Institutional objection to assisted dying: A qualitative study of stakeholders in Aotearoa New Zealand

As more countries legalize assisted dying (AD), one issue increasingly debated is institutional objection. This is when an institution decides it does not want to provide AD and wishes to prohibit some or all aspects of the AD process from occurring onsite. Aotearoa New Zealand legalized AD in 2021 but its legislation does not address institutional objection. This paper presents the first detailed examination of this issue in Aotearoa New Zealand drawing on the perspectives of 81 key stakeholders in a wider national study of AD. This research identified six themes: institutional objections and their nature vary across settings; the basis for institutional objection; how institutional objection is communicated and navigated; positions of staff in objecting institutions; harms of institutional objections; and changes over time toward greater institutional acceptance of AD. These findings have implications for how AD is regulated in Aotearoa New Zealand and in other countries.