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. LATEST NEWS - 14 July 2010, The real risk to vulnerable people, sometimes by so-called 'loved-ones'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10631843 14 July 2010, The dangers of living wills. http://prolife.org.uk/richard-rudd-case-reveals-terrifying-danger-of-living-wills/ FAQs Click here How does the Bill work? What can YOU do?
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ASSISTED SUICIDE - WHY IT'S WRONG
The Right to Die Will Become a Duty to Die
It Will Pressurise the Elderly and the Sick To Feel They Are a Burden
It Will Be Viewed as an Easy, Low Cost Alternative to Palliative Care
It is an Attack on the Dignity of Life
Vulnerable and/or Depressed People Will Be at Risk
Safeguards Have Failed in Other Countries
It turns doctors into killers
It is discriminatory and contradicts autonomy
Killing some groups leads to the killing other groups
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THE RIGHT TO DIE WILL BECOME A DUTY TO DIE
It is the ‘worried-well’ who mostly petition for assisted suicide to be made legal. This leaves the aged, terminally ill and physically and mentally disabled people to live in constant fear of their dependency on others triggering social pressure to end it. The notion of being burdensome and worthless will creep in sooner. Having an option to commit assisted suicide will soon become a reason to do it because of socially brought about psychological ailments.
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IT WILL PRESSURISE THE ELDERLY AND THE SICK TO FEEL THEY ARE A BURDEN
Once society accepts assisted suicide as a just method to die, it will also remove the incentive to give proper care to those who need it and want to live. The sick and the elderly will be forced into feeling that continuing to live as opposed to using a quick, simple and cheap alternative of dying, is just an unnecessary extravagance. Suspicion will linger on towards families who might have truly meant to help the patient.
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IT WILL BE VIEWED AS AN EASY, LOW COST ALTERNATIVE TO PALLIATIVE CARE
Research has shown that ever since the Dutch legalised assisted suicide, it has brought about a huge decline in the care of old people. Palliative care can give a patient a new lease of life. What patients need to be reassured of is that ‘their lives are not over yet, it has just changed’, they need help to embrace that fact and palliative care does just that. Palliative care is the treatment which allows patients to concentrate on what they can do rather than what they cannot. Lack of social and government backup for palliative care means less funds and expertise and hence paves the way for people to choose the cheaper alternative of dying.
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IT IS AN ATTACK ON THE DIGNITY OF LIFE
Human life is of inestimatable value and needs to be preserved. This basic right applies equally to everyone living. Criminal law and medical ethics for thousands of years have been based on protecting life. The relaxed law would imply that some people are better off dead than alive. It would mean that some lives are regarded as more useless and less worthwhile than others. A quarter of assisted suicide attempts where it is permitted go wrong. This can mean, for example, that patients regurgitate the lethal drugs, thereby causing pain and inflicting serious damage short of killing a person. Such an experience strips them of the dignity of life. Allowing someone to die is to give up on them. Just because a person reaches a stage in life which demands more acceptance, love and care, it is no reason to title life as ‘useless and/or burdensome’. Permitting assisted suicide legally will potentially protect the malicious and endanger the vulnerable.
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VULNERABLE AND/OR DEPRESSED PEOPLE WILL BE AT RISK
At least two thirds of the people who attempt suicide are patients of depression. But assisted suicide does not have enough provisions for diagnosing mental health issues. Temporary despair is what often leads to suicide attempts. The slippery slope concept means that soon the group of people whom the law is proposing to benefit will expand. This has in the past reached a stage where assisted suicide no longer needs the consent of the patient. In other words, murder becomes legal. In the Netherlands the government has conceded that around 1000 people may be ‘euthanised’ without ever asking for it.
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SAFEGUARDS HAVE FAILED IN OTHER COUNTRIES
Countries which have legalised assisted suicide have also testified to having major setbacks in terms of safeguards being enforced. Scores of cases never get reported, leave alone investigated. The fact that a doctor has the option to reject or accept helping with suicide means it is the doctor who decides the final fate of the patient. Because the law is blurry about so many clauses, it is not difficult to manipulate and make use of the loop holes provided.
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IT TURNS DOCTORS INTO KILLERS
Killing oneself is wrong but attempts to do so are not usually prosecuted for reasons of compassion. But the proposals for assisted suicide and euthanasia mean involving someone else in supporting or performing procedures to bring about death. This someone else is a doctor who traditionally has followed the precepts of the Hippocratic Oath to only heal and save lives, never to harm. Making assisted suicide legal will cause a paradigm shift in the practice of medicine and stir greatly the doctor-patient relationship. A patient will always fear divulging too much of their distress to a doctor due to the danger of being offered the deadly option of death. The law will make doctors a lot more powerful than they already are and risk manipulation and abuse which can very well be covered up. The doctor in the white coat may soon change into the executioner in the black hood.
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IT IS DISCRIMINATORY AND CONTRADICTS AUTONOMY
The bill discriminates between those who are right in wanting to die and those who are wrong in wanting to die. If the underlying principle of such a law is to allow for 'patient autonomy', why is the priviledge of choosing death over life bestowed upon only those who fulfill the eligibility requirements of terminal illness, physically disabled and dependant and above 16 years old? Does this mean that all other circumstances of suffering are not grave enough to want to die? Who can judge a person's misery and label it as intolerable or tolerable? To be autonomous is to enjoy 'independence or freedom, as of the will or one's actions'. Once a law is founded on autonomy it would be very prejudiced to allow this freedom to a chosen few.
KILLING SOME GROUPS LEADS TO THE KILLING OF OTHER GROUPS
The prototypical Netherlands is used as a model structure for allowing assisted suicide and euthanasia. But it does not take much research to reveal what the euthanasia law in Holland has developed in to over 20 years. It has gone from being available to terminally ill patients to disabled newborn babies, the healthy with 'unbearable mental suffering', those who cannot request or do not consent to euthanasia and is now inching towards those who are simply 'tired of life'. Once society accepts euthanasia as a 'good medical treatment' safeguards do not matter anymore and the ambit of lives lost under this law keeps expanding.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS [TOP]
What is Physician assisted suicide? [Back] Physician assisted suicide is where the physician intentionally provides the patient with a prescription for lethal drugs in order to help the patient to die. What is voluntary euthanasia? How is it different from physician assisted suicide? [Back] Voluntary euthanasia is the intentional termination of a patient's life by an act of injecting a lethal drug at the request of the patient, because the doctor believes death will benefit the patient. The primary difference between assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia is that the former involves the patient self-administering the drugs while the latter entails a physician to administer the drugs to the patient. What is the key underlying principle of legalising assisted suicide/ euthanasia? [Back] The key underlying principle of legalising assisted suicide/ euthanasia is 'patient autonomy'. The proposed bill permits assistance to be given to persons who wish their lives to be ended, and for connected purposes (as stipulated by the bill). Does the proposed bill support assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia? [Back] The 'End of Life Assistance (Scotland)' bill does not clearly state whether it is proposing to legalise assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia. It leaves the means of assistance open to the doctor and patient involved. What are the eligibility requirements for requesting assisted suicide under the proposed bill? [Back] The patient must be terminally ill and find life intolerable; or permanently physically incapacitated to an extent of being unable to live independently and find life intolerable. The person requesting assisted suicide must be registered with a medical practice in Scotland for a continuous period of at least 18 months immediately prior to making the request. How has 'terminal illness' been defined? [Back] A person is 'terminally ill' if the person suffers from a progressive condition and death within six months as a consequence of that condition can reasonable be expected. Is medical prognosis an exact science? [Back] No. What is the age limit in the proposed bill for a patient to request assisted suicide? [Back] Anyone above 16 years of age and fulfilling the aforementioned eligibility requirements can request assisted suicide. What is the current law regarding assisted suicide in the UK? [Back] Assisted suicide is outlawed in the UK. The 1961 Suicide Act makes it illegal to "aid, abet, counsel or procure the suicide of another". Helping somebody to die carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years. Where in the world is assisted suicide/ euthanasia legal? When was it legalised? [Back]
What generally drives suicide attempts? [Back] Research shows that two thirds of suicide attempts are driven by depression. A recent study of 138 terminally ill cancer patients in the Netherlands found that depressed patients were more than four times likely to request euthanasia than patients who were not suffering from depression. What are the most common reasons people request assisted suicide? [Back] Research carried out on the Death with Dignity Act in Oregon showed the following reasons as most common justifications for requesting assisted suicide (in order of relevance)
Is assisted suicide a full-proof means to the end? [Back] One in five cases of assisted suicide attempts go wrong. The patient might vomit the drugs which leaves them in pain and causes serious damage but does not kill them as per the plan. Has assisted suicide/ euthanasia been restricted to the stipulated group of people where permitted? [Back] Dutch law has developed to permit the ending of life 'without' request. Non-voluntary euthanasia has been approved for severely ill newborns in the Netherlands. Voluntary euthanasia is the start of a slippery slope that leads to involuntary euthanasia and the killing of people who are thought undesirable. The proposed bill violates Article 2, The Right to Life,of the European Convention on Human Rights which states, "Everyone's right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law." What is Palliative care? [Back] When there is no cure for an illness, palliative care tries to make the end of a person’s life as comfortable as possible. This is done by attempting to relieve pain and other distressing symptoms while providing psychological, social and spiritual support. Carers and family are also offered emotional and spiritual support. Do British doctors support legalising asisted suicide/ euthanasia? [Back] The British Medical Association has reaffirmed it opposition to legalising assisted suicide. The doctors feel the legislation would have serious negative consequences on the relationship between doctors and their patients if changed.
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