Lord Falconer’s ‘Commission on Assisted Dying’ released their proposals today (5 Jan) and recommended that doctors should be allowed to assist terminally ill patients to kill themselves, as long as the patients had less than a year to live, and provided they meet certain criteria.
The 415-page report calls for the current laws against assisted suicide to be scrapped. Currently, helping someone to die is punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment, although there have been no prosecutions since landmark guidelines were set out almost two years ago by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC.
The report says the current situation is “very distressing” for families and “uncertain” for health workers.
Under its plans, doctors would be allowed to prescribe drugs to end the lives of terminally ill patients who have fewer than 12 months to live. In addition, the patients must have the mental capacity to make the decision to end their own life, and they must demonstrate a clear desire to die.
Two independent doctors’ opinions would be required before deciding that a patient should be entitled to assisted suicide. Disabled people and those suffering from dementia or depression would not qualify for help in killing themselves. Patients would also be given a “cooling off” period of up to two weeks before being given the lethal drugs that they must take themselves.
Comment
Dr Peter Saunders, Campaign Director of Care Not Killing, said: “These recommendations if implemented will place vulnerable people under increased pressure to end their lives so as not to be a burden on others. This pressure can be especially intense at a time of economic recession when families and the health service are already feeling the pinch. The so-called right to die can so easily become the duty to die.”
A spokesman for the British Medical Association (BMA) said: “While there is a spectrum of views on assisted dying within the medical profession, the BMA believes that the majority of doctors do not want to legalise assisted dying.”
Commission under fire
Despite being touted as an independent group, the Commission has been heavily criticised for its bias, and over forty organisations, including the BMA, representing over 140,000 British doctors, have refused to take part.
The Commission has been encouraged and partly funded by Terry Pratchett, a well known campaigner for assisted suicide. Lord Falconer himself has long campaigned on this issue and he previously attempted to legalise assisted suicide via an amendment to the Coroners and Justice Bill in 2009.
Members of the Commission were handpicked by Falconer himself, and nine of the twelve members are well known to favour a change in the law. This includes all four Parliamentarians on the commission, who have either made their pro-assisted dying views public or voted for legalisation in the Houses of Parliament, and all four doctors.
Comment from Christian Concern
Andrea Williams, CEO of Christian Concern, said:
“This Commission has been widely exposed as nothing short of a campaign group to change the law. Its claim of independence has never been taken seriously. The establishment of the Commission is a reflection of desperation on the part of assisted suicide campaigners, after two attempts to change the law through Parliament failed.
“The law must not be weakened in this area. The weak and vulnerable must be protected and be given the best care possible, not put under pressure to die. David Cameron has told us that he wants our society to be informed by Christian values, and this is an area where those values are acutely needed."
Links
Andrea’s Blog: The lady of the lamp