Dr. Brendan O'Shea:

The issue of resources is important, and in general practice we frequently see how inequality plays out depending on the resources an individual has. Dr. Lyne observed that in systems where this service is available, among the earliest takers and significant users of the service are particularly affluent people. To translate that to Ireland, that means people with private health insurance, where there are far lesser strictures on service provision. Affluent, educated people act on this and see this as a service relevant to them. That is an important point but probably should not be the most important point, which should be based on the existential need of a small proportion of people for whom this is an important choice at end of life. As doctors, we have all observed deaths we would not like for ourselves and that have worked out really wrong.