An Oireachtas Committee which will next week recommend legalising assisted dying for those with only a short time to live is also likely to call for criminal sanctions for anyone who coerces someone to end their life.
The Assisted Dying Committee’s report will call for doctors to be trained to identify coercion when assessing a patient.
Under these proposals, doctors and healthcare staff will have the right to a conscientious objection but they will be required to refer a person to another doctor or to the national oversight body.
It will be recommended too that eligibility for assisted dying should be limited to Irish citizens or those resident in the State for a period of not less than 12 months.
The Committee will seek to ensure that a person must make two formal requests for assisted dying, with a set specified interval between.
At least one of these requests must be recorded in writing before two independent witnesses.
The Committee’s report – due to be published next Wednesday – will say that family members, carers or guardians cannot request assisted dying for another person.
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