A proposal to grant terminally ill patients the option of assisted suicide elicited a vigorous debate in parliament on Monday, with some MPs and organised groups advocating for a more cautious approach.

The legislative proposal belongs to Akel MP Irini Charalambidou. It applies to patients suffering from an incurable disease and whose condition is non-reversible, giving them the option for medically assisted dying.

As it stands, it would apply only to adults who are deemed to be sound of mind.

At the House human rights committee, Charalambidou stressed that her bill provides for robust safeguards; she was responding to concerns that assisted suicide might get abused in practice.

Informed consent is key to her proposal, she added.

“No one will be able to decide on somebody else’s behalf.”

But there was considerable pushback from some parties, such as Disy and Diko. Their stance was that palliative care has yet to be formally instituted in Cyprus; this should be done first before moving on to the issue of assisted dying. The health ministry shared this view.

Even Charalambidou’s own party, Akel, did not take a clear-cut stance on the matter.

Answering the criticism, Charalambidou said assisted suicide and palliative care are not mutually exclusive but rather complementary. She pointed out that her bill does include a clause stipulating that a patient would be advised of the option for palliative care.

The health ministry said a government bill regulating palliative care would come to parliament soon.

On this, the Akel MP said she’d give the government until the end of the year, when it submits its state budget for 2026. The budget would show if the government has made allocations for palliative care; if it did not, Charalambidou said, she would press for her bill to go to the House plenum and then “everyone must assume their responsibilities”.

Disy MP Rita Superman called for an exhaustive debate on what is a complex and delicate issue involving ethics.

One question she posed is what might happen should a patient requesting assisted suicide change his or her mind.

“Patients nearing the end of life and who are suffering, they obviously don’t wish to die but want their suffering to end,” Superman argued. “Euthanasia is a fundamental issue since it entirely subverts the philosophy of life.”

According to the Disy lawmaker, the criteria set out as determining factors for euthanasia – life expectancy and discomfort – are neither measurable nor objective. This, she said, leaves open the prospect for widening the scope of the proposed legislation in the future.

“That is what happened in other countries, where the potential recipients of lethal injection were expanded to include minors, people with mental disorders, persons with dementia.”

Countering, Charalambidou said this was “not a choice between life and death, but for cases where death is inevitable and where, out of respect for human rights, we give a patient this option [of euthanasia]”.

The Akel MP stressed this was no matter for political point-scoring.

“I understand that many parties may operate on the basis of the quality of their members, and might not want to undertake the political cost if they have voters who are conservative and whom they fear losing.”

She also noted that the European Court of Human Rights has clearly ruled that EU member-states have the right – though not the obligation – to legalise assisted suicide.

Making her case, Charalambidou cited a 2022 survey done by the bioethics committee finding that 60 per cent of respondents were favourably disposed to the idea of assisted dying.

A representative of the attorney-general’s office said they would need to study the numerous legal issues arising from the proposal.

Marios Kariolou, of the National Bioethics Committee, opined that the first step should be to ensure everyone has access to palliative care.

Representing the church, archimandrite Georgios Christodoulou conveyed their concerns about possible abuse.

The church, he added, is clearly opposed to euthanasia as “no one can willfully bring about death”.

For its part, the association of psychologists noted the lack of consensus on the issue globally. It cautioned that depression might weigh adversely on a patient’s decision, and asked that a process for psychometric evaluation be clearly spelled out.

And Marios Kouloumas, a representative for the patients association, described the discussion as “premature”.

For his part, Giorgos Pavlides – a member of the movement advocating for euthanasia – said the whole point of the exercise is the right to dignified living, rather than instituting suicide.