Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 7 November 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying

Protecting Autonomy and Assessing Decision-making Capacity: Discussion

Dr. Anne Doherty:

I might speak later if I get a chance about the actual nuts and bolts of assessing capacity because it is something I do every day.

On the question specifically around the research from the systematic review of the international suicide rates, in Switzerland and Oregon we saw an increase in the number of deaths of older women. Many of those related to assisted dying. However, in Oregon we found an increase in what I will call "traditional suicide", for want of a better term, by 56%. We do not know why, because this was just looking at trends on a national level. There is much work to be done in digging down into why that is. We know that older women have higher rates of depression. We are only speculating because we do not have the facts, but if this was due to untreated depression, that is something we would be really worried about, because we can treat that.