A medical ethics Professor has told the High Court there is no evidence that legalising assisted dying has a disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups such as the elderly and the poor.

Margaret Battin from the University of Utah is testifying via a videolink in the case of Marie Fleming - a terminally ill woman with multiple sclerosis, who wishes to die with her partner Tom Curran, at their home in Arklow in Co. Wicklow.

The Professor has studied data from Oregon and The Netherlands where the practice is legal and has not found any signs of a slippery slope that could lead to patients being killed against their will.

She has told the court there has not been an increase in the number of assisted suicide cases in these states among vulnerable groups such as the elderly, the poor, those with low education status or those without medical insurance.

Safeguards to protect against abuse

She says safeguards have been put in place to protect abuse so that in Oregon a patient must make 2 oral requests and a witnessed written request to die and if there is any suspicion of mental incapacity, mental illness or depression a psychiatric or psychological evaluation will take place.

Asked about alternatives Professor Battin told the court that palliative care in advanced medical systems generally involves the sedation of a patient without nutrition and hydration so that the patient typically dies within a week.

She agreed that she has no special knowledge of Irish medical practices.

The bioethics expert said the mistake that some opponents of legalisation make is to assume that the practice only comes into being as legislative schemes are introduced when 'assisted dying and euthanasia have always existed in every culture'.