A ‘Right to Die’ conference, held in Dublin at the end of September, heard from a British doctor struck off for serious professional misconduct.
The major pro-euthanasia conference took place from the 20th-22nd September, just weeks before the Dáil is set to vote on the Report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying / Assisted Suicide.
The vote will take place on October 17th, and if a vote of approval is recorded, it would mean the recommendations of the Report would be adopted as the basis for legislative and policy change.
The Report made 38 recommendations, including that the Government introduces legislation allowing for ‘assisted dying’, in what it termed ‘certain restricted circumstances.’
During last month’s conference held at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire, delegates heard calls for euthanasia to be made available to dementia patients, with the conference attended by pro-euthanasia campaigners from around the world. Organisers of the conference, ‘End Of Life Ireland’ noted how:
“Speakers and delegates will be travelling from countries across the world where Assisted Dying/MAiD is available, those conducting legislative reviews and carrying out extensive research into how legislation is working, to countries who, like Ireland, are moving closer to legislating.”
A key theme of the conference, which cost €450 to attend, and featured a gala dinner, was “dementia as part of the end-of-life conversation,” with the conference featuring two Canadian activists who spoke about “Glimpses into dementia and assisted dying”. It was the first ever conference on assisted suicide to take place here.
DWDC was pleased to attend #WFRTDS2024 in Dublin, Ireland, along with several Canadian delegates. It reaffirmed our gratitude to live in a country where end-of-life rights and legislation are driven by autonomy and compassion. @WFRtDS @mathisonej @sherrygov1 @jgdownie @DocSGreen pic.twitter.com/y7iF71pIoG
— Dying With Dignity Canada (@DWDCanada) September 24, 2024
In attendance as a speaker at the conference was Colin Brewer, a euthanasia advocate who was struck off the medical register in Britain in 2006 for serious professional misconduct. As reported by the Telegraph newspaper at the time, Brewer was struck off the register after prescribing drugs to a patient who later died.
Brewer was struck off by the General Medical Council for inappropriate drug prescribing, including prescribing heroin substitutes to his addiction patients. He is not allowed to practise as a doctor in the UK.
However, Dr Brewer is still permitted to provide patients with non-medical services under the condition that he informs them that he is not on the medical register.
Brewer previously told the Mail on Sunday: “You don’t have to be a doctor to assess mental capacity. It’s helpful but it’s not essential.”
The struck-off doctor later revealed that he helped six British dementia sufferers end their lives in Swiss assisted suicide clinics between 2013 and 2016 – writing reports that they were mentally capable of choosing to die. Despite only one reportedly having a terminal illness, all six died in Switzerland within six months of seeing Brewer.
In a Times interview, Brewer admitted to “helping” seven people to die.
Brewer is the Medical Group Coordinator of the pro-euthanasia organisation, ‘My Death, My Decision.’ Brewer, who addressed last week’s conference alongside Irish speakers, in 2015, co-published the book “I’ll See Myself Out, Thank You,” in which he described conducting mental capacity assessments for six British dementia patients.
The struck-off psychiatrist is also the author of his forthcoming book “Let Me Not Get Alzheimer’s Sweet Heaven”, which “explores the dilemma of dementia and assisted dying.”
Brewer, who spoke at the conference on September 20th, addressed attendees on the topic, ‘Most people considering MAID for early dementia aren’t depressed; they’re understandably unhappy.’
Dr Lew Cohen, an American professor of psychiatry, and author of the book “A Dignified Ending: Taking Control Over How We Die.” also spoke at the conference on the topic of “Dementia as part of the end of life conversation.”
Cohen previously told a 2019 podcast how the term “assisted dying” is “more commonly used by supporters” over the term “assisted suicide” – articulating his belief that some suicides “should be afforded our help.”
“Words are important,” Cohen said. Cohen, however, has said he is ok with the term “assisted suicide,” adding: “There’s a whole bunch of different kinds of suicides. There are some that we can and should do absolutely everything to prevent them from happening. And then there’s others that should be afforded our respect and our help.”
Cohen has also noted how statistics show that the “folk who are taking advantage (of assisted suicide) are predominately white and are relatively well-to-do and are highly educated.” Cohen has also raised concerns about opposition from the Catholic Church, noting: “The most well-funded opposition is coming from the Catholic Church [which has made it clear] that these are immoral laws, and they will do their best to prevent from being put into place.”
End of Life Ireland also offered a Workshop for HealthCare Professionals “in response to requests for an introduction to assisted dying for healthcare professionals’ led by Dr. Stefanie Green and Dr. Greg Mewett.
Some Irish Doctors supporting Medical Assistance in Dying (https://t.co/adir7Clrnf) at the fabulous #WRtDS2024 in Dublin
— Dr. Brendan O'Shea (@drbosheaGP) September 20, 2024
Should we have Assisted Dying in Ireland ?
Drawing together global experience with Assisted Dying for answers..@IrishDocsEnv @IRE_FJD @JeanM963 @RCGP_RoI pic.twitter.com/g5Fs0peYXg
Green is a Canadian medic who has helped to ‘euthanize’ 300 people’ under Canada’s MAID programme who was recently platformed by The Irish Independent. She told the Independent that performing euthanasia “has made me a better person.”
Green, who served as President of Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers (CAMAP), previously said that: “We find that the act of offering the option of an assisted death is one of the most therapeutic things we do.”
“I don’t find it shocking anymore,” Green told the Atlantic when asked if she finds her job more normal than when she started offering assisted suicide.
As reported by The Daily Mail, Green, who is an obstetrician, has described her work assisting suicides as making “deliveries,” likening her work helping women give birth with helping people to end their lives.
Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying regime saw 13,102 people end their lives in 2022 alone – an increase of 30 per cent on the previous year. Since it was legalised, the regime has expanded to allow individuals without a physical ailment to receive MAID. They must receive approval from two doctors and wait 90 days between application and time of death. The country now has one of the highest rates of euthanasia in the world – with 4.1 per cent of deaths now aided by doctors.
However, during the Irish conference, delegates criticised the “restrictiveness” of MAID laws, with a presentation from Dr Gary Paying on “when assisted dying is legal but inaccessible.”
Time to criticize restrictiveness of #MAID laws #WFRTDS2024 pic.twitter.com/uNVsjXSG5Y
— Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD, HEC-C (@ThaddeusPope) September 20, 2024
‘IT’S THE MOST REWARDING WORK I’VE EVER DONE’
Dr Ellen Wiebe was also featured at the Dublin conference as an ‘abstract presenter’ for a ‘Scientific Session.’
Dr Wiebe is a contentious figure who has made headlines for “boasting” about a treating a patient who did not qualify for assisted suicide.
Wiebe said that she helped end the life of the man who was deemed incapable of choosing assisted suicide by an assessor. Whilst he was rejected because he did not have a serious illness or “the capacity to make informed decisions about his own personal health,” the man eventually found the Canadian doctor. She cleared him, flew him to Vancouver and euthanized him, The New Atlantic reports.
“It’s the most rewarding work I’ve ever done,” Wiebe said of MAID during a 2020 event in a video that was shared online.
Irish speakers at the conference included Justin McKenna and Jane Lazer of End of Life Ireland. Speaking before the Oireachtas Committee, both expressed a view that euthanasia should be made available on broad grounds.
Lazar told the Committee last November: “We’re asking you as legislators, to honour a person who has a terminal or life limiting diagnosis. Because time alone, ‘foreseeable death’ ought not be the sole basis for calculating eligibility criteria; some neurodegenerative conditions can go on for years as we see with Dementia, with MS.”
Justin McKenna of End-of-Life Ireland, meanwhile, also focused on dementia: “You can live with dementia for a very long time. We in this room will all know people who are in that condition and who could sustain a life, or perhaps an existence. However, is it healthy? Is it healthy in the way they would like it to be? In a previous time, when they had capacity and when they were able to determine what they regarded as quality, they should be allowed to maintain it and decide when it should end, if that quality no longer exists.”
Additionally, Silvan Luley, a representative of Dignitas, also spoke at the conference. Luley’s talk, “Assistance for the right to choose the time and manner of one’s end of life – Beyond terminal”, noted that Dignitas offers assisted suicide not only for terminally ill patients but also for those with “unbearable pain” – defined by the person seeking to die. Indeed, when Luley spoke at the Oireachtas Committee last year, he referred to how less than half of those who die at Dignitas suffered from a terminal illness.
‘EXTREMITY OF AGENDA IN MIND FOR IRELAND’
In a statement, the Life Institute, which says it is committed to ‘building a culture of life,’ said that the conference revealed the “extremity of of the euthanasia and assisted suicide agenda in the context of Ireland.”
Spokeswoman Sandra Parda said: “In just over two weeks, our politicians in Dáil Eireann will vote on whether to make the pro-assisted suicide recommendations of the Oireachtas Committee an area for policy change. We heard from speakers at this conference how Ireland “is moving closer to legislating” for assisted suicide. This conference clearly exposes the extremity of the agenda that is in mind for Ireland.
“We’ve repeatedly heard about ‘safeguards,’ but this conference clearly shows those safeguards to be little more than a red herring, and reveals the extreme euthanasia agenda in mind for this nation. There was no attempt from speakers to hide the extreme nature of their agenda – as we see from the push to make assisted suicide acceptable for people with non-terminal conditions, and degenerative conditions such as dementia.
“As we know from countries like Canada, which introduced Medical Assistance in Dying in 2018, promises of safeguards at the time of introducing legislation do little to stop the expansion of such laws over time until it becomes socially acceptable for people to end their lives for even non-physical illnesses,” Parda said.
“We have a chance to learn from the timelines of other nations, and to promote better answers for those who are struggling and feel hopeless. We urge Irish politicians to make themselves aware of what was said at last week’s conference, and understand the very real pressure there will be to not only introduce a pervasive law here, but to expand it far beyond those who are terminally ill.”