Care Not Killing responds to impact assessments for Assisted Suicide Bill

Responding to the publication of the impact assessments for Kim Leadbeater's Assisted Suicide Bill, Dr Gordon Macdonald, CEO of Care Not Killing commented: "We will be reviewing the text very carefully and publishing a detailed response next week, but upon initial inspection, it confirms that changing the law will save money, both health care costs (up to £59.6 million) and a reduction in benefit payments (unquantified). Exactly as we have seen in other jurisdictions which have introduced state assisted killing, placing pressure on vulnerable terminally ill people to end their lives.

"Indeed, in the US State of Oregon, the model for the current bill in Parliament, a majority of those ending their lives cite fear of being a burden on their families, carers or finances as a reason for their decision. In Canada, politicians have talked about the considerable savings made to regional health care budgets since introducing euthanasia, with some estimates suggesting up to $500 million (CAD), regrettably this includes removing funding from a hospice that refused to kill their patients. While in Holland, not only have the Dutch saved money, but chillingly, they talked about how this policy also increases the availability of organs for transplant, something Dr David Shaw and Professor Alec Morton, two British academics argued for in 2020."

Dr Macdonald concluded: "At a time when we have seen how fragile our cash strapped health care system is, how the hospice movement has a £150 million blackhole in its budget, and when up to one in four Brits who would benefit from palliative care but aren't currently receiving it, introducing so-called assisted dying would be an incredibly dangerous policy that would put pressure on vulnerable, elderly and disabled people to end their lives prematurely. We need to fix the UK's broken and patchy palliative care system so everyone can have a dignified death. We need better care not killing."

The two impact assessments can be found here: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3774/publications

Care Not Killing is a UK-based alliance bringing together over 40 organisations - human rights and disability rights organisations, health care and palliative care groups, faith-based organisations groups - and thousands of concerned individuals.

We have three key aims:

to promote more and better palliative care;
to ensure that existing laws against euthanasia and assisted suicide are not weakened or repealed;
to inform public opinion further against any weakening of the law.

If you would like to talk with someone about issues raised in this article, the Samaritans are available 24 hours a day. Call free on 116 123 or visit: www.samaritans.org