Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 12 December 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying

Examination of Potential Consequences - Protecting and Enhancing the Provision of Palliative Care: Discussion

Dr. Matthew Dor?:

Regarding elder abuse, from the meta analysis of many papers, we find that one in five suffers from this. It categorises abuse in many different ways. Coercion is actively getting someone to do something, but there are much more subtle things as well. For example, putting an onus on somebody to do something. Instead of selling his or her house and going to a nursing home the person may feel pressured to have assisted suicide and then the money can go to their family. There can be pressure to think like this and over time that can become an expectation. That is part of the whole slippery slope.

Please remind me what the first question was again.