States Meeting Summary 25 February
25 February 2026
Public Business
The Meeting began with the continuation of the debate into proposed amendments to the Draft Assisted Dying Law.
The amendments were taken in the order they appear in the proposed law.
The Minister for Health and Social Services proposed Section J of the second amendment. This section is largely administrative and re-numbers some existing paragraphs.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE this section of Minister’s amendment, with a standing vote.
Members voted in a standing vote.
Skip 6 minutes into this morning’s recording to watch the debate in full.
Deputy Barbara Ward proposed an amendment to remove the waiver in the proposed law which currently allows an individual to decide in advance that, if they lose decision-making capacity after their request is approved but before providing final consent, their assisted death can still take place.
The Assembly voted to REJECT the Deputy’s amendment, with 19 votes for, 29 votes against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 9 minutes into this morning’s recording to watch the debate in full.
The Minister for Health and Social Services proposed Section E of the second amendment. This section relates to a medical practitioner’s right to refuse to administer the approved drugs even if they previously agreed to do so.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE this section of Minister’s amendment, with 43 votes for, 1 vote against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 2 hours and 8 minutes into this morning’s recording to watch the debate in full.
The Minister for Health and Social Services proposed Section D of the second amendment. This section relates to a person’s capacity to both make a waiver and final request for an assisted death.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE this section of Minister’s amendment, with 41 votes for, 2 votes against and 1 abstention.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 2 hours and 13 minutes into this morning’s recording to watch the debate in full.
The Assisted Dying Review Panel proposed an amendment that would prevent any third parties from appealing against a decision to allow an assisted death. Appeals would only be permitted from the person requesting the procedure.
The Assembly voted to REJECT the Panel’s amendment, with 13 votes for, 33 votes against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 2 hours and 20 minutes into this morning’s recording to watch the beginning of the debate, and from the start of this afternoon’s recording for the conclusion and vote.
The Assisted Dying Review Panel proposed an amendment to refine the offence of coercion by replacing the term ‘dishonestly’ with ‘maliciously’ to ensure only harmful and improper influence is covered.
The amendment also changes the severity of punishments. While coercing someone into an assisted death would carry the maximum 14-year prison sentence, coercing someone out of an assisted death would carry a lower-level penalty, limited to a fine, reflecting the ethical and practical differences between the two forms of coercion while ensuring both are clearly prohibited.
The Assembly agreed to vote on the amendment in parts.
PART a: Refining the offence of coercion by replacing the term ‘dishonestly’ with ‘maliciously’ to ensure only harmful and improper influence is covered.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE this part of the Panel’s amendment, with 46 votes for, 0 votes against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
PART b: Coercing someone into an assisted death would carry the maximum 14-year prison sentence, coercing someone out of an assisted death would carry a lower-level penalty, limited to a fine.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE this part of the Panel’s amendment, with 37 votes for, 7 votes against and 2 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 22 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the debate in full.
The Assisted Dying Review Panel proposed an amendment that written information relating to the service should only be provided in GP surgeries within a clinical setting and only when a health professional is present. This is to ensure that explanations and signposting to services such as palliative care can be provided at the same time.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE the Panel’s amendment, with 42 votes for, 3 votes against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 46 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the debate in full.
The Assisted Dying Review Panel proposed an amendment to ensure training and guidance explicitly covers identifying coercive control, domestic abused, emotional abuse, financial abuse and other forms of undue influence.
The amendment also aims to ensure this training is provided on an ongoing basis.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE the Panel’s amendment, with 44 votes for, 1 vote against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip to 1 hour and 34 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the debate in full.
The Minister for Health and Social Services proposed Section G of the second amendment. This section relates to information which can be disclosed to the Assurance and Oversight Committee and the Assisted Dying Service.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE this section of Minister’s amendment, with 42 votes for, 2 votes against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 1 hours and 50 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the debate in full.
The Minister for Health and Social Services proposed Section F of the second amendment. This section relates to the annual reporting on waivers of requirement for future capacity.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE this section of Minister’s amendment, with 44 votes for, 1 vote against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 1 hour and 54 minutes into this afternoon's recording to watch the debate in full
The Assisted Dying Review Panel proposed an amendment that required the Minister for Health and Social Services to present an annual report to the States Assembly.
This report should detail the operation of the service, the effectiveness and compliance of safeguards, identify any emerging issues and provide recommendations to support its improvement.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE the Panel’s amendment, with 41 votes for, 3 votes against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 1 hour and 58 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the debate in full.
The Assisted Dying Review Panel proposed an amendment that requires a review of how the service is operating is carried out within three years of it becoming fully operational.
It also requests that disability groups and representatives are consulted as part of any implementation or post-implementation review.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE the Panel’s amendment, with 47 votes for, 1 vote against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 2 hours and 12 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the debate in full.
The Minister for Health and Social Services proposed Section H of the second amendment. This section relates to if a practitioner’s registration is suspended.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE this section of Minister’s amendment, with 46 votes for, 1 vote against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 2 hours and 28 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the debate in full
The Minister for Health and Social Services proposed Section I of the second amendment. This section clarifies that health and welfare decision under Powers of Attorney or Court-appointed delegates do not include assisted dying decisions.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE this section of Minister’s amendment, with 45 votes for, 1 vote against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 2 hours and 30 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the debate in full
P.65 Draft Assisted Dying (Jersey) Law 202-
The Assembly then started to debate the proposition, as amended, in the second reading of the proposed legislation.
Skip 2 hours and 35 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the start of the debate.
The Assembly adjourned and will continue with this debate tomorrow morning.
Adjournment
The States Assembly then adjourned and will reconvene at 9:30am on Thursday 26 February 2026.
