The original requête laid down by Gavin St Pier and six others on Monday 26 April, decried for its breadth, was attended by six amendments by the time debate began on Wednesday 16 May. Amendment 3 had in fact been laid down by St Pier just six days before, and would have replaced the entire requête. St Pier had spoken in the media about his plans for an Oregon-style system, but had been countered by CNK Campaign Director Dr Peter Saunders and others that that was not what his proposals actually provided for. A further amendment (5) sought to replace the requête with an instruction to the Committee for Health & Social Care 'To consider the measures necessary to improve quality of life and health outcomes for all islanders towards the end of their lives'.

On the morning of the debate, St Pier sought for the second time wholly to replace his own requête, this time with an amendment (6) which sought to combine the intent of amendment 5 with amendment 3. Predictably, this state of affairs caused considerable procedural confusion but deputies agreed by 21-17 to consider amendment 6 in place of the original requête. A further, seventh, amendment, was laid down after lunch on Thursday 17 May, seeking to clarify that if the amended requête should be accepted, it would be considered an instruction to establish a working group not simply to recommend how to legislate for 'assisted dying', but also whether. The amendment was rejected by 23-16.

After three days of debate, Deputies considered Amendment 6's five propositions in the course of four recorded votes; most significant among these were:

  • 24-14 against Proposition 3: 'To direct that the Policy & Resources Committee shall establish an independently chaired working party... [to] report back ("the Report") to the States of Deliberation as soon as reasonably Practicable... [with] recommendations for the development of a legal regime to permit "assisted dying"'
  • 37-1 in favour of Proposition 5: 'To instruct the Committee for Health & Social Care... in light of the ageing population and the substantial anticipated increase in health and care needs over the next ten to twenty years... To consider the measures necessary to improve quality of life and health outcomes for all islanders towards the end of their lives'

Click here to read CNK's press release


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