Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 3 October 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying

Assisted Dying in the United States: Discussion

Dr. Tom Jeanne:

I will start with the last question. Dating back to 1998, 66% of people died from ingesting medications. The others died of natural causes, rather they all died of natural causes, but we have lost them to follow up.

I believe the Deputy also asked about compliance and non-compliance. There are currently 26 physicians whom we have reported to the medical board for non-compliance. In almost every case, that was simply due to paperwork not being filed or not being filed in a timely manner. There is one instance where the 15 day waiting period was not properly observed. However, I am not aware of any disciplinary action taken against any of those physicians.