Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1537233
Rebecca Buttigieg: 'You can invest in palliative care, but at some point, there is only so much you can do' PALLIATIVE care will always be the first course of action for terminally ill patients, but sometimes there is only so much it can do, Rebecca Buttigieg says. Her statement captures much of what the debate surrounding euthanasia has coalesced around over the past weeks. As reforms parliamentary secretary, she has piloted the consultation process on voluntary assisted euthanasia, which came to a close last week. The consultation document does not state palliative care will be replaced by voluntary suicide but opponents have claimed the introduction of euthanasia in other countries has led to a decrease in hospice care quality. As we sit down for this interview, Butt- igieg tells me that a positive outcome from the consultation process was the increased awareness on palliative care. "I am sure if you had asked people two or three months ago what palliative care is, a lot would not have known," she says. Buttigieg adds that studies quoted by opponents of euthanasia that palliative care quality decreases following its intro- duction do not always make sense. "The UK, which is seen as the standard in palliative care, has just introduced eu- thanasia. Therefore, we are seeing that palliative care does not always remove all the pain," she says. "While palliative care and euthanasia need to work hand in hand in the sense that palliative care needs to be the first choice, there is the reality that you can invest in palliative care, but at some point, there is only so much you can do." She also slams misinformation which has emerged throughout the process, saying claims that people with disabil- ities, the elderly or with mental health problems would be pushed towards eu- thanasia, are not true. The proposal is to give adult patients, who are terminally ill and have been given six months to live, the option to choose euthanasia. I ask Buttigieg whether the six-month window should be extended. She says the "overwhelming feedback" throughout the public consultation pro- cess was that it was too short a period. Buttigieg insists government will not be rushing to put forward a bill, stating the consultation process would have been futile had it immediately tabled legisla- tion. "I must insist that I believe a lot in the principle behind it, but I am not pre- pared to table a bill without carrying out the needed analysis in a tick-the-box ex- ercise," she says. Reforms Parliamentary Secretary Rebecca Buttigieg tells Karl Azzopardi the public consultation exercise on government's euthanasia proposal was an eyeopener and there will be no rush to table a bill before the feedback is analysed fully. 4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 JULY 2025 INTERVIEW