We’re disappointed that the requête in Guernsey has been voted down by State members.
By attempting to legislate for assisted dying, Guernsey has shown compassion and leadership and attracted applause and solidarity on the world stage.
Stakeholders as far as Australia and the USA engaged with the process on the island, offering support to members proposals and working with campaigners.
The members supporting the requête are to be applauded for their empathetic and professional approach to dying peoples predicaments, at the heart of this debate was always care and concern for terminally ill islanders and the hope of providing them with reassurance and a good death.
Unsurprisingly, much of the opposition was ill informed and reliant on hypothetical scenarios which have not played out overseas. Much can be learnt from jurisdictions in both Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia – all countries who have grasped the nettle and legislated for assisted dying based on the needs of their own citizens.
It is encouraging that conversations around death and dying have opened up as a result of the Guernsey assisted dying requête and we are hopeful that this comes back as a major election issue in 2020. There is already a majority support amongst candidates in Jersey and we offer our continued support to members and campaigners looking to take this issue forward. Momentum is growing globally and we look forward to the day when dying people have the choice of an assisted death to ease their suffering.
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