In a recorded interview of January 13, 2023, still available on iomtoday.co.im, Dr Alex Allinson urged the public to complete his consultation on assisted dying, and stated that if a majority were to be in favour, he would go with his legislation to the House of Keys.
The understanding was that if he did not get a majority, then without a mandate he would not proceed.
However, the consultation, which many felt had been skewed in favour of assisted dying, showed there was NO majority for his proposals.
Notwithstanding this inconvenient rejection, Dr Allinson appears even more determined to carry on regardless, with an attitude of ‘heads I win, tails you lose’.
This apparent disregard for normal process and the will of the people brings to mind a quote by the writer Bertold Brecht, when the East German people expressed their discontent by rising up against the communist regime.
‘Would it not be easier in that case for the government to dissolve the people and elect another?’
Does Dr Allinson consider it appropriate that he persists, ignoring the expressed concerns of the populace?
Even when some conditions may be less than ideal, the urge to ‘do something’ is not always the best course of action, as illustrated by the saying, ‘a good surgeon knows when to operate, but it takes a better surgeon to know when not to’.
How much confidence can we have that Dr Allinson, together with this administration, are capable of producing necessarily complex and sensitive legislation, without flaws and with adequate safeguards?
In jurisdictions which have legalised assisted dying, there have been dangerous relaxations of criteria for access to the programme.
There have been conflicting reports as to the views of medical professionals on the island.
But it is quite clear that the Isle of Man, in common with other locations within the British Isles which are regarded as ‘remote’, has challenges recruiting doctors, even with enhanced salaries and lower taxation.
The legal complexities of assisted dying, particularly in advance of the United Kingdom, would be likely to discourage recruitment.
What doctor would wish to be a legal guinea pig by having to justify to the General Medical Council their care of a euthenised island patient, whose treatment had been both on island and in north west England, each with different life and death legislation?
Dr Allison sought to give reassurance that the draft legislation could be paused or rejected at each of the various stages, but by then it would have gathered its own momentum.
Rather than take up an inordinate amount of time and resources at Tynwald, would it not be more honest to accept that the consultation shows that this attempt to change the law is, at best, premature?
The consultation has failed to provide the mandate which he sought, and to proceed would not inspire trust or confidence.
John and Pauline Pennington
Port Erin
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This letter was first published in the Manx Independent of April 20.