Jersey politicians to debate allowing assisted dying

Jersey's States assembly will debate whether or not in principle to allow assisted dying on the island.

The proposition will be debated in the States Assembly on 23 November, it follows a citizens jury recommending overwhelmingly to allow assisted dying.

78.3% of the Citizens' Panel on Assisted Dying agreed that it should be permitted where a Jersey resident, aged 18 and over, has a terminal illness or is experiencing unbearable suffering and wishes to end their life.

As part of the proposition the States Assembly would be asked to decide if an assisted dying service should be set up which would enable doctors to prescribe lethal drugs and administer them.

Jersey's health minister, Deputy Richard Renouf, has recently said he will not back the proposition on moral and ethical grounds.

If Jersey's States Assembly votes for the proposition, the Council of Ministers would instruct officers to draft an assisted dying law, this would be done before the election in 2022. However, the vote on the new law would not happen until after the election in 2023.

This follows a similar debate and vote in Guernsey in 2018, which was defeated.

You can read the full Jersey proposition here.