Dr. Mary Neal:

I agree with what has just been said. Deputy Higgins asked about the medical ramifications if assisted dying is allowed. It would be quite important to try to insulate healthcare professions from assisted dying if it is made lawful, although I appreciate it is not possible to completely insulate them. That is why I spoke in my opening statement about trying to design conflict out of the system by ensuring, insofar as possible, that only those who want to participate in the process will have to do so. That is obviously better for professionals and, in my view, it is clearly better for patients as well. If a democratic decision has been made to provide a service, nobody would want to see that service being provided in a way that causes distress, anxiety or delay for people trying to access it. That applies across the board, to professionals as well as patients. Dr. Chochinov talked about insulating the profession. I agree it is obviously desirable to ensure that only those who want to be involved are involved, and to protect the consciences of all those who do not want to be involved. That needs to be done by design, which is why it is so important to think about it at this early stage of the process. Any Legislature that is looking seriously at this issue, as the Oireachtas is doing, needs to be alert to the need to design these kinds of problems out of the system.