Select Page

Press release – Parliamentary inquiry on assisted suicide finds litany of problems in jurisdictions that have legalised the practice, and does not recommend a change in the law

Parliamentary inquiry on assisted suicide finds litany of problems in jurisdictions that have legalised the practice, and does not recommend a change in the law

PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Parliamentary inquiry on assisted suicide in England and Wales finds litany of problems in jurisdictions that have legalised the practice, and does not recommend a change in the law

The Health and Social Care Committee’s report on assisted suicide has recommended that the law on assisted suicide in England and Wales be left unchanged.

As part of the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee inquiry into assisted suicide, the Committee published its Report on Assisted Dying/Assisted Suicide earlier today. In addition to not recommending the introduction of assisted suicide, the report undertook a thorough investigation of other jurisdictions where assisted suicide is legal and documents a litany of the associated problems.

  • The report notes that, among members of the British Medical Association, those more likely to be opposed to a change in the law on assisted suicide were those who worked in specialities that dealt directly with patients at the end of their lives (para. 148).
  • The report quotes from a number of witnesses who discuss the manner in which the legalisation of assisted suicide distorts the doctor-patient relationship.
    • One participant said: “If you then look at legislations where these things are legal, then doctors stop looking at resolving symptoms and become preoccupied with completing the process. And so, the very thing that’s going to change the suffering of an individual, namely medics, nurses, social workers, psychologists doing what they should be doing, which is caring for the patient, is shifted to going through a process to meet an endpoint which actually isn’t going to solve the problem in the first place”. (para. 171)
    • Another said: “The culture, the attitude and everything changes. It is such an important relationship. People are in a vulnerable situation, and having a life-limiting diagnosis makes you vulnerable, whoever you are”.(para. 168)
  • The report noted financial concerns that can lead people to want to end their lives prematurely as well as other non-medical concerns such as loneliness, which can influence a person’s decision to end their life by assisted suicide.
    • One proponent of assisted suicide Dr Philip Berry, a consultant physician, said he was concerned about people gaining access to assisted suicide in Canada when the reason they want to die is because of financial difficulties. He said that “poverty [and] isolation” and not “valid reasons to die”. (para. 126)
  • The report noted concerns from disability rights groups and people with disabilities who suggested assisted suicide “reinforce[s] the damaging notion that disabled lives are not worth living“. (para. 136)
    • One participant said ” I think for some people, the idea of having someone else wipe their bottom is horrific, but actually for many of us, that’s how we might live our lives. And there’s nothing wrong with that. And the implication that you’re better off dead than like that. Well that, as [another participant] was saying earlier on, that really devalues our lives as they are”. (para. 138)
  • The Committee also heard about serious concerns surrounding capacity and consent.
    • The report concluded that “Hearing from various representatives of healthcare professionals, as well as from healthcare professionals directly, it is clear that there is hesitation around whether it is possible to accurately assess capacity, and safeguard the person, in every case”. (para. 211)

Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said:

“This report does a good job of bringing to light a number of the serious problems with assisted suicide legislation that  are experienced in other jurisdictions where it is legal. It is particularly noteworthy that doctors who are dealing more directly with patients at the end of their lives are more opposed to making assisted suicide legal”.

“However, despite its apparent rigour, the failure to mention the notorious 2020 Canadian report ‘Cost estimate for Bill C-7, Medical Assistance in Dying’, which estimated (p.2) a $149 million saving in healthcare costs from euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada in 2021, is a glaring omission. It is inevitable that cost-saving calculations will come into play when considering implementing assisted suicide and euthanasia, and MPs in England and Wales should be under no illusions about this”.

“It is an equally glaring omission that, despite the report mentioning the situation on the Isle of Man, it failed to mention the Isle of Man Medical Society’s poll revealing 73.8% of its members oppose assisted suicide being legalised”. 

ENDS