Photo: Annie Spratt via UnsplashThe proposed legalisation assisted voluntary euthanasia is not in line with Malta’s ethical tradition or its current social and healthcare needs, the Christian Life Community (CLC) in Malta maintains in a detailed response to the ongoing public consultation on the topic.
The CLC is an international lay movement of people from all backgrounds wishing to live more closely with Christ, following the way of St Ignatius of Loyola. Its members around the world meet regularly in small communities – there are 23 such communities in Malta – with a leadership community serving as a link between these local communities and the international movement.
CLC in Malta’s position paper – which can be read in full online – follows months of dialogue, personal discernment, professional reflection and spiritual commitment, drawing on the lived experiences and professional expertise of its members in medicine, ethics, law, theology, pastoral care, education, social and policy sciences.
‘Safeguards often fail to hold over time’
While the government’s consultation document repeatedly emphasises that any future law would come with strict safeguards, these claims have failed to assuage CLC in Malta’s concerns, with the community noting that the experience of other countries show that these safeguards “often fail to hold over time.”
“Even when introduced with strict safeguards, assisted voluntary euthanasia may easily pave the way toward broader legalisation of euthanasia. International experience shows that safeguards tend to weaken over time. In Belgium, for example, euthanasia was initially legalised only for competent adults suffering with terminal illness. Today, it includes individuals with chronic conditions, psychological suffering, and is even available to minors,” it noted.
CLC stressed that once the legal and cultural threshold on euthanasia is crossed, the scope of eligibility for euthanasia tends to grow.
It is even questioning the safeguards being proposed, deeming them “inadequate and poorly defined” and failing to fully ensure that a patient’s request to die “is free of subtle coercion, internalised pressure or external suggestion.”
“Safeguards only work in theory. In practice, they rely on assumptions about the capacity, honesty and motivation of real people, which are factors that cannot always be verified.
CLC in Malta also expressed concern about excluding family members from the decision-making process, deeming it “particularly disturbing” as it could leave them blind-sided by a state-sanctioned death.
Palliative care is only ‘sustainable solution’
CLC in Malta insisted that the authentically humane response to end-of-life suffering was not assisted dying, but the full development and accessibility of palliative care/
It stressed that palliative care remains underdeveloped in Malta, with unequal access – particularly for patients who do not have cancer as well as in communities settings – which sees many people still die without adequate support.
In this context, it said, introducing assisted dying “is not only unjust – it is dangerous.”
“Instead, Malta should prioritise the urgent rollout of its national strategy, investing in home-based care, multi-disciplinary teams, and public education on end-of-life support,” it argued.
CLC in Malta insisted that the role of compassionate communities accompanying the dying was equally important, since medical care alone cannot carry the full emotional and existential weight of dying.
Like many other countries, it highlighted, Malta has a rapidly ageing population.
“Rather than framing this as a burden to be ‘managed’ through end-of-life shortcuts, we are called to respond with creativity and justice,” it said. “Investing in palliative care is not only the ethical response; it is also the only sustainable one for the true well-being of a nation.”
Normalising death as a solution
CLC in Malta warned that laws are never just regulatory; they are also formative, influencing public sentiment over time. With this in mind, it said, one of the greatest risks of legalising euthanasia was the “subtle normalisation of death as a solution.”
Euthanasia, it warned, may be perceived implicitly or explicitly as a quicker and less costly alternative, making people feel they are obliged to die to relieve others: a choice to die can evolve into a perceived duty to die.
“No person should ever feel that their continued care is ‘too expensive’ or that choosing death is the responsible option,” it said.
CLC in Malta’s recommendations
In this context, CLC in Malta is making the following recommendations to policy makers, stressing that the state’s primary mission was to protect the life of every person in its jurisdiction.
- Clear and urgent priority must be given to the full implementation of the National Palliative Care Strategy and the National Suicide Prevention Strategy, ensuring nationwide and equitable access to care and support. This must be ensured before any form of assisted dying is legalised.
- Support for families and carers must be strengthened.
- Promotion and investment in compassionate community models, to ensure no one faces death in isolation.
- The protection of health professionals and others implicated in the proposal; no professional must be pressured to participate in or refer clients to procedures violating their ethical commitments.
- The use of clear and transparent terminology: “do not mask physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia under misleading euphemisms.”
- Support for the continued development of the concept of a “living will,” encouraging society to engage more openly with the realities of life and death.
- The promotion of better public awareness and professional education on end-of-life care.
“Malta can become a leader in affirming life and dignity at every stage,” CLC in Malta maintained. “Let us be a nation known not for how efficiently we manage death, but for how courageously we uphold life.”
