Irish "Dying with Dignity" Bill legalizes euthanasia for people who are not terminally ill.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Irish Dying with Dignity Bill (Bill 24 of 2020) bill is an example of how imprecise language enables a wider interpretation of a law. Bill 24 uses imprecise language making it appear to legalize assisted suicide for terminally ill people, but in fact the bill also legalizes euthanasia for people who are not terminally ill.

Euthanasia is when one person (usually a physician) directly and intentionally causes the death of another person, usually by lethal injection. Euthanasia is a form of homicide. Assisted suicide is when one person (usually a physician) provides the means (usually by prescription) to another person to assist them in their suicide.

The bill appears to limit the act to terminally ill people, but the definition of terminal illness is imprecise. Bill 24 defines a terminally ill person in this way:

has been diagnosed by a registered medical practitioner as having an incurable and progressive illness which cannot be reversed by treatment, and the person is likely to die as a result of that illness or complications relating thereto (“a terminal illness”)

There are many people with an incurable and progressive illness which cannot be reversed by treatment, such as many people with disabilities, but they are not terminally ill. 

The bill permits both euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Under the heading "Assistance in dying" the bill permits death by lethal prescription, ingested orally or administered by the attending medical practitioner.

When an act is administered by the attending medical practitioner, the act becomes euthanasia. Adminstration is usually done by lethal injection.

There are many problems with the Irish "Dying with Dignity" bill but the primary problem is that it gives medical practitioners the right in law to kill their patients. No amount of safeguards can ever protect people from a medical practitioner who is convinced that a person is better off dead, when the law allows them to kill.