Assisted Suicide
Tory Peer: ‘Listen to vulnerable in assisted suicide debate’
Conservative Peer Lord McColl has urged fellow politicians to think of the harms vulnerable people will face if assisted suicide is legalised in the UK.
Writing for The Times, Lord McColl stressed that more than 300 people in the UK already miss out on palliative care, with hospices “heavily reliant on fundraising and donations”.
He added: “Assisted dying legislation does not give real choices in care, but suggests that those who are seriously ill should consider ending their lives.
“Canada has seen clinicians diverted away into assessing eligibility for lethal drugs, leaving some patients with even less care and fewer options in accessing what they need to live as they want.”
He also highlighted a lack of safeguards in jurisdictions where assisted suicide or euthanasia is legal. An ‘Assisted Dying Bill’ before the House of Lords copies legislation in the US State of Oregon.
Commenting on assisted suicide campaigners, he said: “Copying Oregon’s legislation, they offer a ‘safeguard; that eligibility would rest only with those who would die in six months if untreated.
“It is no safeguard at all, but an arbitrary guesstimate that would inevitably expand. We see thousands of NHS patients outlive their prognosis every year.
“Oregon’s data shows that such legislation does not decrease violent non-assisted suicides; far from it. Oregon’s violent (non-assisted) suicide rate is among the highest in the US and rising.
“Orientating culture to a normalisation of suicide jars fundamentally with improving suicide prevention efforts and presents suicide as a desirable alternative.”
He concluded: We have a fundamental responsibility to uphold a medical ethic which makes, promotes, affirms, and protects the value of human life, whatever the challenges.
“If society really wants to debate assisted suicide it must listen to the testimonies and fears of the many vulnerable people who are terrified by these proposals and heed their judgement.”
A consultation is ongoing on assisted suicide legislation set to be lodged in the Scottish Parliament. This closes on 22 December.
If you live in Scotland, please consider responding. Our briefing explains more.
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