Assisted dying residency need reduced to one year

The residency criteria to be eligible for an assisted death under proposed new Isle of Man laws should be one year instead of five, the Legislative Council has agreed.

MLCs backed Rob Mercer's amendment to the Assisted Dying Bill 2023, which said a terminally ill person must be resident for at least a year prior to their diagnosis.

Diane Kelsey's proposal to require patients to be registered with a Manx GP was also supported during a debate of the bill's clauses.

But another move to change the life expectancy criterion from 12 months back to the six within the bill originally was not backed.

Members of the House of Keys had previously agreed adults with a prognosis of 12 months or less to live would be given the right to choose to die.

Those eligible would have to be over the age of 18 and have lived on the island for five years, with the decision being verified by two independent doctors.

All 15 clauses of Alex Allinson MHK's private member's bill, which is being guided through the upper chamber of the Manx parliament by Peter Greenhill, were debated.

Paul Craine voiced concerns some might choose to move to the island after finding "something not right" through private health care, before receiving an official diagnosis after a year of residency.

Mercer said his amendment would allow those who had relocated in "good faith" and then become ill to choose, but exclude anyone who had already received a diagnosis before arriving.

The proposal "walked a fine line between providing compassion and addressing concerns" about what some had labelled "death tourism", he said.

Calling for a reduction in the life expectancy criterion, Craine claimed "expert after expert" had said that doctors "simply cannot make judgements on whether a patient is reasonably expected to die within 12 months".

But Greenhill argued some terminally ill patients would experience "severe physical and emotional distress" and should be allowed "to make that choice in a controlled and dignified way".

Kelsey said the need for patients to be signed up with a local GP echoed Kim Leadbeater's Westminster bill and "felt like a very sensible addition".

The council rejected amendments that would have seen restrictions on doctors who choose to opt in to the system, the introduction of a social worker as a third person to assess a patient, and prohibiting assisted deaths taking place at Noble's Hospital.

The final reading of the bill in the Legislative Council will take place in the new year, before any changes are considered by the House of Keys.

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