'No-one should experience what dad did'

The son of a politician has welcomed the approval of Jersey's assisted dying law saying "no-one should have to experience the level of pain my late dad did in his final days".

Deputy Richard Rondel died in 2018 after having a long illness.

His son Jack said the law change would bring "comfort and reassurance to families facing the hardest of goodbyes".

Meanwhile, opponents continue to express concerns about the new law leading to a "slippery slope" towards "death on demand".

On Thursday, politicians in Jersey gave their backing to an assisted dying law that would allow terminally ill adults the right to choose to end their lives.

The decision has drawn mixed reactions, with those who continue to oppose the law expressing their "disappointment", while supporters have called it a "momentous" change.

Jack Lewis Rondel lost his father, a well known local politician, to cancer in 2018.

He was pleased by the outcome in the States and said it meant "a great deal" to him "as someone who witnessed a parent endure immense suffering at the end of life due to a terminal illness".

"No-one should have to experience the level of pain my late dad did in his final days.

"I held him in my arms as he cried out in agony for what felt like an eternity - a memory that will never leave me," he said.

That experience shaped Jack's view that "everyone deserves the dignity, compassion, and personal choice to decide how their final chapter is written".

"I hope this brings comfort and reassurance to families facing the hardest of goodbyes" he said.

Meanwhile, some islanders are concerned about what the future holds for assisted dying.

Jill Bartholomew, 70, said as a "single, childless woman with no siblings or any other close relatives or savings" she feared what the end of her life would look like "without any means of financing [her] care".

She said she was concerned about being perceived as "expendable" with "nobody to fight for her".

"It is the beginning of a very slippery slope, as has been proved in many other countries which have adopted similar legislation, where it has degenerated into death on demand," she said.

It was a concern shared by Dr Gordon Macdonald, CEO of Care Not Killing, who questioned whether Jersey had done enough to ensure the new law "protects the vulnerable, disabled people and those at risk of being coerced".

Something he described as "highly unlikely".

However, on Thursday, Jersey Minister for Health and Social Services, Tom Binet, said: "Jersey would have one of the safest and most transparent assisted dying laws in the world."

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