Palliative care specialists are urging Hospice UK to drop its neutral stance and come out in opposition to assisted suicide.
Last week, dozens of palliative specialists wrote to the chairman of Hospice UK’s board, Paul Jennings, asking him to “stand with us against assisted dying”.
The experts also accused Hospice UK of conveying a “pro-assisted dying stance” after the charity invited Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur, who has brought forward an assisted suicide Bill in Scotland, to lead a “special session” at the beginning of its annual conference in Glasgow from 26 – 28 November.
They wrote “At the time of a Westminster debate and vote on this very issue, this conveys a pro-assisted dying stance”.
“As a minimum, we urge you to represent both sides of the debate at your conference”, they added.
The group of palliative care clinicians expressed their “dismay” about Hospice UK’s current neutral stance on assisted suicide.
Dr Carol Davis, who co-wrote the letter, said she feels Hospice UK should “say on its website that the guidelines they adhere to are about helping people live as well as they can, not advocating medically assisted suicide or euthanasia”.
Hospice UK’s website “reads as if it’s all about helping people live, and yet it feels like they are being a little biased in their approach to their delegates and their members”, she added.
The doctors also identified “numerous problems” with McArthur’s Bill in Scotland, including “the breadth of definition of terminal illness and eligibility for 16-year-olds”.
The doctors’ concerns about the possibility of 16-year-olds being eligible for assisted suicide in Scotland were recently echoed by Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who said “An age threshold of 16 is for me a significant issue”, as well as Dr Claud Regnard, Honorary Consultant for St Oswald’s Hospice, who said “A 16-year-old in Scotland with anorexia nervosa would easily be eligible for assisted death if they said they won’t eat, as that would count as a terminal illness with a prognosis of less than six months – and they wouldn’t have to consult their parents”.
The palliative care specialists’ letter to Hospice UK reflects the strong opposition to introducing assisted suicide from doctors who specialise in working with people with incurable conditions at the end of their lives. A survey of palliative care doctors who are members of the Association for Palliative Medicine found that 82% oppose the introduction of assisted suicide.
The results of the Association for Palliative Medicine survey have been mirrored in a more recent survey of doctors by the British Medical Association, which found that 83% of palliative care doctors oppose a change in the law to introduce assisted suicide, while only 6% supported such a change.
A long line of complaints and concerns about assisted suicide
The clinicians’ letter is the latest in a long line of complaints and concerns regarding the troubling effects of legalising assisted suicide on palliative care in the UK and the need for greater investment.
Dr Amy Proffitt, Consultant in Palliative Medicine at Barts Health NHS Trust and former President of the APM, shared her concerns in September that “pumping money into assisted dying will mean that the NHS cuts back on cash for palliative care”.
Dr Proffitt emphasised the lack of resources and attention being put into palliative care, saying “Better to focus on improving NHS palliative care rather than introducing assisted dying. Yet that doesn’t even seem to be on the agenda”.
Rachel Clarke, a specialist in hospital palliative care, said “My concern is that if we change the law without adequate resourcing of palliative care, then there will be people who choose to end their lives because they weren’t being provided with the care they needed”.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “Palliative care experts are right to be troubled about Hospice UK giving Liam McArthur a platform at their annual conference to promote his disturbing Bill”.
“Hospice UK should instead heed the call of the experts to stand with them against the reckless assisted suicide legislation promoted by McArthur and Leadbeater, and call for greater investment and resources in palliative care”.
