There were concerns last month when the Queen’s Speech mentioned plans to modernise the law on assisted suicide that this might result in a weakening of the law. Thankfully, however, the Government chose instead to clarify and bolster the law in this area.
See paragraphs 115 to 117 of this report: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmcumeds/353/353.pdf.
The Government is proposing that the person who commits the offence of encouraging or assisting a suicide need not even know the other person or be able to identify them. This helps to catch the author of a website promoting suicide even though he or she may never know the identity of those who access the website.
However, despite this welcome change we need to realise that, almost certainly, the Voluntary Euthanasia Society (rebranded ‘Dignity in Dying’) and others with pro-euthanasia views will be working to weaken the ban on assisted suicide.
We believe it to be no coincidence that this Sunday night (25th January at 9pm), the day before the Second Reading of the new Bill that is due to be debated in Parliament on Monday (26th January), BBC 1 is planning to show a 90-minute film/drama on BBC1 with Julie Walters called ‘A Short Stay in Switzerland’. This is a drama about Anne Turner, who ended her life at the Dignitas Clinic in Zurich. Details of this drama are described in the following link:
This is all part of the attempt to ‘civilise’ the taking of life, but renders vulnerable the elderly, those who are very unwell and the depressed. These groups need care not killing and need to be fully and properly protected by the law.
This is also the week when a euthanasia activist nicknamed ‘Dr Death’ is planning another attempt to run suicide workshops in UK towns after facing opposition from concerned local authorities last year.
A new UK tour has been announced by Dr Philip Nitschke’s organisation, Exit International, with meetings planned in London, Stroud, Eastbourne and Bournemouth.
It has been stated that the Netherlands, which has allowed assisted suicide, has moved from assisted suicide to euthanasia, from euthanasia for the terminally ill to euthanasia for the chronically ill, from euthanasia for physical illness to euthanasia for psychological distress and from voluntary euthanasia to non-voluntary and involuntary euthanasia. See the following link: http://disweb.org/cda/issues/pas/golden1.html.