Opinion poll shows big majority backs assisted dying

The research was conducted across all three Crown Dependencies and views expressed showed significant support for assisted dying with safeguards for mentally competent, terminally ill adults.

Of the 1,056 Guernsey respondents, 69% supported a change in the law with 73% and 65% in Jersey and the Isle of Man, respectively.

Local assisted dying campaigner Sarah Griffith welcomed the results of the survey, conducted by Island Global Research.

‘People need to have the right to choose,’ she said.

‘There is no doubt that the people who contact me bemoan the position we have now so we need to be having this discussion and debate the issue.

‘The naysayers will say that researching assisted dying will be too costly but how do you quantify how much people’s distress costs?

‘We have so much research out there from all over the world we could cherry pick from all of it to have our own compassionate and well thought out law. It is so overdue and we cannot kick the can down the road again.’

More than a third of Guernsey respondents to the research, sponsored by Dignity in Dying, indicated they would prefer limited intervention only – being kept comfortable until death rather than offering treatments to prolong or extend life – above medical interventions.

Just under half – 46% – in Guernsey said they were likely or very likely to consider travelling overseas for an assisted death if they were terminally ill.

Three-quarters of those surveyed elected to have their partner or close family member make the final decisions about their death if they were unable to make medical decisions for themselves.

Based on the palliative care available in Guernsey, only 17% were confident that, when they reached the end of their lives they would be able to find a ‘death that is right for you’. Some 72% said that specialist palliative care should be a priority, with 73% wanting a debate in this political term.

‘The comments [in the survey] showed that support for assisted dying often stems from the view that it is an individual’s choice and people should not have to live with pain, alongside confidence that safeguards can work, said an Island Global Research spokesman.

‘The findings suggest that, for most people, developing palliative care is a priority together with – and not a replacement for – allowing assisted dying.’

The survey showed that support for assisted dying tended to decrease slightly with age but that results were still fairly high among those aged 65 and over.

It suggested that, despite the support for assisted dying, very few respondents had planned documentation in place setting out their wishes.

• Bailiwick residents were asked two additional questions based on the States end of life care review set out in the Government Work Plan.

Two-thirds of respondents strongly supported the decision to conduct a review and 65% strongly supported extending the review to consider assisted dying.

• Assisted dying was debated and rejected by the States of Guernsey in 2018.

In Jersey, a panel reviewing the issue has come out in favour of permitting assisted dying, in line with defined circumstances and safeguards. It will go to States members there later this year.