Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 29 November 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality

Right to Die with Dignity: Discussion (Resumed)

9:00 am

Dr. Louise Campbell:

In my bioethics training, I worked in the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and at the time we were devising a policy on withholding and withdrawal of care for children with terminal illnesses or with severe life limiting prognoses. A lot of issues had to be taken in to consideration. There was not a little disagreement and there was much controversy about drawing up this document because people were coming from different perspectives and they had different understandings of what harms and benefits were even within the mandate to provide the best possible care for these dying children.