Dr. Feargal Twomey:

I will make a few points. A lot of the international legislation started for people who were close to the end of their lives and who were dying. Many people who are dying, in my experience working in palliative medicine for longer than I would care to mention, lose their appetites. We have all known people who are sick or dying of all illnesses, cancer and otherwise, who lose weight. Not eating and drinking as much is part of normal dying. There would be a difference if, for example, I decided to stop eating and drinking today. That would be a very different setting. This is not directly within Dr. Ní Bhriain's experience but in terms of the role of psychiatry and people with eating disorders, that again is a very different situation. There is an exception in the law whereby someone who has made a decision not to eat and drink as a result, for example, of severe anorexia nervosa can be fed against their wishes. Much of the dying I see in Ireland has dignity all the way through and patients have a lot of choice and say in respect of the care they receive as they are dying.