Dr. Brendan O'Shea:

I think all of us are concerned about any change in the law that relates to this as a matter of absolute importance. It is challenging, but we need to look at this as process. In every society where this has been introduced, there is clearly a pattern, which is that it especially tends to be driven by families and households where unrelieved end-of-life suffering and overmedicalisation at end of life is a real issue. Next up will tend to be family physicians and then, to a greater or lesser extent, the idea or concept gains traction in other speciality groups. During recent weeks for example, a hospice service in New Zealand clearly advocated to have medical assistance in dying as part of the hospice service, so there is a spectrum. This is the process and we are not surprised support from our membership predominantly reflects family practice.