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Among the legislative requirements in New Zealand to avail of its assisted dying service, the person must be aged 18 years or over, must suffer from a terminal illness likely to end their life within six months, must be in an advanced state of irreversible physical decline and must experience unbearable suffering.
Retired Cork GP Dr Sinead Duggan said The End of Life Choice Act which became law in New Zealand in November 2021 provided the sort of legislative safeguards which she believed were necessary. “New Zealand’s legislation is very rigorous – you have to have capacity [to make the choice]. You have to have inevitable death within a short period of time. You can’t approach the patient about it, the patient has to bring up the subject with their doctor – there are a lot of very strict criteria.
“They get a psychiatrist to see if there are mental health issues involved. The numbers availing of it are very small and they have set up a group to look at reviewing the legislation in three years and again in five years. I am interested in how it goes there, and I think we could learn a lot from them.”
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Source: IrishTimes - 🏆 3. / 98 Read more »