Care Not Killing responds to failure of Assisted Dying Bill

Responding to the failure of the Assisted Dying Bill, following the final day of debate in the House of Lords, Dr Gordon Macdonald has urged MPs and peers to focus on palliative care.

He commented: "The House of Lords scrutiny exposed this Bill as 'skeleton legislation' riddled with gaping holes. It is now clear that this Bill was both unsafe and unworkable.

"Peers have uncovered a series of alarming realities: from the Government admitting they will have to raid existing NHS budgets to fund assisted dying, the shocking fact that children don't even have to be informed before a parent's life is ended, lack protections against coercion, no support for those with hidden disabilities including autism, and many non-terminal conditions such as anorexia, bulimia and diabetes, would have been eligible for an assisted death.

"In an attempt to sort out the complete dog's breakfast of a bill, peers tabled over 1,000 amendments, including nearly 80 from Lord Falconer, who sponsored the draft legislation, spending on average just six and half minutes per amendment.

"Had this Bill passed, it would have risked prioritising cheap deaths over quality palliative care and left the most vulnerable in our society, including those who are suicidal or facing financial pressure, dangerously exposed. As Lord Simon Stevens, former Chief Executive of the NHS, warned, the Bill was a 'Trojan horse' for fundamental change to the NHS by the back door. He warned that it will encourage 'self-coercion in the name of altruism' where vulnerable patients might choose to die early out of a misguided desire to prevent them from being a burden and protect the NHS.

"We would urge all MPs and peers to turn their attention to the UK's patchy palliative care system, because if we can end the scandal of the postcode lottery for this type of care, then assisted suicide or euthanasia won't be needed as a way to alleviate the suffering of people let down by an underfunded and under-resourced system. As we have argued since 2003, we need more care, not killing."

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

Read more about Care Not Killing: https://carenotkilling.org.uk/