A leading palliative care doctor has denied that some people will suffer unending pain unless they can avail of assisted suicide.
Dr Feargal Twomey says the issue “has been painted as you either have an experience of unremitting pain and suffering, or you have help from someone to kill yourself and that is a dichotomy that I just don’t see in my practice”.
Speaking to The Irish Times, he said it is imperative that both sides of the debate are heard, including those of medical professionals who, if assisted suicide were legalised, would be the ones tasked with carrying it out.
Dr Twomey, who is a consultant in palliative medicine at Milford Hospice in Limerick and University Hospital Limerick, said a change in law would “irrevocably change” the doctor-patient relationship. “We feel that there is no role whatsoever for a medical practitioner of any kind, in any part of assisted suicide or dying, even if it is legislated for in this country. If society makes the decision that it wishes to legislate for this, then society will need to provide the service – it isn’t a role that should be part of normal healthcare.”
