The House of Keys is meeting again today (1 July) and one of the items for consideration is
whether there should be a referendum for the assisted dying legislation.
Ayre and Michael MHK Alfred Cannan is calling for one.
He joined Sian Cowper on this morning's Manx Radio Breakfast programme to explain why.
Hi I'm Sean, one of the news editors at Manks Radio. Now do you think the public should have their say on assisted dying? The Chief Minister and Aaron Michael MHK Alfred Cannon is calling for a referendum on the topic and he joined us on Manks Radio breakfast this morning to explain why. So it's been a difficult piece of legislation for the House of Keys to deal with and as you know has a lot of moral and ethical issues attached to it but fundamentally what the legislation as it's currently written is doing is effectively changing that contract I think that we've had with healthcare, the healthcare service, the national healthcare service in that we've all been absolutely crystal clear that when we've entered into the healthcare system it's always been about the delivery of care, the sustaining of life in whatever the circumstances. What this piece of legislation will do will now ask healthcare to also be concerned with the ending of life and for healthcare professionals also to be concerned with the ending of life. Now that's a significant change that's a significant change in understanding for us as individuals it clearly has impacts on anybody potentially across this island at any point in their lives if they suffer from from a terminal illness. It impacts on on families and of course one of the key groups that it impacts on is the healthcare professionals themselves who will have to effectively rethink their position when it comes to the administration of medicines and their position on having having adopted this position of always sustaining life to now also be concerned with the ending of life. Now referendum are not something we've typically seen on the Isle of Man how exactly would this work? So you know my view is that you know if we're going to embark on this change and I think there is a lot of support for change then we need to do it as a society and we need to make that decision and support both the healthcare service through this change but also support others in society who may well feel strongly against this type of change in terms of our healthcare delivery and it would simply be done on a single vote basis as it is in an election I expect there would be a single question about whether or not as it was in New Zealand whether or not you support the assisted dying legislation and wish to see it come into force and it's and it's a fairly simplistic matter in terms of that administration of a referendum along the lines of an election. Is it that simple though because you've spent weeks in the House of Keys hearing from experts who are highly qualified in their fields very experienced and they don't seem to have quite come to a consensus themselves in the medical field is it that simple? Well certainly not from a from a legislative process in terms of everything that's attached to this I think the piece of legislation that we've got at the moment is not in the right place I think unfortunately that it has actually been watered down even from where the original proposal of this bill had it placed in terms of six months healthcare professionals not to initiate the conversations I think it was very much along the lines of what they've they have gotten New Zealand now we don't even have this as a regulated service at the moment I think there is still a chance to change that as it goes through through the process but people need to take a considered decision once they actually see the legislation and understand fully its impact and I think that and it's not just a single person issue as I said this has impacts on on families it has impacts on healthcare professionals it has impacts potentially on terms and on other groups disadvantaged groups in society and we need to be clear as a society about the decision that we are making if we are going to change that contract that we have with the healthcare service which at the moment as I say is about care and the sustaining of life and we need to be together as a society if we are going to change it to the ending of life as well and at the moment Sean I can see no clear evidence that this has a full public mandate the consultation that was done on that singular question about whether assisted dying should be brought in in the Isle of Man and there were 3000 or so responses was virtually split down the middle with a slight majority in favor of it not being brought in so I do think we need to go to the public on this and we need to be clear as a society about one what we are doing and the recognitions and the implications of that change both from us as individuals entering into the healthcare service but also on our families and of course on our healthcare professionals well you mentioned that consultation there and how close the result was there would you necessarily get a different result from a referendum we've seen in the UK recently that you can have a referendum and have a very close result is this not going to potentially confuse the situation more if you get a very close response well no as I say I think because of the I think the legislation anyway is just not in in the right place as it is at the moment there's still a lot of work to be done and anybody who thinks that in any case this is going to be resolved within the next few months I think is probably wrong because it's got to go through legislative council process on the Isle of Man I suspect there may be amendments there that the House of Keys will need to look at and then of course it's got to go through a Ministry of Justice process and then we've got to go through all the regulatory processes attached to it so it's not going to be a quick quick process in in any case so you know I think taking the right time over this but also you know from from a public understanding I think public do need to understand what this legislation is once it reaches its final point and they need to understand and be satisfied that it provides for them the relevant safeguards that they would expect from them for them both as individuals but what they would expect from other family members they are satisfied that the healthcare service remains primarily there for the sustaining and for the care care of life and that you know the ending of life in certain circumstances is done in a highly controlled and properly protected way and that decision as I say needs to be made with the absolute majority public support and I would do that as a binding referendum with a with with with a majority decision even if that majority was a was a close majority for those who are in favor of this bill they might see this as a delaying tactic what would be your response to that and what would you envisage the timeline being for this referendum well I think a referendum can actually be done quite quickly we've actually got the base legislation in place if people want to tidy that up a bit it's been some years since that was actually brought in that can also be done relatively quickly but I don't think this is a this is a quick process anyway Sean I mean as I said it's still got to complete its house of keys process let's assume that is done in July it's then got to go to the legislative council they probably won't start debating this until October assuming that they will also want to apply intense scrutiny to every single line and clause within this bill assuming that the house of keys and the legislative council may need to meet to determine further progress around protections and then of course as I said it's still have to go through if it then gets through that position and gets sent off to royal ascent then the Ministry of Justice in the UK will still want to understand it in terms of how that is positioned and be satisfied that it is legally sound and then further beyond that one has to work with the medical regulators the GMC other health care regulators and professional bodies to make sure of course that they're satisfied that doctors, nurses, other health care professionals are properly protected and understand what their roles are within the service and how they will perform that role. Thank you for making it to the end of the Manxeradian newscast you are obviously someone with exquisite taste. May I politely suggest you might want to subscribe to this and a wide range of Manxeradian podcasts at your favourite podcast provider so our best bits will magically appear on your smartphone. Thank you. [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]
