More than 140 doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers in Yorkshire have called on MPs to reject the new assisted suicide Bill at its Second Reading on 11 September, calling it “unsafe”.
The healthcare professionals, including GPs and consultants, have signed a letter urging MPs and the Government to reject the legislation.
In the letter, they state, “Whatever individuals’ views on the principles of assisted dying, we are united in our analysis that this bill is not safe for patients”.
The healthcare professionals reveal that they are “deeply concerned” about the return of the assisted suicide Bill, referring to many of the concerns that have been raised about the proposals by medical professional organisations, including the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Physicians, and the British Geriatrics Society.
Referring to the current crisis in health and care services, the signatories state that the “NHS is fragile, under immense pressure, and palliative care access is inequitable and woefully inadequate”.
“Without national focus and funding reviews to bolster palliative care provision in each of these areas, we risk palliative care services becoming ever-more stretched”, they said.
The doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers explained how marginalised communities, including rural patients, people with dementia and people from minority backgrounds, “face pronounced inequities in access to palliative care, and therefore poorer outcome[s]”.
“At present, too many people do not [have access to high-quality compassionate care]. We are failing our society by denying them that care, and we would fail them again by offering an assisted death before ensuring that proper end-of-life care is available to all”, the signatories added.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham agrees that now is not the time for assisted suicide
The concerns that the doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals have with the assisted suicide Bill echo those of the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham.
Last week, responding to a question from Sam Coates, deputy political editor at Sky News, Burnham said, “I take the view that that debate – and I don’t say that there shouldn’t be a debate at some point about those issues – personally, I think there’s something that needs to happen first”.
“That is the fixing of the funding of palliative care and social care”.
“I think it is very challenging to introduce that wider debate in the context of people not receiving that care and having the peace of mind about that care. And that’s the way I kind of see this, and that’s the position I will stick to”.
The assisted suicide lobby had relied heavily on the previous Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, publicly backing Kim Leadbeater MP’s previous assisted suicide Bill – with Starmer voting in favour of the Bill and granting it additional time to be debated in Parliament.
This likely swayed a number of Labour MPs to vote for the previous Bill – with the BBC reporting that Sir Keir’s support was privately cited by Labour MPs as a reason why they voted for the Bill.
Only 12 MPs need to change their minds for the new assisted suicide Bill to fall.
Seven MPs from Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats who had backed the previous Bill at Third Reading have already said they do not support plans to force it into law via the Parliament Acts / bringing back the Bill in this new Parliamentary session.
This major intervention from the Prime Minister will likely move a number of Labour MPs to oppose the Bill, meaning that Lauren Edwards now faces an exceptionally difficult uphill battle to pass the Second Reading vote on 11 September.
Burnham’s Chief Whip, Anneliese Midgley, previously said the assisted suicide Bill “doesn’t do enough to protect vulnerable people, especially those who are disabled or poor”.
“Our NHS, social care, and judicial systems are stretched thin. Until we fix these foundations, we risk creating a situation where people feel they have no choice”, she added.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said, “We are immensely grateful to all those doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals from Yorkshire who have spoken so passionately and knowledgeably about the many problems with the assisted suicide Bill.
“This Bill is dangerous. As numerous professional organisations and disability rights charities have told us, its safeguards are inadequate, and yet its supporters seem determined to force it into law regardless.
“MPs must take heed of these warnings and vote against the Bill at Second Reading on 11 September”.
