Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill: Rejected by Parliament again, but why?
Last month the Lord Falconer Assisted Dying Bill was debated in Parliament -the first for twenty years and failed to pass again when an astonishing 330 MP voted against it in a free vote. Even though in recent polls it is reported that up to 82 percent of people would support this law being passed.
So while all around is recognising the right to die as being a choice that we should have why do our MP’s still deny some of the sickest in our society the dignity to die in a way that they want.
Currently The Suicide Act 1961 makes it an offence to encourage or assist a suicide or a suicide attempt in England and Wales and could hold a 14 year sentence for anyone who is found to help someone to die.
Under the proposals, those with fewer than six months to live could have the right to have help to end their own lives when they were ready, offering them control. Each case would have to be supported by two doctors and heard by a High Court Judge.
Some have argued that some vulnerable people may be coerced or feel forced to take their own lives using this law.
Fiona Bruce Conservative MP argued that the bill was lacking in safeguards for vulnerable people, saying if it wasn’t so serious it would be laughable.
Caroline Spelman Conservative MP also argued that the right to die could become the “duty to die”.
She also made the case that actually it’s quite difficult to determine how long a person has to live – look at Dr Stephen Hawking who defied the medical profession with how long he has survived given that he was only given a few years to live when he was diagnosed in his twenties.
Lastly she argued that the bill would change the relationship between the doctor and patient by promoting the involvement of others in that person’s suicide.
Labour MP Sir Keir Starmer who has had experience of working on right to die cases in his former role as director of public prosecutions said-
“We have arrived at a position where compassionate amateur assistance from nearest and dearest is accepted, but professional medical assistance is not unless you have the means of physical assistance to get to Dignitas[Switzerland].”
Saying it was an injustice trapped in our current arrangement.
Forward thinking nations
There are countries around the world where euthanasia is legal – As of 2015, euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, Germany, Albania, Colombia, Japan and in the US states of Washington, Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico and Montana.
Parliament wasn’t the only ones debating a Assisted Suicide Bill on that same day either; California also debated a Bill for Assisted Suicide – that Bill was passed.
So we know that the social attitudes are changing, even here in the UK. In a poll of 5000 people – the largest so far regarding assisted dying- by Dying with Dignity, found that 82 percent of people supported assisted dying.
79 percent of those with religious beliefs even supported the bill, even though religious leaders like the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who said the bill would mean suicide was “actively supported” instead of being viewed as a tragedy.
So how can it be that our MP’s have managed to overwhelmingly misrepresent public opinions and a social appetite for change regarding assisted suicide? Shouldn’t there be an option for those who are terminally ill to be able to die at home with loved ones around them, able to die with dignity.
Surely dignity should not be reserved for those with the means and support to travel to Dignitas.
What about those who can’t travel, they would be afraid that if a loved one helps them to die they will go to prison -shouldn’t we all have the right to die peacefully without fear for the family and friends they leave behind?
Or were our MP’s and doctors right to ignore the public and those campaigners who have for years fought for the right to die – Maybe palliative care is the solution.
All I know is that we offer our animals more dignity in death than what we offer fellow humans- If we argue it’s an animals right to die peacefully when they have no quality of life left then I do not understand why we do not deserve the same consideration and respect in our last days.
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