the latest move meant that Manx people could soon "have access to a service that makes dying easier".

She said the progress of the Isle of Man bill was a "huge signal that law change is coming" across the British Isles.

The UK-based lobby group had "amplified" the voices Manx people who were campaigning because "they don’t want to see people suffering the way their loved ones did", she added.

Retired GP Graham McAll, who is a member of an opposition group of about 150 health and social care workers, Manx Duty of Care, said the passing of the bill by MHKs meant "centuries of medical ethics were turned upside down".

Raising concerns over the future recruitment of doctors, he said it could "put staff off moving to the island", which would "also affect the health of hundreds of us".

GP Fiona Baker from the Isle of Man Medical Society said there was “sadness and anger” amongst its members that the bill was set to progress despite evidence presented to MHKs on “the damage it will do to our health service and the danger for our vulnerable groups in society”.

Doctors "see people every day in our surgeries" whose lives could be "ended prematurely because of a wrong diagnosis, wrong prognosis, and coercion that isn’t spotted”, she said.

Welcoming the support the proposed legislation received at third reading, Dr Allinson said it was "validation of those people who have been campaigning for this for decades".

He said he "respected the point of view" of the third of his political colleagues who opposed the move, and was "happy to back further scrutiny to get a bill that is right for our community".

The Assisted Dying Bill 2023 will be considered by the Legislative Council following the summer recess of Tynwald, which runs until October.

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