Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I do not claim to know much about this area. It is something that nearly everybody will face. Nine out of ten people will die gradually as opposed to suddenly.

How does one distinguish between palliative care and assisted dying? What is the process involved in informing families about clinicians' decisions to put relatives on palliative care? Professor Walsh mentioned that palliative care specialists should have superior decision-making skills.

Ms Burke stated that we had no legislation on advanced care directives. What does she have in mind? Would a patient and-or family seeing a palliative care specialist always know that the patient was dying? Would people have that capacity?

Professor Walsh mentioned that he had gained a great deal of experience in the UK. He is probably familiar with the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient, LCP, which has been controversial. Will he critique it for the committee? At many hospitals, more than 50% of patients who died had been placed on the pathway. In one hospital's case, the proportion of foreseeable deaths on the pathway was almost nine out of ten. It was as if the National Health Service had given financial inducements to put patients on the pathway to dying. I am interested in the decision-making process.