Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 27 June 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying

Consent and Capacity: Discussion

Dr. Louise Campbell:

I will add a corollary to that. There is no provision in the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 for positive requests for treatment. As in any other area of medical treatment, no medical professional is obligated to provide treatment that they deem burdensome or that is not of benefit. The advanced healthcare directive protects that professional autonomy. That clarifies what was said about requesting something.