Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending today. I acknowledge that the opinions they have provided are held very strongly and that the witnesses believe firmly in what they are advocating. I want to come to something Dr. McQuillan said and tease it out with her. Is it the view of the Irish Association for Palliative Care that in no circumstances should there be a right to die? Is there not a conflict in that with Dr. McQuillan's stated position on the right of a patient to refuse medical treatment? If one endorses the right of a patient to refuse medical treatment, is one not, in effect, endorsing the right of that patient to choose to die? The process by which one is endorsing that right is a very painful one for that patient. I am not trying to trip anyone up on this. I respect everyone's views. However, I am wondering how Dr. McQuillan reconciles those two points.